����Ӱ��

“The goal of a university education is to learn how to think, not what to think,” Patrick Marnell said of his time at ����Ӱ�� State.

Still in contact with fellow students, faculty, and alumni, Marnell attributes his success to friendships made in college. He received the 2024 Institute of Transportation Engineers Western District Mentor Award for supporting young professionals in career development.

“Whether through work, professional societies, or volunteering, seek out opportunities with your community,” Marnell said. “Be nice to everyone; one day they may be a customer, a co-worker, or a comrade.”

After graduate school, Marnell worked for Kittelson and Associates for six years. He said his work on signal-retiming U.S. 93 through Kalispell, Montana, was an “inflection point” in his career. Shortly after, he joined Q-Free, a company that develops software for traffic signals. “I went from applying my engineering knowledge through tools, to applying my engineering knowledge to design the tools,” he said.

Marnell collaborates with software engineers to build tools useful to traffic engineers and technicians.

“The products I manage drive the industry forward. I’m proud to say that nearly all the traffic signals in ����Ӱ�� currently run Q-Free’s Maxtime software,” he said. “Rather than technology replacing people, technology will be used to reduce mundane or repetitive tasks,” he said. “This will allow humans more time to design, operate, and maintain our increasingly sophisticated transportation systems.”

• B.S. CIVIL ENGINEERING, 2008
• M.S. CIVIL ENGINEERING, 2013