The class takes a break while on a bike tour underneath a tree in a public park, listening to a guest speaker. The image on the right shows a streetcar approaching with tracks running through a grassy park. 

After 2 weeks of a hands-on, in-person participatory exploration of a city with world-renowned multimodal infrastructure, the 2026 Portland State University (PSU) Sustainable Transportation Study Abroad class has concluded. 

“It’s really about giving them a real-life experience of riding in a world-class biking city,” PSU lead instructor John MacArthur said. 

Alongside MacArthur and co-instructor and PSU alum Nick Falbo (Mobycon), this year’s class of 16 students rode buses, light rail, and subway trains, walked, biked, and absorbed how Copenhagen was built for human connectivity and accessible transportation. The students expe…

Abby Griffith, longtime transportation accessibility advocate, waits for the approaching streetcar behind the truncated dome tactile markers at the stop. Abby Griffith wears sunglasses and a pink, red, and purple floral shirt as she smiles. 

Abby Griffith is heading into her second year as a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning student with a focus on transportation planning, set to graduate next year in 2027. She has been involved in transportation advocacy for several years and was a co-founder of Empower Movement Washington. She was a lead organizer of Bus Riders Unite until January this year, keeping it alive after the lead organization OPAL closed in 2024 and another fiscal sponsor and organizer were found to sustain the work. Additionally, Griffith helped launch the Week without Driving campaign in 2021. 

What brought you to the transportation fi…

Kirk Paulsen wears a hat and glasses and smiles in front of a background of trees and a river. Paulsen, now a Senior Engineer at Parametrix, previously worked as a Transportation Engineer at Alta Planning + Design where he contributed to a Kellogg boulevard redesign which is shown above. The before image features a boulevard with a parking lane and three driving lanes in each direction separated by a green median. The after image reveals the changes: a bi-directional bike path protected by a nature strip and two lanes of traffic in each direction separated by another green median, with bump outs into the reservation for parking. 

Kirk Paulsen graduated from Portland State University in 2018 with a Masters of Science in Civil Engineering. He now works as a Senior Engineer at Parametrix’s Portland location. Previously, he was a Transportation Engineer at Alta Planning + Design and a Traffic Analyst at various firms in Portland/Seattle. 

ITE-STEP has hosted and participated in activities from presentations with local transportation experts, bike rides, transportation knowledge competition, and walking paths exploring what Portland and surrounding areas has to offer. 

The Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning (ITE-STEP) at Portland State University (PSU) has been a key conduit for creating opportunities for professional and academic development. The club is supported by PSU’s Student Activities and Leadership Programs and PacTrans and also serves as the student chapter for the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). With the end of the academic year, we wanted to share more about these student leaders.

For outgoing ITE-STEP President Elias Peters, public transit and active tr…

Former Congressman Earl Blumenauer presents to the 2026 Community Transportation Academy cohort. 

“This incredible curriculum seriously upleveled my knowledge base and confidence level to become more active in transit advocacy,” 2026 Community Transportation Academy (CTA) attendee Lauren Armony said. “[It] gave me, an adult community member, the rare and exciting opportunity to learn more about regional transportation policy and planning with university students, and meet other interested peers for free!” 

As the 2026 CTA comes to an end, we reflect on this program’s history, growth, and impact. The CTA helps community members familiarize themselves with the agencies, plans, decisions, investments, and discussions that result in transportation systems. State and local transportation topics are covered, delivered by PSU faculty, researchers, and transportation experts from Portland and beyond. This ye…