AnnuAl RepoRt - University of Alabama at Birmingham

Workforce Development in Real Time:
Crystal Franklin Joins UTC Staff
Former UTC student intern, Crystal Franklin, has returned to the
UTC as a full-time staff member. Crystal, the UTC’s 2009 Summer
Intern, supports UTC Leadership in a variety of Center-related
activities including grant writing, administrative duties, webinar
planning and by providing invaluable assistance with various
research projects. Crystal is a graduate of Huntingdon College in
Montgomery, AL, and received her Master of Public Health, with
a concentration in Epidemiology, in August 2009. Crystal can be
reached at crynklin@uab.edu.
Crystal is not the first former student employee/intern to return
to the UTC, or to its sister Center, the Injury Control Research
Center (ICRC), in a full-time capacity. Jeff Foster, who has risen
through the ranks to that of the UAB UTC’s current Associate
Director for Administration and Finance, came to the ICRC as an
intern approximately 6 years ago. Dr. Despina Stavrinos, the UAB
UTC’s Second Post-Doctoral Fellow, started her professional career
with the Center as a Graduate Research Assistant. Dr. Andrea
Underhill, former UAB UTC Associate Director for Administration
and Finance, began her professional UAB career as an ICRC
Student Assistant, as did Ms. Carrie Connolly, MPH and Ms.
Katherine Terry Harper, MPH , both of whom were former UAB
UTC educational liaisons, coming, originally to the Center as
student workers.
The UAB UTC has established, as a priority, the early identification
and nurturing of students (high school through post-doctoral
studies) for possible professional careers in the vast field of transportation.
The priority is being pursued through several distinct
but related pathways. Our Minority Enrichment Summer Internship
targets exceptional high school students during the summer
following their graduation and their first matriculation at a college
or university. This program being operated by the UAB UTC in
conjunction with the Jefferson County (Alabama) Youth Transportation
Program (described elsewhere in this document) and UAB’s
Office of the Vice President for Equity and Diversity is assuring
that the brightest and the best high school graduates are being
exposed to a broad constellation of professional opportunities in
transportation. Further, undergraduate students as well as masters
and doctoral students from a variety of disciplines are working as
part time research assistants on various transportation research,
education and training projects across the center. The Center is
also providing annual one to three year post-doctoral fellowship
positions to qualified individuals holding doctoral degrees who
are focusing or re-focusing their professional career aspirations on
some relevant aspect of transportation.
Crystal Franklin, MPH
Jeff Foster, MPH
Despina Stavrinos, PhD
Andrea Underhill, PhD
Carrie Connolly, MPH
Katherine Terry Harper, MPH
Specific Accomplishments 55