Lee Hyatt: From the Physics Classroom to City Transportation Planning

Lee Hyatt enrolled in the Engineering Education Master's program in 2021, originally to improve his teaching skills and potentially become a department chair. He pursued the program concurrently while teaching high school physics at the college prep and Advanced Placement levels at a Stamford, CT, school. The MS ENE program made Lee a more formidable teacher with diversified materials. "For the first time, I understood how learning occurs and strategies for me to scaffold better units and projects without sacrificing fun," he says.

Lee also gained valuable confidence reading and writing research-level papers, finally understanding statistics and learning to design a quality test for research. He had the freedom to write research papers related to the theory of planned behavior and how people choose their transportation mode. For an outreach program, Lee planned a bicycle maintenance and safety program, which directly connected him with the State's Safe Routes to School Coordinator, who carries out those very programs.

Most importantly, the program reshaped how Lee saw the field itself. "MS ENE expanded my worldview of what an engineer is and how there are other potential careers for engineering education in industry and government," he says. That shift, coupled with the need to complete graduate-level engineering courses, led him to pursue additional courses that shaped his current career as a City Transportation Planner. "I am ecstatic about this new career field since I will combine my knowledge of engineering design and education with public engagement meetings," he says.