ITS Professional Capacity Building Program

Learning Testimonials

Matt Letourneau, P.E., PTOE Principal Transportation Engineer Edwards and Kelcey Chicago, IL

Matt is a civil engineer with increasing responsibility for meeting clients' ITS planning and deployment needs. While working on a major ITS project in Peoria, IL, he prepared for and facilitated a stakeholder workshop to educate key stakeholders, including the MPO, on the need for a regional ITS architecture. Matt contributed to the development of the project architecture through the use of Turbo Architecture, as well as the investigation of ITS technologies and the preparation of contract plans for the installation of ITS components.

What particular ITS challenges do you face in your job?

My formal education was in conventional civil engineering, with an emphasis on traffic. On-line training has presented a great opportunity to build my ITS skills.

What ITS training have you undertaken?

All of my ITS training has been Web-based, through CITE:

With completion of my next CITE course, Advanced Telecommunications Technology, I'll earn CITE's new ITS Systems Certificate.

How has the CITE training benefited you, and the firm?

The training has been very effective, particularly from the standpoint of timing. In the private sector, the cost of training usually needs to be justified in terms of its applicability to current and upcoming projects. Because the CITE training is available on-line, I was able to take courses and immediately apply the material to my work. For example, while taking the Systems Engineering course, I was preparing for a stakeholder workshop that included a discussion of the systems engineering approach. I've also frequently found that an element of course training fits into a real-world situation.

The main thing in this field is knowing where to go for answers when a question arises. Because of this training, I find that it takes less time to find the answers. My firm works on fixed-price contracts, so saving time and increasing efficiency are of obvious value to the company, as well as to our clients.