UVM's Clare Nelson Explores Equitable Transportation Policies in Her Research

Meet Clare Nelson, a Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Student at University of Vermont!

Meet Clare Nelson, a master’s student studying Civil and Environmental Engineering at University of Vermont (UVM)! In 2022, Clare received her B.S. in Civil Engineering and a degree from the Honors College at UVM. She credits the collaborative environment, ample research opportunities, and connections created with faculty and fellow students as key factors influencing her to stay at UVM and pursue a master’s degree. 

Clare’s passion for transportation engineering stems from her involvement in clubs, work experiences, and research opportunities sought on campus during her undergraduate education. Besides holding positions as both the Secretary and President in the UVM student American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Chapter, Clare conducted public outreach and ran educational campaigns to engage with community groups and the student body as a Sustainable Transportation Intern for Transportation and Parking Services within the UVM Office of Sustainability. In this position, Clare provided bus use education, gauged where people felt unsafe traveling on campus and around town, and envisioned ways of making multimodal transportation more accessible and equitable. As Clare explains: 

“That’s when I started falling in love with transportation, through boots on the ground chatting with people – sometimes at a bus stop, sometimes at a table.” 

Currently, Clare continues to work under the Office of Sustainability as a Data Analyst and Graduate Fellow for the Sustainable Solutions Lab. In these positions, she manages and verifies data collected by the university. Specifically, she is meaningfully involved in tracking emissions reductions goals, including measuring tailpipe emissions from commuters and the campus fleet. 

Building from her love for community education and engagement, Clare grew fascinated with the human-centric components of civil engineering, especially economics and sociology. This interest transcended into transportation policy when Clare selected her undergraduate honor’s thesis titled, “An Analysis of the Sustainability and Equity of a Mileage-Based User Fee Versus the Gas Tax in Vermont.” 

Clare’s interest in mileage fees continues to further develop through her current research as a Graduate Research Assistant at the UVM Transportation Research Center (TRC). Clare also conducted an NCST project titled, “Evaluating Support for Mileage Based User Fees in Diverse Communities and the Value of Providing Contextual Information” with her advisor, Dr. Gregory Rowangould. Through this research, Clare addressed the issue of lacking information or misinformation amongst the public when using public opinion polls by directly educating respondents to assess the extent to which policy opinions change with the provision of unbiased information. A key finding: education can fill information gaps and influence ways the public understands mileage fees as an alternative to the gas tax. 

Intersecting with her interest in mileage fees, Clare is passionate about transportation funding and land use. In her words: 

“I think people talk about a lot of these solutions… and they need money… so where that money comes from, I think, is a very important part of making sure our transportation systems are equitable, safe, and accessible. I really like economics and untangling the puzzle of how we actually integrate and internalize the externalities of our transportation system.” 

As urban and transportation planners advocate for more sustainable development, such as complete streets and smart growth, Clare is curious about the unique ways these strategies apply to small towns and rural communities. Additionally, Clare is passionate about science communication and education involved with getting people excited about transportation, which is pertinent in her work and research by creating educational videos and public-facing dashboards. 

Since Clare’s research topic is currently discussed in Vermont’s state legislature, she received the opportunity of presenting to the Senate Committee on Transportation, presenting at the Transportation Research Board’s (TRB) 102nd and 103rd Annual Meetings, and developing connections with the Vermont Agency of Transportation. As she details: 

“Not only am I doing this research, but I’m seeing the applications in real time. I always wondered, when somebody in a position of power reads your paper, what happens? I’ve been able to watch this process from the start.” 

In 2023, Clare was awarded the University of Vermont’s NCST Outstanding Student of the Year for her stellar research. Among her accomplishments, some awards Clare received include the UVM Presidential Scholarship, as well as the UVM College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Scholarship in 2018-2022, the UVM D. P. Fay Award in 2022, and the Dwight D. Eisenhower Scholarship in 2023. After receiving her M.S. this August, Clare will stay at the TRC as a researcher to work on new research and finish ongoing projects. 

Congratulations on your achievements, Clare!