2026 RASC Scholarship Recipients
Railway Association of Southern California is dedicated to encouraging the next generation of rail and transit professionals. Below is a small introduction to our six scholarship recipients for 2026. We applaud their determination and achievements, and look forward to seeing more from them in the years to come.
Undergraduate Scholars:
Anne Coady, San Diego State University
Anne is a fourth-year student at San Diego State pursuing a B.S. in Civil Engineering with a concentration in Transportation. At SDSU, she is involved in Engineers without Borders, ASCE, AGC, and the school radio. Currently, she works as an Intern at RailPros in the Track and Civil design department. Anne aspires to pursue a career advancing sustainability, with a focus on innovative solutions that can be used to enhance the capabilities of public transportation systems that prioritize meaningful community impact.
Jack Terry, California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo
Jack is studying Civil Engineering at Cal Poly SLO with a minor in City and Regional Planning, where he is involved in ASCE and the ASCE Pacific Southwest Student Symposium Transportation Design Project. He is interning with HDR in San Diego, working as a Rail and Transit intern. Jack’s goal is to help design safe, reliable, and resilient infrastructure that improves mobility and strengthens local communities.
Mila Mattson, University of Southern California
Mila is a second-year student at USC, where she is enrolled in a progressive degree program where she’ll receive a BS in Industrial and Systems Engineering and a MS in Data Analytics. Through that, she is involved in projects with ITE, including an analysis of pedestrian movement during LA28. She is interested in interest in improving rail systems through creative, data-driven solutions.
Graduate Scholars:
Ashankh Jaishankar, San Jose State University
Ashankh is a graduate student at San José State University pursuing a Master of Science in Transportation Management and a Transit Planner at HDR. Previously at SANDAG, he led the Regionwide Grade Separation Study and provided technical expertise on major projects, including LOSSAN Rail Realignment, the proposed rail extension to the U.S.-Mexico Border, and grade separation initiatives in Downtown San Diego and La Mesa. His work focuses on rail planning, corridor development, and stakeholder engagement. Ashankh believes rail is the future of sustainable transportation and hopes to help communities, decision-makers, and industry leaders share that vision as they plan for the next generation of mobility.
Montana Reinoehl, University of California, Irvine
Montana is a PhD student at UCI studying Transportation Systems Engineering, where he co-founded the Graduate Association for the Institute of Transportation Studies. His research focuses on using unique data sources to examine population level long-distance commuting from both attraction and generation perspectives. His goal is to work in regional transportation planning to improve our communities.
Yanqi Luo, University of Southern California
Yanqi holds a master’s degree in urban planning from USC, with a focus on transportation planning, and is currently pursuing graduate studies in Emerging Transportation Systems. She also works as a transit planning intern at AECOM, where she is currently contributing to light rail and transit planning projects. Her interests lie at the intersection of transit planning, transportation engineering, data analysis, and safety. Her goal is to bridge planning and engineering to support stronger, data-informed transportation decisions.
