New program helps WSDOT employees earn master’s degrees, addressing workforce shortages and supporting Washington’s infrastructure needs.

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Fellowship Program has been reactivated through the partnership of the CEE department, the Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium (PacTrans) and WSDOT after being on hiatus since 2009. The program provides five WSDOT employees with the opportunity to earn a fully funded master’s degree in transportation engineering, helping them advance their careers and contribute to Washington’s transportation workforce.

This reactivation comes at a crucial time for the civil engineering field, which is facing a significant workforce shortage. As federal and state infrastructure investments ramp up nationwide, the demand for civil engineers continues to grow. However, fewer students are entering the field, leading to increased competition for talent and rising costs for infrastructure projects. In response to this challenge, the Washington state Legislature allocated funding in early 2024 to relaunch the fellowship as part of a broader effort to strengthen the civil engineering pipeline and ensure critical projects move forward smoothly.

The program will support five WSDOT employees during the 2024-2025 academic year.

“These fellows understand the issues in transportation and will also be the kind of researchers working on addressing those issues in the future,” says Yinhai Wang, the Thomas and Marilyn Nielsen Endowed Professor in transportation engineering and the director of PacTrans.

The revival of this program is an investment in the state’s infrastructure and a commitment to cultivating the next generation of transportation leaders.

“There is a severe lack of transportation engineers,” Wang notes. “This program helps current WSDOT employees grow while meeting the pressing workforce needs.”

Wang also highlighted the long-term impact of past iterations of the fellowship, noting that “three consecutive state DOT traffic engineers were graduates of this program,” a testament to its lasting contributions to WSDOT and the transportation sector as a whole.