Alejandro Henao spends a lot of time thinking about transportation, because that’s what students studying civil engineering and transportation do. But the University of Colorado Denver doctoral student wanted to do more — and see his city act, too.

So Henao, with the CU Denver chapters of the Institute of Transportation Engineers and WTS, organized a panel discussion with some of the major players in local transportation. It’s called the Future of Transportation in Denver Summit.

“The main reason to do this is to start a conversation about designing better cities with so many changes in transportation these days,” says Henao. “Just having seen all these other conferences around the country, there’s a lot of other conversations out there and I haven’t really seen it in Denver.”

What’s being done now to ensure Denver’s transportation network accommodates the 800,000 new people expected to join the region in the next 15 years? Are government agencies, companies, and academia prepared to solve the problem by rethinking how people get around safely and efficiently?

Denver’s Director of Transportation Crissy Fanganello, RTD Interim General Manager Dave Genoa, Lyft Director of Transportation Policy Emily Castor, and Wesley Marshall, a civil engineering professor at CU Denver, will explore these questions and others. I’ll be moderating the discussion.

“From my perspective there’s a lot of stuff that the university can do for research for the city, RTD, Lyft, and other private companies,” says Henao. “That’s why we diversified the panel. It’s about the collaboration between different entities and how we can support and help each other.”

So hear what decision makers have to say by joining the discussion Friday, December 4, at CU Denver’s Student Commons, 1201 Larimer St., from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm (lunch included). You can register for the event here.