2022 Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship Awarded to Researchers Robert Ambunda and Lucia Game
The Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship celebrates the vision and contributions to sustainable transport and energy of Dr. Leon J. Schipper, pictured above, co-founder of EMBARQ – today the sustainable urban mobility initiative of WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. Photo by EMBARQ/WRI Ross Center
Two new researchers have been awarded the prestigious Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship for Sustainable Transport and Energy Efficiency for transformative research proposals to challenge conventional wisdom. In addition to the global award to a young researcher or researchers, which has been awarded since 2012, a second award supports a young African researcher, an extension of the scholarship now in its third year.
The Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship continues the legacy of Lee Schipper’s enrichment of international policy dialogue in the fields of sustainable transport and energy efficiency. Schipper, a physicist, researcher, musician and co-founder of EMBARQ (today the Urban Mobility program of WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities) inspired and shaped the thinking of a generation of students and professionals. The scholarship provides funding support and mentoring advice to support promising research proposals. The scholarship is supported by the Volvo Research and Educational Foundation.
This year’s awardees are:
Robert Ambunda for Reimagining Non-Motorized Transport Policies in Secondary Urban African Towns. Robert is the lead researcher in the Mobility Lab at the University of Namibia’s School of Engineering and the Built Environment. His research interests include areas around transport policy; sustainable, resilient, and equitable transport systems; transport modelling; climate change and adaptation; and road safety. His study aims to shift the mobility paradigm of secondary cities and towns in Africa by designing a series of intervention and policy approaches that support active and sustainable mobility.
Lucia Game for Leveraging Emerging Demand-Response Technologies to Modernize Informal Transportation Systems in Latin America. Lucia is a recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, with a M.S. in Transportation Engineering and holds a B.S. in Systems Science and Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. Her academic focus is on emerging technologies in transportation and their social and environmental impacts in developing countries. Previously, Lucía worked at Via Transportation, a leading micromobility company, where she worked on the launch and operation of projects across the United States. Her research will focus on how emerging technologies, specifically demand-responsive tools, can help Latin American cities better leverage informal transportation systems.
With the support of the WRI and the World Bank, both scholars will present their work at the upcoming Transforming Transportation 2023 conference to recognize and inspire future young researchers to shape the future of the transport sector.
On behalf of the Scholarship Board and the Schipper Family, co-founders Holger Dalkmann and Ramon Munoz-Raskin congratulate the new scholars and thank the Volvo Research and Educational Foundation and other partners for their support.
