"I'm deeply honored to be receiving the Alumnus of the Year Award, and I'm very proud to be a Brooklyn College graduate," said Schwartz. "My Brooklyn College education carried me through a wonderful and storied career."

"He's an international consultant on bridges and transportation and being affiliated with New York City, I felt he would be a strong candidate for this honor," said Ron Schweiger, the Brooklyn Borough Historian and President of the Brooklyn College Alumni Association who nominated Schwartz for the award. "Looking over the list of graduates, we look for individuals who have gone on, excelled and done great things in their particular fields and Sam was the perfect nominee."

Since graduating from Brooklyn College in 1969 with a degree in Physics, Schwartz went on to work for New York City's Department of Transportation for almost 20 years before founding his own transportation consulting firm. Schwartz continues to pen the Gridlock Sam Traffic Column for the New York Daily News, now going on 22 years and counting. In addition, Schwartz serves as President of the NYC Bridge Centennial Commission, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit designed to promote infrastructure awareness.

Schwartz continues to return to Brooklyn College on a regular basis, serving as a guest lecturer, mentoring students and loaning his time to the Alumni Association.

Past recipients of the Alumni of the Year Award include U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, Actor Jimmy Smits and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

About Sam Schwartz Engineering, PLLC
SSE is a transportation engineering and planning firm offering a variety of services throughout the world including traffic engineering, transportation planning, transportation safety, transit/rail and civil design. Since its inception in 1995, SSE has grown from one office headquartered in New York City to offices across the United States including Chicago, Los Angeles, Newark, Philadelphia, Tampa and Washington D.C.