Kari Watkins

Dr. Kari Edison Watkins, P.E., is an Assistant Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She returned to her undergraduate alma mater to become a faculty member in 2011 after completing her PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington. Her teaching and research interests revolve around multi-modal transportation planning and the use of technology in transportation, especially as related to transit planning and operations and improved traveler information. At the University of Washington, Dr. Watkins' research focused on transit travel time reliability and the effects of transit traveler information. She co-created the OneBusAway program (http://onebusaway.org/) to provide real-time next bus countdown information and other transit information tools for transit riders in greater Seattle-Tacoma. Dr. Watkins doctorate was funded by a three-year US DOT Eisenhower Fellowship, a UW ARCS Fellowship and a UW Valle Fellowship. Prior to her doctoral studies, Dr. Watkins worked for a decade as a senior transportation engineer at Wilbur Smith Associates in New Haven, Connecticut. Her work at WSA ranged from bus rapid transit and commuter rail studies to regional transportation visions. In line with her years in industry, Dr. Watkins' undergraduate teaching focus is on sending top-notch engineers into the workforce through practical experience in the Senior Capstone course.