TRANSOC Team Members Set BART Guinness World Record: Fastest Time to Visit All BART Stations

On March 9, 2024, some Transportation Graduate Students Organizing Committee (TRANSOC) members set off to complete a Guinness World Record: The fastest Time to Visit all BART Stations. After weeks of planning and coordination, the route was set, and roles were assigned to ensure they would achieve the fastest time to date. Everything went perfectly to plan; all connections were made, and they finished in 5 hours, 47 minutes, and 43 seconds!

TRANSOC Visits California High-Speed Rail Authority: Sneak Peak at First HSR in the US

The Transportation Graduate Students Organizing Committee (TRANSOC) was invited by the California High-Speed Rail Authority to visit their showroom in Sacramento on Friday, January 26, 2024. This is such a unique opportunity for our transportation engineering and planning students to not only meet some of the station designers behind the US' first high-speed rail system but also provide input on their designs.

Nia Jones

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A headshot of (CEE)² Staff Director, Nia Jones, with a tesselation screen in the background.
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Staff

M.S.’ 22 ERG

(CEE)² Staff Director 

Hometown: Washington D.C.

“I want to do something similar to Solar Mamas, and teach people you wouldn’t expect about renewable energy. They’re paid to come to the program and then take solar energy and bring it back to their villages. Experiencing something that profound led me into what I want to do post-grad.”

Compiled by Pooja Nerkar


Can you please share more about your background and education?

Nia Jones is a native of Washington, D.C. Her high school, McKinley Technology STEM, was one of few public schools in the DC Public School district to focus on STEM. She took on Biotechnology as her high school pathway and participated in cheerleading all four years (winning the DC City Wide Championship 3/4 years). Being a student-athlete was like second nature for Nia and she balanced both lives exceptionally well. Going into her junior year of high school, Nia interned at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the Uranium Recovery Licensing Branch team. This experience was her first peek into the world of engineers in the public policy/regulatory sector.

After being accepted on a full-ride scholarship, Nia attended Clark Atlanta University, an HBCU in Atlanta, GA. Although CAU did not have engineering, they had the Dual Degree Engineering Program that allowed students to transfer to a partner school after completing 3 years of coursework. While at CAU she participated in the CAU Cheer team, National Society of Black Engineers, Collegiate 100, and she joined Delta Sigma Theta sorority, Inc. Nia transferred to Northeastern University in Boston, MA as an inaugural member of the S-POWER scholarship. S-POWER stands for Student Pathways Opening World Energy Resources and this program allowed Nia to travel to India to study Sustainable Development and Social Entrepreneurship. In 2020 she completed her B.S. Industrial Engineering with minor in Law & Public Policy. While finishing her last year of undergrad, Nia achieved a lifelong dream of being a professional cheerleader for the world-class Boston Celtics. 

Can you please share more about your community outreach activities?

After graduating, Nia moved to the West Coast to pursue her Masters in Energy & Resources at UC Berkeley. Her research was influenced by her experiences in the energy sector as one of few African Americans and women in the field. Rather than completing a project for publication, Nia wanted to take an active approach and reached out to a local high school that had a Green Energy Pathway. Nia worked with the teachers to develop a curriculum that highlighted influential figures in the environmental/energy sectors who identified as Black. In addition, Nia planned a field trip to bring 70 high schoolers to visit the campus and learn more about STEM. This experience equipped her with the skills and tools to be the inaugural Director of Community Engagement for the CEE department. 

Through India’s Barefoot College, Jones worked with Solar Mamas. The program trains women from underprivileged areas how to be solar engineers.

“They’re paid to come to the program and then take solar energy and bring it back to their villages,” she said. “Experiencing something that profound led me into what I want to do post-grad. I want to make a sustainability movement and bring renewable energy to Africa,” Jones said. “I want to do something similar to Solar Mamas, and teach people you wouldn’t expect about renewable energy.”

What are some of the organizations and activities that you are involved with outside of your role at Berkeley?

Nia keeps busy by managing two businesses, one non-profit and the other a renewable energy infrastructure business. Her non-profit, The Energy Queen LLC, provides free resources for local Bay Area communities and education around renewable energy, just transition, and energy justice. Her corporation, K&J Renewables, is just getting off the ground and plans to build EV infrastructure with a long-term plan of emerging as a microgrid and on/off-shore wind development. She sits on the Board of Directors for the KONO district as the Sustainability Director and is the membership chair for the National Society of Black Engineers Energy Special Interest Group. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, catching the sunset, and dancing.  

Cal Construction Team Competes in ASC 2024 Competition

The Cal Construction team traveled to Sparks, NV to compete in the annual Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) student competition! The Design-Build Competition is sponsored by Swinerton Builders and provides students the opportunity to showcase their skills in the Design-Build process as a construction delivery method, which is becoming more popular in the industry.