2025 RASC Annual Scholarship and Awards Dinner
Railway Association of Southern California 2025 Executive Board, Dinner Speakers, and Scholarship Recipients
RASC threw THE celebratory Scholarship Awards Dinner party on Thursday, September 27 at the ARTIC Anaheim. The venue was fitting for a group of established railroaders welcoming in the next generation.
The evening reflected the camaraderie that comes with a local organization: our membership calls Southern California home, and our offices and our projects are represented across the region, from Santa Barbara to San Diego. Throughout the evening, the collective appreciation for the work we do and the communities we serve was on display.
As a non-profit focused on the education of future rail professionals, our ability to provide scholarships depends on the generosity of our sponsors, our agency speakers and our members. Every table was full of donors and volunteers, the people who made a choice to help RASC make that difference to grow the rail industry talent pool.
Our eight corporate sponsors led the way, donating funds that allowed RASC to provide seven scholarships for 2025:
Platinum Sponsors
· HDR
· Moffatt & Nichol
Gold Sponsors
· Zephyr Rail
· Mott MacDonald
· Olsson
· GHD
· Jacobs
Silver Sponsor
· Earth Mechanics, Inc.
RASC leaned on industry leaders to read through the 26 applications. Huge thanks to volunteers James Campbell, LOSSAN; Lauren German, WSP; Sergio Magallon, HDR; Nathan Ortega, RailPros; Stephanie Oslick, Dokken Engineering; Gyan Sinha, Stantec; and Amr Zaher, Moffatt & Nichol. In spite of their busy schedules, the review committee made time to identify the RASC 2025 Scholarship winners. Keep your eye out for these future rail professionals:
2025 Undergraduate Scholarship Recipients:
· Nadia Bashier, Public Policy, USC
· Benjamin Chang, Civil Engineering, UC Irvine
· Noelle Kim, Cal Tech
· Hidaya Saban, Civil Engineering, San Diego State
2025 Graduate Scholarship Recipients:
· Aisling O’Reily, PhD candidate in Urban Planning at USC
· Coey Lin, graduate student in Emerging Transportation Systems at USC
· Utsav Shukla, Fullbright Fellow and graduate student in Urban Planning at UCLA.
Yet another group of volunteers gave their time to discuss the evening’s topic: Growing Communities. Led by moderator Professor Eric Shen of USC, the panel provided a thoughtful discussion and conversation covering all aspects of rail transit, operations, and future. Professor Shen was engaging and encouraged audience participation.
Joining Professor Shen on stage were Rudy Emami, Public Works Director, City of Anaheim, Lorelle Moe Luna, Multimodal Services Director, Riverside County Transportation Commission, and Dan Phu, Director of Planning, Orange County Transportation Authority, all of whom brought great insights on our industry and good advice for the students.
Thank you to RASC VP Jennifer Lopez Ibrahim of GHD and her team of volunteers for creating this premiere event for the Southern California rail transit community.
Special thanks to our attending RASC members, whose participation makes our scholarship program not only possible, but robust.
RASC is committed to the education of the next generation of rail engineers, with the goal to provide scholarships for undergraduates and graduates interested in transportation. Funds raised from these events support that initiative directly.
Join us! Sign up now to become a member of the Railway Association of Southern California: https://www.railwayassociation.org/members and receive discounts on programs and access to members-only events.
Sponsor us! Help us continue to make an impact and invest in the future of rail transit professionals by becoming a corporate sponsor. Our Sponsorship Program will be announced in January 2026. Please visit our corporate sponsorship page at https://www.railwayassociation.org/sponsorship to learn more.
