Student-led success drives Mississippi State ITE chapter to national recognition

The Mississippi State University's Institute of Transportation Engineers student chapter in the Rula School for Civil and Environmental Engineering is celebrating the end of a successful year after being recognized in two national competitions.

This year, the chapter earned its highest-ever finish in the ITE Southern District Traffic Bowl and placed second in the international ITE Sandbox Competition, capping off what faculty advisor Fei Wang describes as an exceptional year of student leadership, professional development and community engagement.

In his role as an advisor, Wang serves as a resource for students, offering guidance when they ask for it while encouraging them to take ownership of the chapter.

The chapter once again won the Deep South Traffic Bowl, advancing to the Southern District competition against top universities from eight states. Mississippi State defeated defending last year champion Virginia Tech before finishing third overall—its highest placement to date behind Clemson University and the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The students also competed in ITE's Sandbox Competition, a transportation planning challeng

e in which teams submit technical reports, designs and presentations addressing real-world mobility issues. Fourteen teams advanced to the international competition, where Mississippi State earned second place after a closely contested final round decided by a single judge's vote.

For Wang, the results are impressive, but they represent only part of what makes the chapter suc

cessful.

"They're doing a fantastic job," he said.

Throughout the academic year, the organization connects students with practicing transportation engineers through regular meetings featuring professionals from the Mississippi Department of Transportation and priva

te engineering firms. These sessions give students firsthand insight into career opportunities while helping them build professional networks before graduation.

The chapter also prioritizes service, organizing Adopt-a-Highway cleanups, participating in campus transportation-related projects and hosting outreach activities that introduce new and prospective students to the transportation engineering profession.

"Every month they invite engineers to come talk with students about what transportation engineering looks like and what their careers can be," Wang said. "They begin to understand what kind of work they'll do in the future and how they can become better transportation engineers."

As chapter president, Cooper Snell saw firsthand how the organization prepared students for competition while building leadership skills that extended beyond engineering coursework.

“As chapter president, I am incredibly proud of what our chapter has accomplished this year, especially our performance in the Sandbox Competition. The competition challenged our students to think beyond traditional engineering solutions and consider the people and communities those solutions serve. I hope this success, especially in our first year competing, inspires our students to keep pushing themselves and building on this momentum,” Snell said.

Several years ago, Wang said, the chapter navigated a period of significant change, particularly in the years following COVID. During this time, Rula School Director Isaac Howard highlighted the ITE student competition as one of the school’s major student activities, inspiring more students to get involved and discover the opportunities ITE offered. Over the past five years, the chapter has continued to build on that momentum, with

students taking on greater leadership roles and embracing opportunities to apply their skills, challenge themselves, and think beyond the classroom.

Currently, the chapter has around 30 regular student members. This year’s success in the Sandbox Competition marked another step forward, and the chapter’s participation in both competitions gave students opportunities to apply their technical skills and consider the broader impact of transportation engineering.

Wang said he hopes this year's accomplishments will serve as a foundation for future success. With new student officers taking over this fall, the chapter plans to return to both competitions with even higher expectations. He continued saying that the chapter's greatest accomplishment isn't measured solely by trophies or rankings. It's found in the confidence students gain by leading projects, serving their communities and preparing one another for successful careers in transportation engineering.