OTREC is pleased to support the 2009 National Rural Intelligent Transportation Systems (NRITS) conference, which is being hosted by the Intelligent Transportation Society of Oregon (ITS Oregon) in Seaside, August 23-27. The conference promises to provide a variety of networking opportunities and time with vendors to help you develop in your professional career. Training will provide the transportation professional with cost effective professional development hours. The 2008 conference attracted approximately 300 participants from 36 states and four countries to Anchorage last September and ITS Oregon hopes that the location and season will make the 2009 edition an even greater success.
Briana Orr, UO undergraduate and co-founder of the Universityís Bike Loan Program, is being recognized at the Oregon Civic Engagement Awards with the 2009 Faith Gabelnick Student Leadership Award. The awards reception is being held on Thursday, 4/23 in Portland. Ms. Orr is an environmental studies and Planning, Public Policy and Management major. From a story in the UOís Daily Emerald, a few facts about the bike loan program: it was started in the fall of 2008 with about 70 unclaimed bikes in the Public Safety departmentís impound storage. For a $65 refundable deposit, a student can check out a bike (lock, lights, fenders and basket included) for a term or an entire year. The award is being given by the Oregon chapter of Campus Compact, a national coalition of over 1,100 college and university presidents dedicated to promoting service-learning, civic engagement, and community service in higher education.
Dr. Samuelsen is a Professor in The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at the University of California, Irvine and the Director of the National Fuel Cell Research Center. On Friday, April 10, 2009, Dr. Samuelsen presented on ìPowering the Future of Transportationî for Portland State Universityís Transportation Seminar Series. Dr. Samuelsen discussed the state of fuel cells, their applications and the nexus of transportation and electricity. The appearance was made possible by OTRECís Visiting Scholars Program. For more information on Dr. Samuelsen’s research, visit the home page of the Advanced Power and Energy Program at UC Irvine.
Bill Wilkinson, former director and founder of the National Center for Bicycling and Walking (NBCW), delivered the keynote address at the University of Oregonís HOPES Conference. Wilkinsonís career in bicycle and pedestrian programs spans forty years, including the National Park Service, four years in the USDOTís Office of the Secretary and 25 years with the NBCW. UOís transportation student group, LiveMove, used OTREC funds to bring Mr. Wilkinson to the conference. OTREC also sponsored an event honoring Wilkinsonís donation to the University of his 35-year archive of bicycle and pedestrian materials , including about 1,000 bike maps from around the world.
PSU and OSU helped showcase the promise of electric vehicles in Oregon on Wednesday, April 8th by hosting Nissanís EV-02 model on each campus. Nissan announced that it plans to launch the fully electric vehicle in Oregon in 2010. At PSUís Urban Center, Angus Duncan (Chair of the Oregon Global Warming Commission), Joe Barra (Director of Customer Energy Resources for PGE), John MacArthur (Sustainable Transportation Program Manager for OTREC), and Tracy Woodard (Director of Government Affairs for Nissan-USA) briefed an audience of students, staff and faculty on the emergence of electric vehicles of Oregon. On OSUís campus, University President Ed Ray ìkicked the tiresî and engineering students exhibited their own car design and construction projects, including the SAE Formula and Baja Teams and the Solar Vehicle team. Also, OSU faculty had an opportunity to brief Nissan representatives regarding their education and research programs that prepare talent and spin out technology for this new industry.
OTREC is pleased to announce its support for the annual meeting of the American Planning Associationís Oregon Chapter (OAPA). The meeting, which will be held June 3-5, 2009 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, includes one day of mobile workshops (6/3) and two days of conference sessions (6/4-5). OTRECís support focuses on the mobile workshops, which include transit tours, an examination of integrated transportation and land use, and sustainable urban design. Conference information, including registration, is available at www.oregonapa.org. Student registration is only $30 and early-bird rates last until 5/1.
The State Board of Higher Education voted on April 3, 2009 to approve the Oregon Institute of Technology’s proposal to offer a Master of Science in Civil Engineering (MSCE) degree. The degree will emphasize course offerings in structural and transportation engineering. This greatly enhances opportunities for students and working professionals in southern Oregon. The offering represents OIT’s first graduate-level transportation degree and the ninth masters-level degree from the Consortium. OTREC will be an integral part of this new degree through a sharing of curricula among the member universities and through graduate student research opportunities. OTREC Associate Director Roger Lindgren has been appointed MSCE Program Director.
On Thursday, April 2, 2009, OTREC invited Olivia Clark (TriMet), Chris Hagerbaumer (Oregon Environmental Council) and Randy Tucker (Metro) to offer insights on the progress of transportation legislation in the 2009 session of the Oregon Legislature. The panelists noted that both substance and process are being heavily affected by the economic turmoil, including the stimulus packages. Some of the policy ideas that the panelists mentioned include: Least Cost Planning, increasing the minimum share of project costs to bike and pedestrian improvements, tolling authority for Multnomah County, creating a transportation utility commission, travel options programs, and, of course, various responses to revenue difficulties. Available online are the podcast and either streaming or downloadable webcast.
Dr. Levinson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Minnesota and Director of the Networks, Economics and Urban Systems (NEXUS) research group. On Friday, April 3, 2009, Dr. Levinson presented his research on ìTransport, Land Use and Valueî for Portland State Universityís Transportation Seminar Series. Using Minneapolis and London as examples, Levinson discussed the feedback loops that enable value to be generated by development and transportation investments. Following the seminar, members of PSUís transportation student group, STEP, several faculty members as well as partners from Metro, TriMet and ODOT joined Dr. Levinson for lunch. The appearance was made possible by OTRECís Visiting Scholars Program. For more information on Levinson’s research, visit the NEXUS home page
The USDOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) released their March 2009 UTC Spotlight, featuring OTREC Livability related research, mostly focused on projects at the University of Oregon led by Marc Schlossberg, Nico Larco and Yizhao Yang. New Secretary of Transportation LaHood has specifically mentioned livability as one of his priorities so this is a very timely publication. OTREC looks forward to continuing to address critical transportation needs in sync with national priorities.