The Miller award will provide OTREC with the funding to develop a Transportation Sustainability Roadmap for Oregon. This roadmap will guide research, education and partnership initiatives, establishing the foundation for creating sustainable transportation research, education, and community engagement activities. The project will build momentum on a number of efforts currently underway including OTREC’s participation in the Oregon Environmental Council (OEC) workshop for transportation professionals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and involvement in the development of the Best Practices Manual for a ìClean, Green and Smartî West Coast transportation corridor system and other national efforts through the U.S. Department of Transportation. This project will leverage the expertise of staff and partner faculty researchers in order to develop a more focused approach to sustainable transportation.
In November 2007, a formal Memorandum of Understanding was initiated between the University Transportation Centers and state DOTs in Alaska, Washington, Idaho and Oregon, officially forming the Region X Transportation Consortium. The purpose of the consortium is to facilitate collaboration on transportation research and education projects of mutual interest amongst the consortium members and other transportation-related institutions in Region X. The MOU was signed by the final party on January 16, 2008. The MOU can be viewed here: Region X MOU. Find out more about the Region X Consortium: Region X.
Oregon was well-represented at the Transportation Research Boardís 87th Annual Meeting, January 13-17, 2008 in Washington, D.C. More than 15 faculty participated and presented research in numerous poster sessions and workshops and served as presiding officers for various sessions, committees and subcommittees. In addition, we are pleased that more than 20 students also attended, many of them presenting research work in poster and regular sessions. OTREC staff attended the annual meeting of the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC), and the 2007 OTREC Student of the Year, Oren Eshel, was recognized at the CUTC banquet. In addition, OTREC and the Region X UTCs (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington) hosted a reception at the beginning of the conference week. A summary of OTREC faculty and student participation can be found here: TRB 2008.
OTREC has announced its 2008-2009 Request for Proposals (RFP) for transportation research, education and technology transfer projects. The total funding available under this RFP is approximately $2.8 million, and OTREC expects to fund as many high quality proposals as possible from a variety of disciplines. Proposals should be for relevant work that relates to the OTREC theme and supports national transportation priorities. Proposals must be from faculty members at PSU, UO, OSU or OIT, but faculty investigators are encouraged to work with other academic or agency partners. Non-federal match of 1:1 is required. Abstracts are due 5:00 PM February 15, 2008. Full proposals are due 5:00 pm on March 14, 2008. More information: 2008-2009 RFP.
OTREC is pleased to present our first Annual Report: 2006-2007 Annual Report. This publication is a summary of transportation research, education and technology transfer activities of OTREC for December 1, 2006 ñ September 30, 2007. If you would like a paper copy, please contact us.
Marc Schlossberg, Associate Professor in the Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management at the University of Oregon (UO), was a recipient of a Fund for Faculty Excellence Award in December. This award honors faculty members performing at the forefront of their areas of research at the UO. Dr. Schlossberg is an OTREC Associate Director and Executive Committee member, and principal investigator on a project studying active transportation, neighborhood planning and participatory GIS. Congratulations, Marc!
Over 60 students from eight universities around the northwest visited PSU on November 16 to participate in a transportation research conference organized by and for students. Following a welcome breakfast, a panel consisting of representatives from TriMet, CH2M Hill, Port of Portland and Kittelson & Associates discussed “big picture” transportation issues with students. Ten students gave presentations about research or practice, and many of the students presented posters. The conference concluded with a keynote address from Professor Brian Taylor from UCLA on the topic of “Rethinking Congestion.” Many of the students who arrived the evening before also participated in the Oregon Section ITE Traffic Bowl at McMenamins Edgefield. Thank you to graduate student Oren Eshel, who led the conference organization and did an outstanding job.
Dr. Brian Taylor, Professor in Urban Planning and Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA, was the guest speaker and OTREC Visiting Scholar for the CTS Transportation Seminar on November 16, 2007. Dr. Taylor presented "Transit’s Dirty Little Secret: Analyzing Patterns of Transit Use." Later in the day, he was also the keynote speaker at the fall TransNow Student Conference at PSU, presenting "Rethinking Congestion" to the group of students from around the northwest. Professor Taylor’s research centers around transportation policy and planning. In particular, his work explores how society pays for transportation systems and how these systems in turn serve the needs of people who have low levels of mobility.
Congratulations to Oren Eshel, OTREC's 2007 Student of the Year! Orenís interest in regional planning techniques drew him to Portland, where is he is a Master of Urban and Regional Planning graduate student at Portland State University. Oren embarked upon graduate study to focus on public transit, equity in provision of transit services, and regional planning. Oren is a research assistant in the Intelligent Transportation Systems Lab at PSU, and is working on a project to evaluate an adaptive ramp metering system in the Portland region. He is also an intern with the City of Portland’s Transportation Planning section. Oren was nominated by faculty for this award not only because he excels at research and in the classroom, but because he has made a significant mark on the multidisciplinary transportation program at PSU. Oren is President of the PSU transportation student group and ITE chapter (STEP) and coordinated the Fall 2007 Transportation Northwest District 10 Student Conference, which attracted over 70 students from across the region.
OTREC welcomed Robin Kline, Amy Stearns and Lydia Mercado from the USDOT Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) on November 5. They met with OTREC staff, university leadership and the OTREC Executive Committee. A poster session and reception was held in the afternoon, where RITA staff heard from faculty principal investigators and students who are working on OTREC projects. Members of the OTREC Board of Advisors also met the RITA representatives. RITA oversees the University Transportation Center program, through which OTREC receives federal funding.