Dr. Zhou named WTS - CT Woman of the Year

The Women’s Transportation Seminar Connecticut Chapter (WTS CT) named Central Connecticut State University professor Dr. Bin (Brenda) Zhou its 2025 Woman of the Year during its annual banquet on April 2. This recognition is awarded to a leader who makes outstanding contributions to the industry by contributing to the advancement of women in transportation.  

Zhou joined WTS as a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin and received WTS International’s Helene M. Overly Memorial Graduate Scholarship in 2008. When she moved to Connecticut, Zhou started participating in WTS Connecticut through its Student Outreach and Scholarship Committee and was honored with the Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership Award by both WTS Connecticut and WTS International in 2020.

Zhou is especially committed to STEM outreach that promotes postsecondary opportunities for youth, especially those from historically underrepresented groups. In collaboration with two project managers at the Connecticut Department of Transportation, she launched Connecticut’s National Summer Transportation Institute (NSTI) in 2013, serving nearly 100 high school students in five years. NSTI evolved into the Connecticut Summer Transportation Institute in 2025.

She has contributed to other similar projects, including the NSF-funded Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation program and Central’s Next Generation Student Success, Diversity, Innovation, and Community Engagement project, Cultivating a Culture of Inclusion: Women Thriving in STEM.    

Zhou serves as a faculty advisor to Central’s Society of Women Engineers and American Society of Civil Engineers student clubs, collaborating regularly with industry partners to enhance student engagement and support student success.