This past week, Glendedora Dolce will wrap up her time as the 2023 Thomas J. O’Bryant Fellow at the Eno Center for Transportation. The fellowship provides professional development opportunities for emerging  transportation professionals and students.

Glen will return to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the fall to resume her studies as a doctoral student in Health and Public Policy in the department of Healthy Policy and Management.

Now at the close of her time with Eno, Glen provides some insight into her experience as a fellow and what’s next for her career.

What was the most valuable thing you learned during the fellowship?

The most valuable thing I learned is the process of what goes into policy research, and how it’s used by policy makers. Also, new things I’ve learned have been valuable as well. I didn’t really know much about other transit systems. I was able to work and review certain papers and help with those projects such as governance models for transit systems, the national VMT project. I didn’t really know about those topic areas, but I thought it was very valuable to know, since these things are very important, especially with the times that our nation is going through in terms of transportation.

How will your experience at Eno inform your work moving forward?

Working at Eno has really opened my mind to other transportation industries and modes. So I would say that Eno will help me to become a well-rounded transportation expert, which is one of my goals. Eno really gave me additional knowledge in regards to transportation that I can carry back to my research I continue in school.

“Working at Eno has really opened my mind to other transportation industries and modes. So I would say that Eno will help me to become a well-rounded transportation expert, which is one of my goals.”

Has your work connected with your studies? If so, how?

My study focus involves policy issues at the intersection of injury disparities and motor vehicle traffic crashes, so it combines perfectly with my work at Eno. My focus was on motor vehicle safety, but I would say that being at Eno has helped me learn to be more open-minded. That focus may change, or maybe I can merge those interests together looking at other transit systems as well. We’ll see – I still have a few more years of school to go.

What’s next for you?

I’ll be starting my second year within my PhD programs. The second year is when the dissertation topics come into picture. I’m trying to figure out what that will entail. So, that will be that. My experience at Eno will really help me to ponder and brainstorm about a dissertation topic that will benefit the public.

What advice would you give to future Thomas J. O’Bryant fellows?

I would say: be open-minded. Be ready to learn, be ready to be challenged. You will be challenged in really great ways. Also that the staff at Eno are very welcoming, they’re amazing people. You’ll be surrounded by amazing experts. So I would really get to know them. Also, help in any way that you can. And be ready to be stretched in really good ways! You’ll come out with a lot of knowledge. That’s a promise.