Saima Zaheen is pursuing a doctoral degree in civil engineering at The University of Texas at El Paso, where she earned a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering in 2025. Her research interests include transportation safety, micromobility planning, and intelligent transportation systems. She has worked with the City of El Paso’s Intersection Safety Improvement Program, analyzing crash data and supporting safety-based decision-making for local intersections. She also contributed to a USDOT-funded University Transportation Center (C2Smarter) project to enhance transit access and safety through an equitable micromobility solutions focused on underserved populations. Her dissertation research focuses on converting the manual intersection crash analysis process into a semi-automated process using machine learning. Zaheen has also held several leadership positions at UT El Paso, in the Institute of Transportation Engineers UTEP Student Chapter, and the Bangladeshi Students Association. Following graduation, she plans to continue contributing to innovative, data-driven solutions in the transportation policy landscape.