Lewis is a Professor in Transportation Studies and Emeritus Director of the Center for Transportation Training and Research at Texas Southern University (TSU). She educates students in fundamentals of transportation and urban transportation issues, as well as conducts operational and policy related transportation research.  Prior to joining Texas Southern University in 1992, Lewis spent 15 years as manager and director of planning at the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO). Lewis served as an appointee of former Mayor Sylvester Turner and County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Harris County Commissioner’s Court to Chair the Gulf Coast Rail District ending in 2024.  Through this appointment, Lewis was a member of the Houston Galveston Area Council’s Transportation Policy Council beginning in 2018.  Lewis was the 2024 Chairperson of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Transportation Research Board’s Executive Committee.  She served as a METRO Board Member from 2002 to early 2004 and as Executive Assistant to Mayor Bill White for Transportation Planning 2005 to 2009. In April 2025, she was named UH Hobby’s School Pioneer  awardee. 

Lewis co-authored the Phase I study of the Automated Mobility District supporting METRO’s automated vehicle demonstration project on TSU’s campus. In addition to automated vehicles, her research focuses on incorporating vulnerable populations into planning activities.  She is also examining the characteristics and challenges of Inland Ports.  

Lewis is honored to have been named the Houston COMTO chapter’s inaugural Women Who Move the Region awardee in 2024 and received the UH Hobby School of Public Affair’s Pioneer award 2025.  She also received TRB’s Sharon D. Banks Humanitarian Award and WTS Houston Chapter’s Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership Award. She holds a Master’s degree in planning and the Ph.D. in Political Science with an emphasis in Public Policy and Public Administration.