TREC Graduate Research Assistants

Each year, 15–30 graduate students from engineering, urban studies & planning, and other fields are hired as graduate research assistants for PSU faculty as well as students to support TREC programs and research projects. Below are the Portland State University students working as graduate research assistants for TREC staff and researchers.

2023-2024

 
Evan Howington
Advisors: John MacArthur and Nathan McNeil
LinkedIn

Evan is a first year Masters student in Urban and Regional Planning at Portland State University. Prior to working with TREC, Evan worked at Trillium Transit and Optibus supporting transit agencies nationwide with disseminating passenger information and making it easier to take transit! When not thinking about transportation, Evan enjoys growing chili peppers and making his own hot sauce.
 
 

Kyu Ri Kim
Advisors: Jennifer Dill and Nathan McNeil
LinkedIn

Kyu Ri is a Ph.D. student in urban planning at the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning. She is currently supporting Jennifer Dill on various research projects. In the recent past, she supported Dr. Dill and Hau Hagedorn in transportation data analysis and visualization (including BikePed Portal and OHSU Census data), Dr. Dill and Nathan McNeil on the Research Roadmap for the AASHTO Council on Active Transportation, and other transportation research.

Julay Leatherman-Brooks
Advisor: Tammy Lee
LinkedIn

Julay Leatherman-Brooks is a masters student in computer science, with a focus on security. Julay is currently working with Tammy Lee and Basem Elazzabi on TREC’s transportation data programs, PORTAL and BikePed Portal.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jiahui Ma
Advisors: Jennifer Dill and Nathan McNeil
LinkedIn

Jiahui is a Ph.D. student in urban planning at the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning. She is currently supporting Jennifer Dill and Nathan McNeil on the Evaluation of Road User Comprehension and Compliance with Red Colored Transit Priority Lanes as well analyzing data from the Breaking Barriers to Bike Share project. 

2022 - 2023

 
Cameron Bennett
Advisor: John MacArthur

Cameron Bennett is a second-year masters student in transportation engineering. He was the recipient of a Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship presented by the U.S. Department of Transportation at the 2022 annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board. Cameron currently serves as president of the PSU student group ITE-STEP (Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning). His work as a graduate research assistant focuses on promoting and facilitating the use of active transportation as a tool for equity, livability, and economic development. He's working with John MacArthur on How Can E-bike Purchase Incentives Grow the E-bike Market?. Cameron is passionate about bicycle and pedestrian design, planning, and policy in urban environments.

Kyuri Kim
Advisor: Jennifer Dill and Nathan McNeil

Kyu Ri is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in urban planning at the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning. She is currently supporting Jennifer Dill . In the recent past, she supported Dr. Dill and Hau Hagedorn in transportation data analysis and visualization (including BikePed Portal and OHSU Census data), Dr. Dill and Nathan McNeil on the Research Roadmap for the AASHTO Council on Active Transportation, and other transportation research.
Jacqueline Krantz
Advisor: Lacey Friedly
 
Jackie is a second-year masters student in the Book Publishing program, and a project manager at PSU's Ooligan Press. She is supporting TREC communications including social media, graphic design, and copywriting, as well as disseminating results of research published by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), a program of TREC.
 Jiahui Ma
Advisors: Jennifer Dill and Nathan McNeil
Jiahui is a second-year Ph.D. student in urban planning at the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning. She is currently supporting Jennifer Dill and Nathan McNeil on the Evaluation of Road User Comprehension and Compliance with Red Colored Transit Priority Lanes as well asnalyzing data from the Breaking Barriers to Bike Share project. 
 
Prabhu Marappan
Advisors: Tammy Lee and Basem Elazzabi
Prabhu is currently pursuing his Master of Science in Computer Science from PSU. Before this he worked as a Software Engineer for 5 years in Backend Development, Infrastructure, System Design and Architecture for distributed web applications. He's an engineer looking to solve interesting engineering and data problems, and is currently supporting TREC's transportation data programs: PORTAL and BikePed Portal.
Gabriel Quiñones-Zambrana
Advisor: Hau Hagedorn
Gabriel is a first-year Ph.D. student in urban studies (urban planning) at the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning. Before this he worked in the private sector as a Transit and Transportation Planner, and in the public sector as the Director of a Planning Department in a municipality, for more than 8 years combined. Currently, he is supporting Hau Hagedorn in different tasks at TREC; working specifically with the Better Block PSU Program and other projects.
 
 

2021 - 2022

Cameron Bennett
Advisor: John MacArthur
Cameron Bennett is a first-year masters student in transportation engineering. He was the recipient of a Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship presented by the U.S. Department of Transportation at the 2022 annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board. Cameron currently serves as president of the PSU student group ITE-STEP (Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning). His work as a graduate research assistant focuses on promoting and facilitating the use of active transportation as a tool for equity, livability, and economic development. He's working with John MacArthur on How Can E-bike Purchase Incentives Grow the E-bike Market?. Cameron is passionate about bicycle and pedestrian design, planning, and policy in urban environments.
Jai Daniels
Advisor: John MacArthur
Jai Daniels is a second-year Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) student at PSU, currently working with John MacArthur on a Transportation Recovery Plan for the Regional Disaster Preparedness Organization (RPDO) and research on transportation system resiliency. Read more about Jai in this March 2021 Student Spotlight interview. She is interested in urban livability, bicycle and pedestrian planning, transit planning, and the intersection between urban planning and the environment. 
Harrison Husting
Transportation Education Program Coordinator
Advisor: Hau Hagedorn
Harrison supports program management for several TREC programs: Better Block PSU, our transportation summer camp for Oregon high school students, and annual summer research fellowship program TURF. He is pursuing a masters in Urban and Regional Planning, and is an aspiring community developer seeking to use his background in social services, program development, and research to help positively impact urban spaces and the communities they serve.
Kyuri Kim
Advisor: Jennifer Dill

Kyu Ri is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in urban planning at the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning. She is currently supporting Jennifer Dill . In the recent past, she supported Dr. Dill and Hau Hagedorn in transportation data analysis and visualization (including BikePed Portal and OHSU Census data), Dr. Dill and Nathan McNeil on the Research Roadmap for the AASHTO Council on Active Transportation, and other transportation research.
 

Jiahui Ma.jpeg

Jiahui Ma
Advisors: Jennifer Dill and Nathan McNeil
Jiahui is a second-year Ph.D. student in urban planning at the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning. She is currently supporting Jennifer Dill and Nathan McNeil on the Evaluation of Road User Comprehension and Compliance with Red Colored Transit Priority Lanes as well analyzing data from the Breaking Barriers to Bike Share project. 
Prabhu Marappan
Advisors: Tammy Lee and Basem Elazzabi
Prabhu is currently pursuing his Master of Science in Computer Science from PSU. Before this he worked as a Software Engineer for 5 years in Backend Development, Infrastructure, System Design and Architecture for distributed web applications. He's an engineer looking to solve interesting engineering and data problems, and is currently supporting TREC's transportation data programs: PORTAL and BikePed Portal.

2020 - 2021

  
Jai Daniels
Advisor: John MacArthur
Jai Daniels is a first-year Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) student at PSU, currently working with John MacArthur on a Transportation Recovery Plan for the Regional Disaster Preparedness Organization (RPDO). Read more about Jai in this March 2021 Student Spotlight interview. She is interested in urban livability, bicycle and pedestrian planning, transit planning, and the intersection between urban planning and the environment.
Kyuri Kim
Advisor: Jennifer Dill
Kyu Ri is a second-year Ph.D. student in urban planning at the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning. She is currently supporting Jennifer Dill and Nathan McNeil on the Research Roadmap for the AASHTO Council on Active Transportation. In the recent past, she supported Dr. Dill and Hau Hagedorn in transportation data analysis and visualization (including BikePed Portal and OHSU Census data) and other transportation research.
Rebeca Petean
Advisor: John MacArthur and Marisa Zapata
Rebeca Petean is a second-year Sociology Ph.D. student. Currently, she has taken on the role of Graduate Research Assistant for PSU’s Homelessness Research Action Collaborative (HRAC) joint venture with TREC on the project TCRP J-11/Task 40: Homelessness: A Guide for Public Transportation. She has also served as an Adjunct Instructor teaching Research Methods for Dominican University. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Criminal Justice, 2011, Masters of Science in Criminology and Criminal Justice, 2015, and Graduate Certification in Teaching Adult Learners from PSU, 2015. Her research interests include School-to-Prison Pipeline, Criminal Justice Decision-making, Police-Community Interactions, Developmental/Life Course Theory, Transportation Equity, and Justice.

Nora Stoelting
Transportation Education Program Coordinator
Advisor: Hau Hagedorn
503-725-2896 | treceducation@pdx.edu
Nora integrates tactical urbanism projects into PSU classes via the PSU Better Block PSU pathway program, and also designs the curriculum for TREC's transportation summer camp for Oregon high school students. She is pursuing a dual master's in Leadership for Sustainability Education and Urban and Regional Planning, and is excited about the ways these two programs intersect in building a more dynamic, connected, and sustainable world. Though she loves exploring outdoor recreation in the great state of Oregon, she is originally from the concrete jungle of Brooklyn, NY. She believes strongly in the power of collaborative, holistic, experiential teaching and learning to transform ourselves and the world. Outside of school and work, Nora likes to search for new trail races to run, plan outdoor adventures, answer people's questions about recycling, and go for long walks while listening to podcasts. Learn more about Nora in our Sept. 2020 Student Spotlight interview.

2019 - 2020

Matthew Cramer
Advisor: John MacArthur
Matthew is master's student in Urban & Regional Planning at the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning. He worked with John MacArthur and Dr. Aaron Golub to research the impact automated fare payments may have on vulnerable community members as transit agencies modernize their fare payment systems.
  
Minju Kim
Advisor: John MacArthur
Minju Kim is a PhD student in Urban Studies from the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning with a specialization in transportation and gerontology, and candidates graduate certificate program in the Institute of Aging. She received a Master's degree in Transportation Studies from Seoul National University and studied in Urban Planning for Bachelor from Chung-Ang University from South Korea. Her current research interest focuses on transportation for older people, and she would like to research the differences in preference and trends of older adults. She worked on a TREC project about the impacts of shared E-scooter operations during the 2019-2020 Portland Pilot Program with John MacArthur and Jennifer Dill. In order to improve the accessibility and sustainability of micromobility systems to the citizens of Portland, this research focuses on the impacts of scooter operations on VMT, including scooter deployment, rebalancing, and charging.

Michael McQueen
Advisor: John MacArthur
Mike McQueen is a master's student who worked with John MacArthur of TREC and Kelly Clifton of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Mike is researched e-bike travel behavior and micromobility as an Eisenhower Fellow. In the past he has studied e-bike purchase incentive programs, potential positive environmental impact of e-bikes in Portland, BIKETOWN, and the demographics of zero car households.
Max Nonnamaker
Advisor: Jennifer Dill
Max is a master's student in Urban & Regional Planning and Public Health. Coming from Milwaukee, WI, most of Max's previous work has been in the public health and social sectors with a focus on advocacy and community engagement. Max graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 2014 with a BS in Kinesiology and a certificate in African Studies and shortly after began working as a Community Health Advisor with the Peace Corps in Madagascar from 2015 - 2017. At TREC, Max worked with Dr. Jennifer Dill and Metro/ODOT on the Region Mobility Policy Update by conducting background research on existing and new mobility measures and approaches to be recommended for implementation in the next Regional Transportation Plan update.
Nicholas Puczkowskyj
Advisor: John MacArthur
Nick Puczkowskyj is an Urban Studies PhD student at the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning. He worked with Prof. Dill and John MacArthur to examine the impacts of e-scooter operations on VMTs in Portland, OR. His dissertation research seeks to challenge the binary approaches to transportation research by using feminist, queer, and travel behavior theory to address the noticeable gap of transgender/genderqueer data and research in the transportation field. Nick hopes to use this research to expand and redefine inclusive transportation policy and practices. Nick's other research interests include: mobility justice, active transportation, micromobility, and transit.
Aman Singh Solanki
Advisor: Hau Hagedorn
Aman is a versatile, results-driven software engineer who loves to solve real-world problems by writing software. When he is not doing that, he loves to be outdoors and hang out with friends and try new food carts. He worked as a research assistant with TREC, particularly on the BikePed Portal project. He created a filter application to help users easily view all the transportation research work in one place. He is also helping to design UI for some awesome applications being made here at TREC. To learn more, check out his portfolio.