Forty-four students presented original work at the Portland State University (PSU) Summer Research Symposium on August 15, and six of those students chose to focus on transportation topics.

Naomi Cai, River Johnson, Danielle Justo Olivia Wang, Paris Wu, and Rayna Yu all devoted their work during a ten-week research program to solving transportation challenges with the use of advanced computational techniques. Each student was advised by a PSU faculty member.

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.

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.

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.

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.