Dana Abudayyeh graduated from University of Canterbury with a PhD degree in Civil Engineering. Dana is the recipient of five awards: the NZ Transportation Group Tertiary Study Grant, the Best Student Paper at the Engineering NZ TG conference, the NZMUGs student and young professional award, the Austraffic ITE ANZ- travel grant to present her research in Japan, and recently the ITE-ANZ Award of Excellence for her development of the ITE-ANZ Transport Chapter at University of Canterbury.