Two Portland State University students were awarded Dwight D. Eisenhower transportation fellowships this month at the 104th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB). Kayla Sorenson and Ana Tijerina Esquino, both graduate students in the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science at PSU, were presented with the awards by the US Department of Transportation (USDOT). This was the second Eisenhower for Sorenson, who also received the fellowship last year. See below for a short interview with each of the PSU Eisenhower Fellows, and if you missed TRB this year, check out some of the PSU research highlights.

Ana Tijerina Esquino

Ana Tijerina Esquino is a civil engineering masters student and graduate research assistant. She is currently researching ways to advance seismic resilience for Oregon’s fuel storage infrastructure. 

Tell us about your research?

My work analyzes seismic vulnerability assessments from the state’s Fuel Tank Seismic Stability (FTSS) program, focusing on trends in geotechnical practices, liquefaction and ground failure estimations, and structural risk evaluations. By identifying best practices for vulnerability assessments, the research supports efforts to protect critical infrastructure like the CEI Hub, which supplies over 90% of Oregon’s liquid fuel and is highly vulnerable to Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquakes.

How does it feel to be recognized with an Eisenhower fellowship?

It’s an incredible honor, and I’m excited to attend TRB for the first time! I can’t wait to see how my research fits into broader transportation challenges and learn from others tackling similar issues. The fellowship is a huge motivator to keep working toward solutions that make our region safer and more resilient.
 

Connect with Ana on LinkedIn.

Kayla Sorenson

Kayla Sorenson is a civil engineering PhD candidate. Her work focuses on the liquefaction susceptibility of fine-grained soils, which has important applications for infrastructure resilience.

Tell us about your research?

My current research focuses on soil liquefaction, and how varying the levels of soil saturation affects the strength of the soil. Think of soil like a sponge - when all of the holes and fibers are completely full of water (no air anywhere), then the soil is completely saturated (Sr = 100%). When this soil is cyclically sheared simulating earthquake loading, it will fail after a certain amount of time.

Now the sponge (soil) is allowed to dry just a little, and some of these holes and fibers now have tiny air bubbles throughout it (Sr < 98.5%). When this soil is tested under the same conditions above, the soil will take a longer time to fail since the soil has more resistance to the cyclic shearing.

To continue the analogy, while we know how the above tests affect a kitchen sponge (sand), we don't know how these tests affect a different type of sponge (silts, specifically for my research).

While the above work is being performed in the lab, it's a continuation of work done in the field. In the summer of 2019, field trials of microbially induced desaturation (MID) were performed at two sites in Portland Oregon which consisted of fine-grained soils (silts and clays). MID is an emerging bio-remediation technique that has the potential to be used underneath existing buildings in an non-invasive manner to mitigate liquefaction in these soils. Using in-situ microbes, they are fed a chemical solution which results in carbon dioxide and nitrogen gas. These gas bubbles lower the saturation of the soil which increases its resistance to liquefaction. The field trials have shown that MID is successful at treating fine-grained soils and persists for a number of years.

How does it feel to be recognized with an Eisenhower fellowship?

It's an honor to be recognized not only once, but twice! I consider it a special distinction as a geotechnical student to be awarded a transportation-focused fellowship.  I'm glad other people see value in my research and its potential to cross engineering disciplines.

Connect with Kayla on LinkedIn.

Portland State University's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) is a multidisciplinary hub for all things transportation. We are home to the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), the data programs PORTAL and BikePed Portal, the Better Block PSU program, and PSU's membership in PacTrans, the Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium. Our continuing goal is to produce impactful research and tools for transportation decision makers, expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engage students and professionals through education, seminars, and participation in research. To get updates about what's happening at TREC, sign up for our monthly newsletter or follow us at the links below.

BlueSky  |  Instagram  |  LinkedIn  |  Facebook  |  Threads  |  YouTube

We are proud to introduce four new transportation scholarship recipients at Portland State University for the 2022/23 academic year. Congratulations to Peter Domine, Lise Ferguson, Kyu Ri Kim, and Valeria Tapia, all students in the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning!

Scholarships are made possible by the generosity of donors who want to invest in the future of Portland State students. PSU students work on real transportation system projects with partners in our community. Through scholarships, we can support students in overcoming barriers to funding as well as acknowledging those who go above and beyond in advancing transportation. Learn more about PSU transportation funding opportunities and read about past transportation scholars.

Peter Domine

Recipient of the Walter H. Kramer Endowed Transportation Fellowship

I am a lifelong Oregonian and Salemite. I love history, which is where much of my interest in urban planning came from. I am fascinated by many subjects and that is also why I enjoy urban planning so much, because it touches on so many interrelated topics. I’ve worked most of my young adult life in a variety of jobs, mostly bartending for the past few years. Working as a bartender at a local downtown restaurant was a great way to connect with my community and gave me a deeper appreciation for my city. This perspective has been deeply influential in my pursuit of a planning degree and my future profession. This was also a great way to make ends meet while still having a lot of freedom and flexibility to explore things that interested me, such as cycling. I took up road cycling about five years ago and that has been a great outlet for exercise, exploring my community, and traveling. I’ve done a few long-distance trips by bike and hope to do more, especially around the Northwest.

Connect with Peter on LinkedIn.

Lise Ferguson

Recipient of the Walter H. Kramer Endowed Transportation Fellowship

I graduated from the University of Washington in 2013, where I got a degree in Environmental Studies, but the jobs I ended up getting were lackluster administrative positions for environmental-adjacent companies. I moved to Portland soon after graduating because I loved how fun and interactive the city was, and because I really liked riding my bike here! Because the jobs I found myself working were unrewarding, I began volunteering with some solid organizations that better aligned with my passions: The Street Trust, City Repair Project, and BikeLoudPDX. It was through working with these groups that I started to understand the ways in which planning defines a city, and how it can improve or hurt the lives of the people living in it. I was already spending so much of my time  talking and thinking about bike lanes and car-free plazas and road diets that I decided I might as well go back to school and try to make some changes from a position where I would have more power, and here I am!

Connect with Lise on LinkedIn.

Kyu Ri Kim

Recipient of the Alta Planning and Design Scholarship

As a Ph.D. student of Urban Studies at the College of Urban and Public Affairs, I am a student representative participating in monthly faculty meetings for the 2021-2022 academic year and I also have had the opportunity to participate in the following projects of TREC at PSU with Dr. Jennifer Dill: a research review for AASHTO Council on Active Transportation Research Roadmap, and descriptive analysis for the Active Transportation Return on the Investment project. At PSU, learning various statistical programs such as SPSS, R, and Mplus and geographic information systems such as ArcGIS Pro and using them in research related to active transportation makes me a more productive and efficient researcher. Before coming to PSU, I worked in Korea Environment Institute as a researcher after achieving my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Yonsei University in Seoul.

Read more about Kyu Ri's award on the Alta Planning Blog.

Valeria Tapia

Recipient of the IBPI Innovation in Active Transportation Endowed Scholarship

I am an emerging planner and a first-year student in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning. I'm passionate about community development, active transportation, equity, and environmental planning. I desire to advance active transportation initiatives that are inclusive and promote safety. With a Bachelor of Science degree in  Community Development, I am a community advisory member on the South Portland Historic Guidelines Committee with the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. I am also an intern at the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability on Portland's Lower Southeast Rising Project. The project is a partnership between the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability and the Portland Bureau of Transportation. My recent experience has continued to ignite my passion to find solutions for communities living in east Portland.

Connect with Valeria on LinkedIn.

Portland State University's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) is home to the U.S. DOT funded National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), PORTAL, BikePed Portal and other transportation grants and programs. We produce impactful research and tools for transportation decision makers, expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engage students and professionals through education and participation in research.

The Transportation Undergraduate Research Fellowship (TURF) program at Portland State University has hosted twenty-four fellows since 2017, and recently wrapped up its summer 2022 session. This year, six undergraduate researchers worked on projects aimed at improving the safety and efficiency of multimodal transportation systems. The research goals ranged from surveying pedestrian count programs and safety performance functions across the country, to reviewing case studies of tactical curb extensions and collecting pedestrian data at intersections. 

Hosted by PSU’s Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC), the TURF fellows also experience a variety of workshops with PSU faculty and staff on research, communication and data science skills. They attended the 2022 Forth Mobility Roadmap Conference in June, and participated in networking events with the Portland chapters of YPT and WTS. Here is some of what the students had to say about the experience:

"I enjoyed all of the experiences surrounding my time here at TREC, but I loved the workshops. I especially enjoyed Dr. Golub's workshop around transportation equity, as it was laid-back and invited dialogue. It was an honest, open-ended conversation with someone who had a lot of information to share."

"The Forth Roadmap Conference was eye opening. I participated in an e-bike tour where I learned how to use Biketown and this has been an invaluable resource to me all summer. We spoke to many vendors and learned about Portland's electric buses, how electric vehicle car share programs can benefit low income and BIPOC communities, and successful programs internationally."

"I found Dr. Lubitow's workshop on qualitative and quantitative data really interesting. While I had known the distinction between both kinds of data, the value of this workshop came from our discussion on incentivizing marginalized populations to participate in qualitative data collection through interviews that have incentives like childcare and additional assistance."

TURF is supported by an education grant through our U.S. DOT funded UTC program the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC). Students are selected through a competitive application process, and many go on to do graduate research in transportation and become professionals:

• Several fellows are now young professionals in our industry: Jared Islas is a planner at Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Senna Phillips is a planner at NYC Transit, and Lauren Mullarkey-Williams is a planner/engineer at Gibson Transportation Consulting. Many others are now pursuing graduate degrees in planning and engineering.
• 2019 TURF fellows Abbey Ibarra, Garima Desai and Lillie Nie co-authored research during their time in the program, an August 2022 article in the Journal of Transport and Land Use published "Congested sidewalks: The effects of the built environment on e-scooter parking compliance."
• After completing her undergraduate studies at University of Arizona, 2018 TURF fellow Gabby Abou-Zeid went on to pursue a graduate degree in civil engineering with a focus on transportation at PSU. Earning numerous awards, including the Dwight D. Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program’s Top Ranked Masters Fellow for 2019/2020, and a 2020 Eno Center for Transportation Future Leaders Development Conference Fellow, she is now a Transportation Data Specialist at ICF. Join us on Sept. 16, 2022 to hear from Gabby and FHWA Sr. Policy Analyst Allen Greenberg on their research on parking cash-out programs.

MEET THE 2022 TURF FELLOWS

Taj Ali, University of Oregon

Taj is a 3rd year undergraduate at the University of Oregon majoring in Planning, Public Policy, and Management (PPPM). Taj worked with faculty advisors Hau Hagedorn, Tammy Lee and John MacArthur to compare multimodal facilities on Portland's outer Division St and Powell Boulevard. What began as observing SE Powell Boulevard improvements evolved into a comparison of the Outer Powell Transportation Safety Project (led by ODOT) and the Outer Division Safety Project (led by PBOT). Taj researched solutions to gentrification and ways to mitigate its effects, creating a “toolkit” of best practices ranging from policies to creative initiatives. In the course of this investigation, Taj surveyed both segments and took photos documenting the layout of the infrastructure, facilities and transit access. His work highlighted features of the automobile traffic lanes, bike lanes, sidewalk characteristics and on-street parking and serves to illustrate the different needs and safety concerns that should be addressed in future development. 

Liam Anthony, Cornell University

Liam is an incoming sophomore pursuing a major in Urban and Regional Studies at Cornell University with academic interests in transportation economics, land use, and regional development. His first TURF project focus, working with faculty advisors Sirisha Kothuri and Nathan McNeil, was an investigation of surface commuter parking occupancy in Portland's Lloyd District. The aim of the project was to evaluate parking occupancy at ten surface-level Lloyd District lots to determine whether their individual use rose to the 85% occupancy standard used by the City of Portland. In a second project with Kothuri and McNeil, Liam identified locations of tactical curb extensions across the United States. Curb art converting marginal right-of-way into pedestrian spaces is an emerging urbanist practice which several cities have implemented as part of safety and placemaking projects. The goal of this project was to document additional examples, approaches to implementation, and outcomes for safety improvement.

Liam was also part of a team, with fellow TURF researchers Matthew Prak and Jason Grajales, involved in the extraction of pedestrian data using traffic footage from intersections across the state of Oregon. The three of them viewed hours of raw footage from several intersections with pedestrian push buttons, recording data on the pedestrians' behavior in crosswalks. Connect with Liam on LinkedIn.

Adri DeGuzman, Lewis & Clark College

Adri is pursuing a BA in English and Environmental Studies at Lewis & Clark College, and has an academic interest in American literature. She's also seeking to begin an ENVS thesis for Spring 2023 about road trip narratives and the automobile as literary motif in 20th and 21st century American literature. Her TURF project focus, with faculty advisors Hau Hagedorn, Tammy Lee, and John MacArthur, was investigating equitable access in Portland's Division transit corridor. As the population along SE Division Street grows, impacts on traffic and transit also increase. TriMet's Division Transit Project is intended to improve travel between Downtown Portland, Southeast and East Portland and Gresham with easier, faster and more reliable bus service. Adri's work aimed to evaluate potential equity impacts of the transit improvements along this corridor.

Jason Grajales, Portland State University

Jason is currently pursuing a degree in Civil Engineering at PSU with academic interests in designing bike infrastructure, affordable public transportation, walkable streets, pedestrian friendly areas, and providing easily accessible diverse forms of transportation for people to utilize. With faculty advisors Sirisha Kothuri and Nathan McNeil, Jason worked on a scan of pedestrian-related safety performance functions (SPFs) around the country. SPFs are statistical models to predict traffic injury, and are one of the tools used to locate high-risk areas prone to crashes. The goal of the research was to find examples of SPFs that are inclusive of pedestrians and account for factors specifically associated with pedestrian injuries. In addition to collecting data in the pedestrian push-button study with fellow TURF researchers Matthew and Liam, Jason also investigated an unmarked crosswalk at the intersection of West Burnside at SW 2nd Avenue, to see if the crossing met the demands to validate installation of a marked crosswalk. After reviewing video data, he determined that the maximum amount of foot traffic received in an hour is eight, which is short of the twenty required by PBOT's regulations to implement a crosswalk.

Matthew Prak, Oregon State University

Matthew Prak will be starting his sophomore year at Oregon State University during this upcoming fall. He is majoring in civil engineering and is interested in specializing in the transportation engineering field. In addition to collecting data in the pedestrian push-button study with fellow TURF researchers Jason and Liam, Matthew also worked with faculty advisors Sirisha Kothuri and Nathan McNeil to conduct a scan of existing pedestrian count programs across the nation. He identified 54 unique agencies that have published information online pertaining to their conducted pedestrian counts, with permanent counters and short-duration manual counts as the two most prevalent methods. The primary goals of this project are to understand the current state of pedestrian data collection across the nation and identify resources agencies can use in the future to improve or implement their own programs. Connect with Matthew on LinkedIn.

Taylor Ward, Portland State University

Taylor is majoring in Community Development at Portland State University. Some of her academic interests include permaculture, sustainability, universal design, transport-oriented development, urban design, and affordable housing. Working with faculty advisors Hau Hagedorn, Tammy Lee, and John MacArthur, Taylor's primary TURF research focus was evaluating differences between Division St and Powell Blvd in SE Portland. This included making on-site visits to evaluate the functional applicability of designs, and investigating the demographics of the area to show who would be impacted by improvements to Powell/Division from an equity standpoint.

Want to stay updated on the TURF program? Fill out this interest form if you would like to be notified when TURF applications open in the future.

Portland State University's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) is home to the U.S. DOT funded National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), PORTAL, BikePed Portal and other transportation grants and programs. We produce impactful research and tools for transportation decision makers, expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engage students and professionals through education and participation in research.

We're proud to announce that the Institute for Transportation Engineers (ITE) has awarded Portland State University's ITE Student Chapter, Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning (ITE-STEP), the 2022 Student Chapter Momentum Award. The award recognizes the student group for an outstanding year of accomplishments.

This year's ITE-STEP leadership made big strides in activating and energizing the student chapter. They hit the ground running after being elected, to prepare for Transportation Research Board (TRB) scholarship applications, through which they leveraged UTC funding from the National Institute for Transportation and Communities to send ten PSU students to attend the TRB annual meeting in Washington, D.C. 

"The award shows the dedication and commitment that the ITE-STEP board provided. Despite having full-time academic schedules, internships and jobs, and COVID-19 issues, the board stayed committed to holding frequent online and in person events," said Nick Meusch, vice president of events for the group. 

ITE-STEP's activities for the 2021-22 academic year included regular meetings, educational opportunities and technical tours, along with game nights and social events. They established a guest speaker series to hear from professionals working in public agencies and private firms, and organized a transportation advocacy forum in which they met with nonprofit The Street Trust to discuss achieving equity goals. As part of the speaker series, ITE-STEP hosted professionals from Kittelson & Associates for an invited presentation on the firm's 4th Ave Improvement Project, and met virtually with representatives Elcon Associates and King County Metro to discuss overhead contact systems for light rail, streetcar, and electric trolleybus.

Students also partnered with PSU’s Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) in hosting a Transportation Equity Book Club over the Fall and Winter terms, in which they read Bicycle/Race: Transportation, Culture, & Resistance by Adonia Lugo and discussed how to address the author's call to action for environmental justice in active transportation.

The 2021-22 STEP student leaders were Cameron Bennett (President), Asif Haque (VP of Finance & Conferences ), Nick Meusch (VP of Events), and Christian Galiza (VP of Communications). Cameron and Christian are civil engineering students while Asif and Nick are in the urban planning program, reflecting ITE-STEP's commitment to engaging transportation professionals across disciplines.

"I'm proud that we got more planners involved in ITE-STEP and ITE. I think having a board split between planning and engineering programs really helped with this," Nick said.

The current ITE-STEP leadership board took steps to ensure the group will continue to thrive from one graduating class to another, and has built a collaborative operations manual for the club in order to streamline transitions to future leadership and allow for the accumulation of knowledge and best practice. Cameron and Christian are continuing on the board into the new academic year, alongside new members Owen Christofferson and Megan Lee.

The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) annual awards program seeks to honor outstanding achievements in transportation and distinguished service. These awards bestow international recognition upon the recipients and increase the public’s awareness of the roles and responsibilities of transportation professionals and the impacts their work has on the communities they serve.

Portland State University's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) is home to the U.S. DOT funded National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), PORTAL, BikePed Portal and other transportation grants and programs. We produce impactful research and tools for transportation decision makers, expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engage students and professionals through education and participation in research.

In 2019 Olivia Nell wasn't sure what she wanted to study in college. A junior in high school, she discovered a free transportation summer camp at Portland State University (PSU) for high schoolers. After seeing the behind-the-scenes workings of transportation in Portland, Oregon and meeting local professionals, she knew she wanted to pursue: engineering.

"I really enjoyed my time at the camp, and it helped me narrow down my educational interests. I am now in my third year of college at Oregon State University studying mechanical engineering, hoping to focus on renewable energy," Olivia said.

This summer she returned to the camp as a counselor to mentor the next cohort of Oregon high school students. She is one of five past students to do so.

"Three of our counselors this year were past camp students. I think that in itself speaks to the importance of this camp in drawing people to the transportation profession," said Hau Hagedorn, associate director of the Transportation Research Education Center (TREC) at PSU.

Olivia decided to return because she appreciates how the camp positively impacts students: "I wanted to be a part of a team that allows for students to explore various career journeys by traveling around a city and learning about its transportation system," she said.

Hosted by TREC at PSU since 2016, the summer camp is free and open to any Oregon student entering the 9–12 grade and is part of a larger national program funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA): the National Summer Transportation Institute (NSTI). At PSU’s 2022 camp, nineteen students met with professionals, practiced data collection and urban design, and went on daily field trips to places that aren't normally open to the public - clambering through the interior of Multnomah County's bridges, or getting behind the wheel of TriMet's indoor bus driving simulator.

Networking with Professionals

Guest lecturers come from public, private, and nonprofit organizations, and this year's lineup included the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), the Oregon Department of Transportation, the Washington Department of Transportation, FHWA, EnviroIssues, Safe Routes Partnership, Fehr & Peers, Elcon Associates, The Street Trust, and Go By Bike. They discussed topics ranging from traffic signals to road design, potential career paths, and the intersection of transportation with social and racial equity. Students also had the opportunity to sit down one-on-one with transportation professionals in a career panel and speed networking session.

Introducing Transportation Equity

"Learning about our racial biases and how they play out in our decisions is a lifelong journey, and it’s never too early to start. Giving students the space and tools to lean into this journey is powerful, and provides immense potential for creating equitable change at the individual, institutional and systemic levels as these young leaders begin their careers," said Joey Posada, equity manager at Enviroissues, who led a session on Careers in Transportation.

Many of the camp's lessons connected to themes of equity and mobility justice, communicating the potential for transportation decisions to positively or negatively impact communities. To undo past harms caused by racist policies and urban practices, future professionals need this context, and this year's cohort gave every indication that they do understand and want to build a better future.

"From my brief interactions with the students, it's clear they are aware of the relationship between race and social inequities, and they care about those issues. Covering these topics in summer camp means we are acknowledging their life experiences, and we are also validating that these inequities can be undone," said Maria Sipin, technical assistance manager at Safe Routes Partnership, who taught a session on Racial Equity & Transportation.

A Close Look at Portland's Transportation System

The camp opened on Sunday, July 31, with an orientation to introduce students and parents to the counselors and where they'd be staying. Students get a preview of the college experience, as they live for a week in PSU campus student housing. That afternoon, students enjoyed a jet boat tour of the Willamette River. One student wanted to know, what that had to do with transportation?

"Rivers are vital to Indigenous communities, and serve as important economic ports today. We saw where grain, potash and various commodities are shipped abroad," Hagedorn said in a tweet.

The next day, NSTI got fully underway with classroom sessions in the morning, and an afternoon Multnomah County bridge tour. Students were assigned to work in groups to solve real-world transportation problems, and throughout the week were given the chance to apply what they learned to their group projects.

Other highlights from the week include a trip to the Columbia River Gorge, a tour of TriMet Operations Headquarters, and a ride on the Portland aerial tram following a tour of Go By Bike PDX, the bike valet facility at Oregon Health and Science University. Evening activities at PSU included scavenger hunts, rock climbing, and building bridges out of popsicle sticks to see how much weight they could support. See photos of the 2022 summer transportation camp at PSU here.

Sharing Their Solutions to Real-World Problems

On Friday, the last day of camp, students presented their impressive group projects to their families and the camp instructors.

Group One: SW 4th Avenue from SW Lincoln St to SW Harrison St.

One group tackled a stretch of southwest 4th Avenue from Lincoln to Harrison street, an area that PBOT is currently in the process of redesigning. The students addressed issues such as lack of sidewalk space and the need for facilities like trash cans, water fountains, shade, and seating for pedestrians. They proposed repainting parking zones, improving the bike and pedestrian infrastructure, and adding street furniture to make the area feel safer and more welcoming for all road users.

Group Two: The Saint's Row Superblock

The second group of students made pedestrian improvements to a "superblock" in downtown Portland, a complex of buildings connected by narrow walkways, without through streets, in an area roughly nine times the size of a typical Portland city block. Their design was aimed at making the space easier to traverse for people walking and biking.

Group Three: SW 4th Avenue from Harrison to Market Street

The challenge issued to this group was to make this block, which currently has three lanes of one-way traffic with parking lanes on both sides, a more welcoming area for active transportation users. They designed the street to move away from the car-centered design, focusing on improving the pedestrian and cycling environment.

While the hope is to inspire students to pursue careers in transportation, it’s just as valuable for them to leave the camp with an enthusiasm and interest in how communities can be connected safely and efficiently in their city and beyond.

On the last day of camp a student shared, “I have a newfound appreciation for the city and the different modes of transport that are accessible to people.”

Interested in next year's summer transportation camp at PSU? Sign up here to be notified when applications open.

The camp was funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), and hosted by Portland State University's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC). TREC is home to the U.S. DOT funded National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), PORTAL, BikePed Portal and other transportation grants and programs. We produce impactful research and tools for transportation decision makers, expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engage students and professionals through education and participation in research.

Nick Puczkowskyj is a graduate research and teaching assistant at Portland State University's College of Urban and Public Affairs. He is a current Urban Studies PhD candidate, and has served as past president of Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning (STEP), PSU's transportation student group. He has also worked as a teaching assistant and research assistant at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Nick's research specializes in transportation equity, focusing on mobility justice, transgender mobility, queer mobility, gender disparities, and marginalized communities. He earned his master's degree in community and regional planning from the University of New Orleans.

Connect with Nick on LinkedIn or view his PSU profile.

Follow Nick on Twitter @NickPuczkowskyj

Tell us about yourself?

Currently I'm a 5th year urban studies Phd candidate. Originally from Chicago, I also call Portland and Hong Kong home. Off campus, you can find me on the rugby pitch with the Portland Lumberjacks RFC or foraging Oregon’s forests for mushrooms.

What (or who) has influenced your career path in transportation?

Growing up in Chicago and working as a bike messenger provided a massive influence on my career in transportation and urban planning. These experiences really pushed me to go into transportation planning. Working and researching at the Chinese University of Hong Kong solidified my decision to pursue a career in academia.

You're currently supporting a project on marginalized populations' access to transit, and you recently successfully defended your dissertation proposal on "Expanding transmobilities: An art-informed methodology for gender-diverse travel behavior." Tell us about those projects?

Absolutely! My dissertation works focuses on understanding how genderdiverse individuals' gender identity influences their travel behavior and travel decisions. I will use collage and mental maps as my methodology to delicately capture these data. I believe this work will support mobility justice research and the greater social justice movement.

Learn more about the active NITC-funded project "Marginalized Populations’ Access to Transit: Journeys from Home and Work to Transit", led by Marisa Zapata of PSU.

After graduation, what future work do you envision doing in transportation?

Ideally after graduation, I plan to secure a tenure track position at a research oriented university abroad, either in Europe or East Asia. Preferably, I would love to continue my dissertation research and add more knowledge to the mobility justice field.

This is an installment in a series of monthly Student Spotlights we're shining on students and alumni that are involved with National Institute for Transportation & Communities (NITC) universities. NITC is a university transportation consortium funded by the U.S. DOT, and is a Portland State-led partnership with the University of Oregon, Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Utah, University of Arizona, and University of Texas at Arlington.

Photo by tupungato/iStock

In 2022, a PSU Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) team made headlines with their strategies to improve safety for houseless pedestrians. Cities across the U.S. are facing alarming increases in traffic fatalities, especially among the number of pedestrians who are struck and killed by drivers. In 2021, 70 percent of all pedestrian fatalities in Portland were of people experiencing houselessness. The MURP team Street Perspective, made up of Peter Domine, Nick Meusch, Asif Haque, Angie Martínez, Sean Doyle, and Meisha Whyte, investigated how to reduce the risk of being hit and killed specifically for unhoused people. 

As the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) is updating the city's Vision Zero Plan, the team provided PBOT with recommendations to reduce the risk of pedestrian fatalities among the city's vulnerable houseless communities.

Watch the recorded Friday Transportation Seminar from June 3, 2022, or view the final report: "Safety Interventions for Houseless Pedestrians" (PDF). 

"A disproportionate number of unhoused pedestrians are being killed in car crashes across America — and protecting this uniquely vulnerable group will require a set of strategies that both include and exceed even the conventional street safety playbook... To understand how Portland could do a better job of protecting houseless people from traffic violence — and perhaps chart a model for analysis other communities could follow — the Portland State researchers conducted dozens of interviews, in addition to performing spatial analysis on fatal crash sites that sat within 250 feet of both 1) a reported campsite for unhoused people, and 2) a segment of the city’s High Crash Network, where most of Portland’s vehicle collisions occur," Kea Wilson of Streetsblog USA wrote about the team's work.

BikePortland covered the project as well, focusing on Portland and the city's history of approaches to dealing with houseless individuals and communities. Journalist Taylor Griggs described the team's strategies to reduce crashes near homeless camps as "promising."

The PSU Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program is known for its workshop projects. For the last two quarters of the program, students work on community-based, client-focused projects. This provides students with the opportunity to work in teams on real-world problems for community clients. Learn more about the MURP program.

Portland State University's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) is home to the U.S. DOT funded National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), PORTAL, BikePed Portal and other transportation grants and programs. We produce impactful research and tools for transportation decision makers, expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engage students and professionals through education and participation in research.

Ten Portland State University students have been awarded National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) scholarships for the 2021/22 academic year. We're very proud to acknowledge their hard work and dedication. The NITC Scholarship program recognizes outstanding students working on transportation projects. Financial support for students helps to develop the workforce by directing talented individuals toward research and practice, raising the number and caliber of graduates in transportation. 

Meet the NITC Scholars of PSU:

Cameron Bennett, Master in Civil & Environmental Engineering

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, and is also the recipient of a 2021 Walter H. Kramer Scholarship. 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. Cameron is passionate about bicycle and pedestrian design, planning, and policy in urban environments.

Connect with Cameron on LinkedIn and see a poster on How E-Bike Incentives are Used to Expand the Market here.

Darshan Chauhan, Ph.D. in Civil & Environmental Engineering

Darshan Chauhan is a Ph.D. Candidate in Civil and Environmental Engineering and a Graduate Research Assistant at PSU. His doctoral work with Dr. Avinash Unnikrishnan is in the area of freight logistics systems utilizing emerging transportation technologies like UAV/drones and electric freight vehicles. Specifically, his work focuses on planning and real-time resource allocation in such systems using methods like robust optimization and reinforcement learning. He is fascinated by how the field of transportation is an amalgam of various disciplines and is interested in contributing to an area where optimization, data analytics, and civil engineering intersect. He is a student member of INFORMS, ASCE, and ITE. He has served as the Treasurer of STEP, PSU’s ITE student chapter. Recently, he presented work on drone facility locations for emergency medical scenarios in a January 2022 Friday Transportation Seminar.

Connect with Darshan on LinkedIn and see the two posters he presented at TRB 2022: 

• Maximum Profit Facility Location and Dynamic Resource Allocation for Instant Delivery Logistics
• Robust Multi Period Maximum Coverage Facility Location Problem Considering Coverage Reliability 

Christian Galiza, B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Christian Galiza is a senior in civil engineering. He is the Vice President of Communications for STEP. He enjoys transportation because it's fascinating to think about the relationship between building sustainable infrastructure and transportation planning and its impact on how people move every day.

Connect with Christian on LinkedIn and see a collage showcasing the number of communications materials created during his involvement with ITE-STEP.

Cole Grisham, Ph.D. in Public Affairs

Cole Grisham is a Ph.D. candidate in the Hatfield School of Government and a Transportation Systems Planner with FHWA Western Federal Lands. His work focuses on long range transportation planning, particularly in the areas of regional and intergovernmental policy in the American Northwest. Cole is a certified planner through the American Planning Association and holds a B.A. in Political Science and M.U.P. in Regional Planning from the University of Michigan. His doctoral work focuses on regional planning and policy in Tribal communities. He presented research related to this topic in an October 2021 Friday Transportation Seminar: Transportation Planning in Tribal Communities.

Connect with Cole on LinkedIn and see his paper on Regional Transportation Policy in Alaskan Native Villages here.

Asif Haque, Master of Urban & Regional Planning

Asif Haque is a second-year graduate student in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program and is also pursuing a Graduate Certificate in Transportation. He is a Graduate Research Assistant with PSU, through which he serves the Portland Bureau of Transportation as a Community Service Aide. Asif previously served the Oregon Department of Energy as a Data Visualization Intern and the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability as a Community Service Aide. He is the current Vice President of Finance & Conferences for STEP. In relation to his transportation interests, Asif serves as an Assistant Project Manager for the Portland-based nonprofit Outgrowing Hunger. He earned a B.A. in Environmental Studies and a B.S. in Journalism from The University of Kansas. He served as an Undergraduate Research Fellow for The University of Kansas Institute for Policy and Social Research Center for Environmental Policy, focusing on county-level community-driven food security. Asif is broadly interested in how transportation systems and services, particularly public and active transportation, can better facilitate and accommodate people’s access to goods, services, employment, and resources.

Connect with Asif on LinkedIn and see his white paper on the Benefits of Connected Active and Public Transportation Systems here.

Nick Meusch, Master of Urban & Regional Planning

Nick Meusch is a second-year student in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program and third-year student in the Graduate Certificate in Transportation program at PSU. Nick is interested in vehicle electrification and the infrastructure needs required for implementation, supporting equitable shared micromobility, and planning and designing active transportation facilities. Nick was recently celebrated along with the other 2021 scholars during the American Public Transportation Association's TRANSform Conference as a 2021 American Public Transportation Foundation (APTF) scholarship recipient. Nick currently works as a proposal manager and planner for Elcon Associates, a minority-owned, electrical and systems engineering firm that performs consulting services for transit agencies operating rail transit systems and infrastructure to support zero-emission vehicles. Most recently as a planner at Elcon, Nick supported the TriMet Facilities System Master Plan exploring zero-emissions vehicle options for TriMet facilities. As the Events Vice President in ITE-STEP, Nick looks forward to broadening students' professional connections in order to provide a more equitable transportation workforce as well as attracting students in supportive fields such as electrical engineering to participate in the world of transportation.

Connect with Nick on LinkedIn and see their white paper on Planning for America’s Next Fuel Service Station here.

Laurel Priest, Master of Urban & Regional Planning

Laurel Priest is an Urban and Regional Planning graduate student focusing on community engagement and transportation planning. She currently works for the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) as a Community Service Aide II. She has also served as a PSU teaching assistant and as a Graduate Research Assistant for TREC, and completed an internship as a community recovery fellow at the Division-Midway Alliance for Community Improvement. As a MURP student in 2021 she worked on a proposal for Reimagining the PSU Campus.

Connect with Laurel on LinkedIn and see a report for the PSU Planning and Sustainability Office for 2021 and 2022. 

Caleb Susuras, Master of Urban & Regional Planning

Caleb Susuras is a first-year MURP student who earned his BA from Ambrose University. He has experience as a voucher specialist with the Denver Regional Council of Governments, and has also worked for the Denver Regional Mobility and Access Council. He is committed to safe, equitable, and green streets.

Connect with Caleb on LinkedIn and see a work sample comparing physical characteristics of Portland’s dangerous intersections.

Mouhamad Taha, B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Mouhamad Taha is a civil engineering student who’s interested in transportation engineering. He is in his junior year and almost done with his first transportation course. Mouhamad is looking forward to specializing in transportation engineering and transportation systems through the pathway program at PSU, which is a combination of bachelor's and master’s degrees in civil engineering. He is interested in highway and infrastructure design, and has always wanted to explore the transportation system in different countries and regions.

Huijun Tan, Ph.D. in Urban Studies

]Huijun Tan is a Ph.D. Candidate in Urban Studies at Portland State University. Her research interest focuses on transportation planning and equity. Her dissertation looks into equitable accessibility planning among marginalized communities and populations. In the past 5 years, she has been working on research and planning projects relevant to transit-oriented development, active transportation (e.g., crossing safety), transportation incentive program evaluation, and corridor master plan. Before her doctoral program, she had been involved in street improvement in a vulnerable community and innovative agriculture development in food desert communities. Also, she was engaged in some vacant land development and vacant land reuse research projects. The experience ingrains her interest in regional planning and social inequality issues. As a graduate research assistant she has worked with TREC researchers Nathan McNeil and John MacArthur on new ways of connecting traditionally underserved communities to transportation options represented by new technologies. 

Connect with Huijun on LinkedIn and watch her presentation in an April 2021 Friday Transportation Seminar: Evaluation of a Transportation Incentive Program for Affordable Housing Residents.

NITC is a program of the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University. This PSU-led research partnership also includes the Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Arizona, University of Oregon, University of Texas at Arlington and University of Utah. Faculty committees at each of our partner universities nominate students for the scholarship program. See the NITC scholars from other member campuses.

The Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University is home to the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), and other transportation programs. TREC produces research and tools for transportation decision makers, develops K-12 curriculum to expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engages students and professionals through education.