With hundreds of screens tracking every metro car and bus, and operators responding to errors and emergencies, one might think they’ve stepped onto the set of the hit television show NCIS rather than the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) Command Center.
This sense of entering the heart of D.C.’s transit system is exactly what Joshua Shapo, a junior electrical engineering major and chair of GW’s student branch of IEEE, an international professional organization, experienced on March 4 alongside a multidisciplinary group of peers.
Representing electrical, computer, systems, and power engineering, as well as computer science, each student got a glimpse of how their field contributes to WMATA’s success. The trip, made possible after Sasha Green, a junior systems engineering major, requested a tour following her WMATA internship in the summer, exemplified the student branch’s mission to connect students with companies and resources across D.C.
WMATA serves approximately four million people, helping them reach their destinations safely every day. Shapo left the visit impressed by the number of public servants required to complete this work and their dedication to maintaining such critical infrastructure.
This dedication was evident in Shapo’s conversation with Sam Mencimer, an engineer at WMATA who uses his daily commute to note improvements and then pitches them to his boss. One such project involves developing a digital version of the analog mechanical timers that Metro stations have used for decades to time the spacing between cars, bridging legacy systems with modern, reliable technology.
“Obviously, there are large-scale, narrative-focused projects they have engineers working on, but it seemed like for him a lot of the projects he worked on were things he found that he could improve, and he had a lot of flexibility,” Shapo stated.
Like Mencimer, Shapo aspires to serve the public and lead impactful missions. He is gaining experience across sectors, including internships at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, IEEE’s Washington Internships for Students of Engineering (WISE) program, and SpaceX.
Shapo’s vision as chair of GW’s IEEE student branch is similar to that of his own career: to serve as a bridge. He first wants to bridge the gap between scientists and engineers and the government. He’s building a strong foundation for this work, with his WISE research focusing on autonomous aviation regulation and his upcoming Starlink technical policy internship at SpaceX.
Through IEEE, Shapo helps GW Engineering students bridge academia and industry. He’s working on building strong relationships within the IEEE community, as both chair of GW’s student branch and a regional volunteer, cultivating countless professional development opportunities for himself and other students, including the WMATA site visit and participation in the annual Congressional Visit Day coordinated by IEEE-USA, an organizational unit of IEEE.
“Many universities have IEEE student branches that are more technically focused because these universities are quite frankly in the middle of nowhere,” said Shapo. “Because we have such a wealth of resources in the D.C. area, we try to help fill the gaps in connecting GW Engineering students to industry.”
This ‘bridge’ isn’t just theoretical; it’s producing tangible career pathways. Last year, only Shapo and biomedical engineering sophomore Aidan Schurr attended the Congressional Visit Day. This year, that number tripled to six.
Their initiative also led to a formal partnership between IEEE’s WISE program and GW Engineering’s Summer Undergraduate Program in Engineering Research (SUPER), resulting in a new ‘SUPER WISE’ internship program. Outreach for the program was so successful–and the applicant pool so strong–that IEEE hired three GW Engineering students for this summer rather than just the two promised spots. In alignment with the school’s ‘Engineering and…’ narrative, these students will focus on a policy topic closely connected to their technical research.
Whether through lobbying, internships, or visits to public infrastructure such as the Metro, Shapo and GW’s IEEE student branch are helping GW Engineering become more deeply involved in public service and policy decision-making.
“At GW, the idea is that we are not just supposed to be technical engineers but engineers who are part of a greater mission or tasks. The WMATA tour really emphasized that point,” said Shapo.