The National Institute for Transportation & Communities (NITC) research consortium, led by Portland State University, has awarded $1.14 million in total funding for eleven research projects spanning five universities. This year we focused funding on disaster resilience (including transportation in the era of COVID-19) and improving mobility in marginalized and underserved communities. Several projects examine how emerging technologies can be leveraged to create safer, more sustainable transportation systems for everyone.

Understanding Connections Between Mobility, Transportation, And Quality Of Life In Refugee Communities In Tucson, Arizona ($101,839
Led by Orhon Myadar, Maia Ingram, Nicole Iroz-Elardo and Arlie Adkins of the University of Arizona

Data-Driven Optimization for E-Scooter System Design ($67,619)
Led by Jianqiang Cheng and Yao-jan Wu of the University of Arizona

Understanding the Mobility Impacts of Decentralizing Homeless Services on Mobility in Salt Lake City ($100,206)
Led by Sarah Canham and Ivis Garcia of the University of Utah

Pedestrian Behavior Study To Advance Pedestrian Safety In Smart Transportation Systems Using Innovative Lidar Sensors ($147,448)
Led by Taylor Li of the University of Texas at Arlington, Sirisha Kothuri of Portland State University, and Xianfeng Yang of the University of Utah

App-based Data Collection to Characterize Latent Transportation Demand within Marginalized and Underserved Populations ($127,962)
Led by Noelle Fields, Stephen Mattingly and David Levine of the University of Texas at Arlington, Nicole Iroz-Elardo of the University of Arizona, and Courtney Cronley of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville

• The mobile app used in this project, MyAmble, was previously supported by the 2017 NITC Small Starts project "How Can Interdisciplinary Teams Leverage Emerging Technologies to Respond to Transportation Infrastructure Needs?"

Mobility for the People: Evaluating Equity Requirements in Shared Mobility Programs ($97,778)
Led by Anne Brown and Amanda Howell of the University of Oregon

• This project builds upon Anne Brown's doctoral research, which examined the social equity of different shared mobility options including ridehailing, bikeshare, and e-scooter share, by exploring how cities incorporate equity requirements into shared mobility agreements.

Statistical Inference for Multimodal Travel Time Reliability ($80,002)
Led by Avinash Unnikrishnan, Miguel Figliozzi and Subhash Kochar of Portland State University

Estimating the Economic Impacts Of Transportation-Related Supply Chain Disruptions In The Post-Earthquake Environment ($92,000)
Led by Divya Chandrasekhar of the University of Utah

Marginalized Populations’ Access To Transit: Journeys From Home And Work To Transit ($93,115)
Led by Marisa Zapata, Amy Lubitow and Miriam Abelson of Portland State University and Ivis Garcia of the University of Utah

Integrate Socioeconomic Vulnerability for Resilient Transportation Infrastructure Planning ($94,123)
Led by Liming Wang, John MacArthur and Yu Xiao of Portland State University

Accessing Opportunities for Household Provisioning Post-COVID-19 ($140,706)
Led by Kelly Clifton of Portland State University, Kristina Currans of the University of Arizona; and Amanda Howell of the University of Oregon 

• PI Kelly Clifton is also researching Consumer Responses to Household Provisioning During COVID-19 Crisis and Recovery under a RAPID grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) is one of seven U.S. Department of Transportation national university transportation centers. 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. We pursue our theme — improving mobility of people and goods to build strong communities — through research, education and technology transfer.