ILITE Annual Banquet 2026

The Illinois Section of ITE held our 2026 Annual Banquet on Thursday, January 22nd. Thank you to everyone who came to Carnivale in Chicago, the night was full of great food, and even greater people! The new ILITE board was sworn in, and we are excited to welcome our new members on the team for a productive 2026!

President:

Tyler Grau, PE

Vice President:

Kristel Shu Bassett, PE, PTOE

Secretary:

Micah Makaiwi, PE, PTOE

Treasurer:

Andrew Hein, PE

Anmol Shrivastava, PE, PTOE, RSP2I will become the Immediate Past President and Monica Shei, PE, PTOE, will serve as the Section Representative.

Activities Committee: Danh Nguyen & Jason Man

Student Affairs Committee: Michael Williamson

Technical Committee: Erica Salutz

Public Affairs Committee: Milan Patel

Operations Committee: Jayesh Dongre

Congratulations to our esteemed award winners:

John LaPlante Award: Daniel Burke

Outstanding Member Award: Jason Man

Outgoing President Award: Anmol Shrivastava

The winners for the Student Scholarship Award Undergraduate: Moses Devadass (University of Illinois at Chicago)

The winner for the Student Scholarship Award Graduate: Fateme Hafizi (Illinois Institute of Technology)

The Student Paper Award was awarded to Sajad Askari from University of Illinois at Chicago for his paper “Strategic Approaches to Overcoming Implementation Barriers in Innovative Transportation System Solutions: A Case Study of Transit Signal Priority”

Lastly, Illinois Institute of Technology won the Student Chapter Award.

Thank you to our wonderful panel speakers, we hope to hear more from you in the future!

Erin Aleman - Executive Director, CMAP

Holly Bieneman - Director of the Office of Planning and Programming, IDOT

Browse some pictures below, captured by the amazing Danh Nguyen. We are excited to see you at the banquet next year, here’s to a great 2026!

Mentorship Match Celebration - November 6th, 2025

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Mentorship Match Social celebration hosted on November 6th, 2025! We had a great time mini golfing at Big Mini Putt Club in Wicker Park, and we're looking forward to doing it again next year after the 2026 Mentorship Match program.

The Mentorship Match Program is a great way to continue your connection to other transportation professionals. If you’re an experienced veteran in the transportation world, or you’re a young member looking for guidance and networking opportunities, consider joining the Mentorship Match Program in 2026! The program is fully at your own pace, we set you up with a match every month with a prompt for your meeting, and let you run it with your match. You're neither too young nor too old to join, and we'd love to have you. Please be on the lookout in the spring for your next opportunity to join the 2026 cohort.