Oregon tech | National Institute for Transportation and Communities

Oregon Tech student earns WTS transportation scholarship

Apr 24, 2017

Gwen Jones, an undergraduate student at the Oregon Institute of Technology, has been awarded the 2017 Molitoris Leadership Scholarship by WTS.

Jones is at Oregon Tech pursuing a degree in civil engineering with a focus on bridges and how they affect the transportation system. Over the summer, she participated in a history of bridges class, touring more than 40 bridges throughout Oregon and attending the NITC Transportation and Communities Summit in Portland, further driving her passion for bridges and her interest in the direct impact bridges have on a burgeoning transportation system.

Jones's drive, determination and confidence helped her secure the position of Director of Health and Diversity for Rogue Community College’s Associated Student Government. However, she believes her greatest leadership commitment is being a mother to her two children. As a full-time student and mother, she is driven to succeed and obtain her degree. She will graduate in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree. In addition to taking engineering classes, Gwen has accepted a position with Adkins Consulting Engineering.

The purpose of the Molitoris Leadership Scholarship is to...

NITC program invites new general research proposals

Mar 08, 2017

TREC’s NITC program has made $500,000 available for grants to eligible researchers through its 2017 general research request for proposals. The RFP is the first since the NITC program expanded to include the University of Arizona and University of Texas at Arlington.

All proposals must contribute to the NITC theme, improving mobility of people and goods to build strong communities, and focus on transportation. They must also show strong potential to move transportation research into practice, inform other researchers, shape national and international conversations on transportation research, and respond to the needs of practitioners and policymakers.

Projects are capped at $100,000, and we encourage PIs to propose smaller projects. Priority is given to projects that are collaborative, multi-disciplinary, multi-campus and support the development of untenured tenure-track transportation faculty.

Key Dates

Abstracts due: April 14, 2017
Proposal due: May 15, 2017
Peer reviews: June 2017
Project Selection, Awards, and Task Orders: July-August 2017
Projects begin: Sept 2017

Eligibility

Only eligible faculty members and research faculty from Portland State University, University of Oregon, Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Utah, University of...

Oregon Tech students meet with Congressman Greg Walden at TRB

Jan 25, 2017

Six students in the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Student Chapter of the Oregon Institute of Technology had an in-person meeting earlier this month with Congressman Greg Walden, Representative of the 2nd District of Oregon.

The students, along with Faculty Advisor Dr. Roger Lindgren, were in Washington DC attending the 2017 Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting. Funding for the student travel was provided by NITC.

Students Andrew Wixon, Alex Antonaras, Ryan Kelly, Kevin Baker, Jason Millar and Jordan Preston had the opportunity for a brief conversation with the congressman as part of their TRB experience. Students at Oregon Tech have a strong tradition of participating in NITC projects and events.

Oregon Tech has partnered with the university transportation center at Portland State since its 2006 inception as OTREC, and continues this collaboration by being a part of the expanded NITC program grant established in 2016.

The ITE student chapter at Oregon Tech, since its establishment in 2002, has provided its student members with a variety of transportation learning activities including field tours, webinars, traffic bowl participation and travel to conferences.

One of the group's main priorities is putting engineering students in contact with practicing engineers and real-world projects...

WTS scholars attended annual conference in Austin

Jun 20, 2016

Miranda Barrus and Danit Hubbell have had quite a year.

With support from the NITC program, after being awarded WTS Portland Chapter Scholarships last December, the two Oregon Tech students traveled to the annual WTS conference in Austin May 18–20.

“It is always encouraging to be in the presence of hundreds of women in the engineering industry when it is often seen as a male dominant field,” Barrus said. “While the entire conference was beneficial, the highlights for me were hearing the presentations by Lilly Ledbetter and her fair pay act, and by Jacy Good and Steve Johnson advocating against distracted driving. Both stories had an intense impact on me personally.” Barrus was also the 2016 recipient of the WTS CH2M Hill Partnership Scholarship and the 2014 recipient of the Sharon D. Banks Undergraduate Scholarship.

Last year, Barrus and Hubbell traveled to Chicago for the 2015 International WTS Conference, making this their second year to experience the annual gathering.

“I would say...

WTS Scholarships awarded to two Oregon Tech students

Dec 14, 2015

Two students from the Oregon Institute of Technology have been awarded 2015 WTS Portland Chapter Scholarships.

Miranda Barrus and Danit Hubbell were named as the recipients of these highly competitive scholarships, open to applications from students in universities throughout Oregon and Washington.

Barrus, a co-terminal graduate student expecting to graduate (BS/MS) Civil Engineering in June 2016, won the 2015 WTS Portland Gail Achterman Leadership Graduate Scholarship. Barrus was the recipient of a different WTS scholarship last year.

Hubbell is a senior undergraduate, expecting to graduate (BS) Civil Engineering in March 2016. She is the winnter of the 2015 WTS Portland Sharon D. Banks Memorial Undergraduate Scholarship. Hubbell also recently received a 2015 Oregon Tech Douglas P. Daniels/Coral Sales Company Scholarship.

Both Barrus and Hubbell have a keen interest in transportation engineering. They have each completed multiple transportation-related internships through CECOP and are active members of Oregon Tech's Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Student Chapter. Hubbell is the 2015-16 Chapter President, while Barrus is the Vice-President and Field Trip Coordinator.

Founded in 1977, Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS) is an international...

Oregon Tech students awarded transportation scholarships

Dec 04, 2015

Oregon Tech students Danit Hubbell and Jake Murray have been awarded the 2015 Oregon Tech Douglas P. Daniels/Coral Sales Company Scholarships.

Hubbell is a senior undergraduate expecting to graduate with a B.S. in March 2016. She is currently the President of the OIT ITE Student Chapter and has held transportation-related internships with The City of Eugene and Kiewit Infrastructure Engineers.

Murray is a co-terminal graduate student expecting to graduate with a B.S. and an M.S. in June 2016. He has been a member of the OIT Traffic Bowl team at two 2015 events (Las Vegas and Portland) and has spent summers interning with Oregon DOT Region 4.

Both Hubbell and Murray have previously been awarded NITC academic and travel scholarships. They will be also be traveling to the 2016 TRB Annual Meeting in Washington, DC with the financial support of NITC and the ITE Student Chapter.

The Douglas P. Daniels Scholarship fund was established to help support transportation engineering students at universities in the Pacific Northwest. Since its inception in 1987, the fund has recognized nearly 700 recipients. Coral Sales Scholars excel in both leadership and interpersonal communications. These distinguished achievers are destined to become front runners in the transportation industry.

The formal award of these prestigious scholarships took place December 2, 2015 at a...

Oregon Tech students attend asphalt sustainability conference

Nov 19, 2015

Seven Oregon Tech students attended a sustainable pavement conference in Portland thanks to NITC program funding. The 2015 Asphalt Sustainability Conference West highlighted innovations in technologies and practices.

Danit Hubbell, Oregon Tech’s ITE student chapter president, said she and the other students who made the trip last month are all transportation focused, though they have varying degrees of interest in asphalt. The conference featured a good mix of topics, she said.

The term “sustainability” can vary based on context, and that was reflected in the conference sessions, Hubbell said. “One presenter talked about it as the asphalt itself and the materials it’s made out of. For others, it was the transportation and the longevity.

“I think it encompasses both of those,” she said.

Asphalt paving has come a long way in the last few years, Hubbell said, with sustainability driving much of the changes. Oregon Tech has stayed on top of those innovations, she said, as all civil engineering students must complete a infrastructure sustainability course.

The conference seemed to draw more transportation practitioners than students, Hubbell said, which was part of its appeal. The Oregon Tech students relished the opportunity to browse the exhibitors’ tables and talk with professionals from various organizations.

Hubbell, who graduates next March, already has a job lined up. She’ll join Kiewit Infrastructure...

Roger Lindgren recognized as outstanding transportation educator

Aug 28, 2015

Roger Lindgren, a professor of civil engineering at the Oregon Institute of Technology and a member of NITC’s executive committee, was recently awarded the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Western District Outstanding Transportation Educator Award.

He was presented with the award at the ITE Western District’s annual meeting, held this year in Las Vegas.

The group of Oregon Tech students who traveled to the meeting with Dr. Lindgren also competed in the student traffic bowl, where they made it to the final round and took third place out of 12 schools.

The success of the traffic bowl team is another indicator of the strength of Oregon Tech's transportation program.

The outstanding educator award is not an annual award. It is only provided in years when there is an outstanding recipient, someone who demonstrates extraordinary creativity in teaching and takes exceptional measures to spark student interest in the transportation profession.

Lindgren, known at Oregon Tech for his...

WTS scholarships awarded to three students at NITC campuses

Nov 17, 2014

Three students at NITC member universities have been awarded scholarships from the Portland, Oregon chapter of WTS.

Miranda Barrus, a civil engineering student at the Oregon Institute of Technology, is the 2014 recipient of the Sharon D. Banks Undergraduate Scholarship. The scholarship honors Sharon D. Banks, chief executive officer of AC Transit in Alameda-Contra Costa County, California, who led the agency in a pioneering effort to introduce cultural and organizational changes aimed at motivating the public transit work force.

Barrus serves as vice president of Oregon Tech’s student chapter of ITE, the Institute of Transportation Engineers. She also won a scholarship for the 2014-2015 school year from the Structural Engineers Association of Oregon Scholarship Foundation. She was selected for her leadership, participation in activities, and outstanding performance in engineering.

...

OTREC gives "green light" to new hybrid electric vehicle

Apr 11, 2014

OTREC researchers and students from the Oregon Institute of Technology have teamed up with Green Lite Motors to test a next-generation hybrid car.

Green Lite Motors, a clean-tech start-up company based in Portland, Ore., has developed a small, three-wheeled, gas-electric hybrid vehicle based on the platform of a Suzuki Burgman scooter.

The vehicle is classed as a motorcycle, and has all the advantages of the smaller vehicle — it doesn’t take up a whole parking space, and it gives off fewer emissions — but it also has an advanced roll-cage design, giving it the safety and comfort of a standard passenger car. It has two wheels in the front, one in the back, and mileage possibilities greater than 100 miles per gallon.

The target market areas for this two-passenger vehicle are urban commute zones, where large numbers of people travel daily from suburban homes to city-based professions.

The tiny hybrid car could change the commuting experience, minimizing gas expenditure and cutting down the time people spend looking for parking.

Green Lite has developed two prototypes.

The first...

Key Dates

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