{"id":13686,"date":"2026-07-22T09:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T14:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/?post_type=campus_story&p=13686"},"modified":"2026-07-22T09:32:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T14:32:12","slug":"earning-a-degree-that-delivers-uw-superiors-bradley-lellis-is-on-the-transportation-and-logistics-career-fast-track","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/earning-a-degree-that-delivers-uw-superiors-bradley-lellis-is-on-the-transportation-and-logistics-career-fast-track\/","title":{"rendered":"Earning a degree that delivers: UW-Superior’s Bradley Lellis is on the transportation and logistics career fast track"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Photo:<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Like many young boys, Bradley Lellis enjoyed building with LEGO bricks. His favorite creations were planes, ships and trains. He also loved watching their real-life counterparts pass by in his daily travels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who would have thought those early interests would shape his dream career?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A native of California, Lellis graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Superior May 16 with a major in transportation and logistics management<\/a> (T&L). He explained how he first caught the \u201ctransportation bug.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a kid, I lived five minutes away from the train tracks,\u201d Lellis said. \u201cThat included both Amtrak and massive freight trains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI liked aviation, too. I flew frequently to visit my aunt and uncle in Orange County and always loved being on airplanes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was also interested in the maritime industry,\u201d he added. \u201cSeeing those giant container ships is like watching entire cities moving on the water. I\u2019d see them coming through the Port of Oakland, under the Golden Gate Bridge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon graduation, Lellis will be well prepared to pursue a career across multiple transportation modes \u2014 and several industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

California Roots, Midwest Opportunity<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Lellis was born and raised in Pinole, California, near San Francisco. His mother, Pam Lellis, has worked as a physical therapist for the Oakland Unified School District for much of her career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A chance encounter ultimately brought him to UW-Superior. While searching for a university with a strong T&L program, Lellis met Daniel Rust<\/a>, professor of transportation and logistics management and School of Business and Economics<\/a> department chair, during a railroad-focused youth summer camp jointly hosted by Michigan Technological University and UW-Superior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After several productive conversations, Lellis scheduled a campus tour. The rest, he said, was history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI liked the small class sizes, the fact that UW-Superior had a T&L Club, and the overall vibe of the area,\u201d Lellis said. \u201cI also love the snow, the brick buildings and the coziness of the campus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning Every Mode of Transportation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As a T&L student at UW-Superior, Lellis has studied the full scope of the transportation industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn this program, you learn about all modes of transportation,\u201d he said. \u201cThat includes air transportation \u2014 public, private and cargo; maritime transportation; ports and terminals, including how cargo moves to and from ships; land transportation, such as railroads, trucking and pipelines; and international and intermodal transportation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The curriculum also addresses the documentation and logistics required to move cargo between countries and across multiple transportation modes, such as from ship to rail to truck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lellis spoke highly of both the program and the campus experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll of my professors were very welcoming and made themselves available whenever I had questions,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve also made a lot of friends here. My overall experience has been extremely positive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faculty Perspective<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

That positive impression is mutual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a student, Brad asks insightful questions,\u201d Rust said. \u201cI can always count on him to probe beyond the obvious facts to seek a deeper understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo make the most of his opportunities at UW\u2013Superior, Bradley participated in multiple collegiate competitions, completed two internships and demonstrated strong leadership as T&L student club president,\u201d Rust said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that Lellis encouraged student engagement by launching recognition awards for club members who attended meetings, participated in trips and assumed leadership roles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBrad continually inspires me to be a better professor and mentor to the next generation of transportation professionals,\u201d Rust said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leadership Beyond the Classroom<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While completing his studies, Lellis held several part-time, on-campus positions, managing content creation for the university\u2019s marketing and athletics departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was also deeply involved in extracurricular activities. Lellis served as an events planner, social media manager and president of the T&L Club. He completed two internships \u2014 one with the Port of Oakland and another with Bio-Rad, a biotechnology company headquartered in Hercules, California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, Lellis participated in three T&L competitions and completed a customer analytics project for Lake Assault Boats, a subsidiary of Fraser Shipyards in Superior. The project was conducted alongside two fellow UW-Superior students under the guidance of Mei Cao<\/a>, professor of supply chain management<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking Ahead<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Lellis has already applied for positions across several transportation and logistics fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI applied to BNSF Railway as a management trainee,\u201d he said. \u201cThat role would take me wherever I\u2019m needed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also applied for a commercial manager position with SSA Marine in Seattle and for a role with Matson, a shipping company based in Walnut Creek, California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne day, I\u2019d love to return to the Port of Oakland,\u201d Lellis said. \u201cMy dream job is to become its director of maritime. This degree is incredibly versatile \u2014 you really can go anywhere and do so much with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Written by UW-Superior<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/uwsuper.edu\/about\/news\/earning-a-degree-that-delivers\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like many young boys, Bradley Lellis enjoyed building with LEGO bricks. His favorite creations were planes, ships and trains. He also loved watching their real-life counterparts pass by in his daily travels. Who would have thought those early interests would shape his dream career? A native of California, Lellis graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Superior […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":13687,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[110],"story_category":[148,150],"class_list":["post-13686","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-superior","story_category-economy","story_category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/13686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=13686"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=13686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}