Akofio-Sowah wins WTS-Atlanta Leadership Legacy Scholarship

Doctoral candidate Margaret-Avis Akofio-Sowah has won the Leadership Legacy Scolarship from the Atlanta chapter of Women’s Transportation Seminar (now known simply as WTS).

She’ll receive her award later this month at a special luncheon and now competes with other winners across the country for the national Beverley Swaim Staley Leadership Legacy Scholarship.

Akofio-Sowah’s current research focuses on transportation infrastructure asset management and using asset-management tools to help transportation agencies plan and make policy. She said her interest in studying transportation stems from a desire to understand some of the flaws of the transportation system in her home city of Accra, Ghana, and to investigate how transportation improvements can be leveraged for increased development and economic growth.

Akofio-Sowah said she also is passionate about encouraging women and minorities to participate in science, technology, engineering and math (the STEM fields) because she was one of the few women in her high school in those courses.

The WTS Leadership Legacy Scholarship recognizes graduate students with specific interests in advancing transportation innovation internationally. The scholarship particularly targets young women interested in sustainability and public transit.