My mom went into labor with me outside of the U.S. Department of Transportation building. During my influential years, my parents were in the transportation industry. My dad worked at the Port of Elizabeth in New Jersey and was ASCE's Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer. My mom was a human resources professional for the New York City Transit Authority. Days off from school meant spending time at work or attending conferences with one of them.

Having two parents in transportation also meant most of my toys were transportation-related. I had (and still have) Tonka trucks, a Lionel train set, race car tracks, Legos, and Little People (which included an airport with airplanes). I would spend hours transforming my basement into my own world creation all connected by my Lionel train set.

When I was applying to undergraduate school, my dad, the ED/CEO of ASCE, encouraged me to consider civil engineering. I didn't have any better ideas for a major, so why not? After all, math and science came easy to me. During my junior year at the University of Maryland, College Park, I took Introduction to Urban Transportation Planning with Dr. M. William Sermons. That class was instrumental in my career: I learned that being a good civil engineer is more than designing civil infrastructure; it is also about the people. That class helped me find my passion for planning. I immediately began to research graduate degrees in planning.