OTREC and the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI) are proud to announce the winners of the 2014 IBPI scholarships.

Portland State University students Liz Kaster, Bryan Blanc, and Gena Gastaldi have each been awarded one of three scholarship opportunities from IBPI, made possible through the generous donations of Rex Burkholder and Lydia Rich; Alta Planning + Design, and DKS.

The Rex Burkholder and Lydia Rich scholarship supports a graduate student who intends to pursue a career related to bicycle and pedestrian transportation. Liz Kaster, a second-year Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) student, was awarded the Alta Planning & Design scholarship through IBPI last year, and this year she has been selected for the Burkholder/Rich scholarship.

As a recipient of the Burkholder/Rich scholarship, Kaster will work with a faculty member to develop and carry out a short-term project on a topic that can immediately help practitioners plan for more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly communities.

This year’s winner of the Alta Planning + Design scholarship is Gena Gastaldi, a MURP student with a focus on active transportation and urban design. The Alta Scholarship supports a graduate student who is highly motivated to focus their studies on walking and cycling as mainstream forms of transportation. This is both a scholarship and a paid internship, so Gastaldi will have the opportunity to work at Alta Planning + Design as she furthers her studies.

Bryan Blanc, a civil and environmental engineering graduate student, received the IBPI scholarship from DKS Associates. The DKS scholarship is designed to support a student seeking to better understand how communities integrate bicycling and walking through the engineering, design and planning processes. Blanc’s research focuses on assessing the compatibility of bicyclists and infrastructure in Oregon using smartphone applications.

OTREC and IBPI congratulate each of these excellent scholars, and wish them success in their future endeavors.

IBPI is committed to fostering a new generation of transportation professionals who are holistic and context-sensitive in their approach to transportation planning and design for bicycles and pedestrians.