Spartan Profiles: Bellandra Foster
STREET SMARTS
The phrase 'intelligent transportation systems' may seem like an oxymoron to motorists wading through layers of loops and clover leafs. But don't tell that to Bellandra Foster, '83, Ph.D. '99, whose doctoral thesis was on ITS and whose company, BBF Engineering Services PC, Beverly Hills, has projected sales of $600,000 involving road construction on I-69 in St. Clair County and on I-75 in Wayne County.
'The new ITS technology involves things like changing electronic message boards, traffic diversion, and how motorists respond,' explains Foster. 'I'm fascinated by the mixture of transportation science and human factors. It's not something that fits a formula.'
Bellandra was fascinated by math and science as a youngster in Flint, and came to MSU because liked the campus when she had visited her sister Glorietta, '73. 'I enjoyed MSU, but as an engineering student, I did not enjoy it as much as my friends,' she recalls. 'I studied all the time. After four years, I was ready to move on.'
After a master's degree from Wayne State, she worked as director of the Atlanta (GA) Bureau of Highways and Streets and later spent seven years as a civil engineer with the Michigan Dept. of Transportation.
In 1994 Bellandra decided to begin her doctoral degree even though, as she puts it, 'I'm a mother, a wife, and run my own business.' But she chose MSU for her doctoral degree 'because I wanted to work with Dr. (William) Taylor,' she explains. 'Also, being able to work with a panel of renowned people was enough to make me make the drive to East Lansing.'
Her panel included MSU's Thomas Maleck, Frank McKelvey and Joseph Gardiner, and WSU's Mumtaz Usmen. Three prestigious fellowships helped greatly. In Fall 1998, her company was named Minority Business of the Year by the Federal Highway Administration. How did she do it? Probably with ITS - intelligent time-management system.
