
Amy Wyman (She/Her) is a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in Civil Engineering at Oregon State.
Who is the one person in your academic career who impacted you the most? For Amy Wyman the answer is clear — Dr. David Hurwitz. Dr. Hurwitz was Amy’s Honors College thesis advisor during her undergraduate years at Oregon State University while pursuing a degree in civil engineering.
“I had such a good experience working with him as an undergraduate student that I wanted to work with him again as a graduate student” she said. “He was the one who suggested I consider pursuing a career in academia, and I hope to one day inspire students as he has inspired me.”
Amy’s research investigates the intersection of engineering design and human behavior towards improving the safety and efficiency of transportation facilities. She continues to work with Dr. Hurwitz on her graduate research and recently received OSU’s Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring by a Graduate Student Award, among other recognitions and scholarships.
“My advisor knew about the award and helped nominate me with the support and encouragement of another undergraduate student in our lab, Elsa Moreno-Rangel, in this cycle. I wrote two short essays, sent over my CV, and my advisor helped collect letters of recommendation for me.”
The biggest research challenge for Amy came during the COVID-19 pandemic because much of her research involves human participants and observing travel behavior. Like many others during the pandemic, Amy and her colleagues were able to adapt their research to maintain safety.
“We started using UV light to disinfect lab equipment, placed numerous HEPA filters in shared spaces, and, at one point, we were even handing out intercept surveys to passing cyclists with a trash grabber to maintain social distancing.”
Outside of her lab work, Amy enjoys cooking and the outdoors.
“I love food — eating it, trying to cook it, reading about it. I also love being outside, and one thing I feel really lucky I got to do while in my grad program is backpack the John Muir Trail. It was the most intensely physical thing I’ve ever done. Even so, I want to do it again.”