For the second year in a row, we're opening up an exciting opportunity for undergraduate students interested in transportation: Spend a summer at Portland State University to learn more about the world of research in transportation through our Transportation Undergraduate Research Fellowship (TURF) program. This program is open to current undergraduate students from any university who are interested in learning more about transportation engineering or planning research. 

Hosted at PSU, selected students will be paired with a PSU faculty mentor (from either the College of Urban and Public Affairs or the Maseeh College of Engineering & Computer Science). The student will carry out research on a transportation project for ten weeks at 40 hours per week. TURF Fellows are provided a $7,500 stipend, but must find and fund their own lodging.

Decisions will be made by March 29, 2019. Contact us at asktrec@pdx.edu with any questions.

APPLY FOR TURF 2019 (by Feb 15th)

"Conducting research on the future developments of such a tangible, ubiquitous, and vital system like public transportation was such a fulfilling experience because I could easily imagine the implications transportation research could have on people’s lives. Overall, my experience with TURF was an overwhelmingly positive one, and I am really so thankful that I was given this opportunity to be so involved in the research process and learn so much about the field of transportation." - TURF 2018 Fellow

"I worked on Urban Hazard Resiliency Planning. The scope of this project was to identify vulnerable populations in the city of Portland through sociological study and to also empirically identify the weak links in the transportation network. TURF helped me understand the research process on a deeper level. Research is an endeavor into the unknown, a process of trial and error. Because it has not been done before there is not necessarily a right or wrong way - but it's the right path for me." - TURF 2018 Fellow 

-------

This fellowship is being administered by the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University:

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 young professionals through education.

The TURF fellowship is funded by the National Institute for Transportation & Communities (NITC):
The National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), one of five U.S. Department of Transportation national university transportation centers, is a program of the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University. The NITC program is a Portland State-led partnership with the University of Oregon, Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Utah and new partners University of Arizona and University of Texas at Arlington. We pursue our theme — improving mobility of people and goods to build strong communities — through research, education and technology transfer.