Virginia Tech student Alexis Basantis was honored as the Safe-D 2018 Outstanding Student of the Year for her many distinctive contributions at the 2019 CUTC Annual Awards Banquet.
The Council of University Transportation Centers celebrated its 2019 Annual Awards Banquet on January 12th in Washington, D.C., celebrating the outstanding students and faculty who have contributed to transportation research and education. 300 distinguished transportation leaders were in attendance representing academia, the transportation industry and government.
Pursuing her Master of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from Virginia Tech, Alexis Basantis was honored as the Safe-D 2018 Outstanding Student of the Year for her many distinctive contributions. During her undergraduate career, Alexis led numerous engineering outreach initiatives for K-12 students and held an internship position at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. She currently works at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute in the Center for Advanced Automotive Research where she conducts research focusing on transportation safety, with special emphasis on examining how to improve user interaction and trust in highly automated and connected vehicles.
Among her many accomplishments, Ms. Basantis has excelled academically in her coursework while serving integral roles within Safe-D, including assisting with the development and execution of Safe-D outreach programming. She has also developed and led several projects at VTTI and Safe-D, focusing on advanced vehicle systems, one of which is currently supporting her thesis.