NITC Announces Funding for Six New "Small Starts" Projects

Post date: Mon, 11/13/2017 - 9:43am
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Content Type: News Item

Our National Institute for Transportation & Communities (NITC) research program has awarded grant funding for a new series of Small Starts projects.

Small Starts grants assist researchers who are interested in transportation but have not yet had an opportunity to undertake a small project—$15,000 in funding or less—that supports NITC's theme of safe, healthy and sustainable transportation choices to foster livable communities.

The latest projects selected by NITC's executive committee support that theme in exploring livable streets, multimodal safety and transportation efficiency.

The six newly funded projects are:

  • Is There a "Buy Local" Case for Lower Travel Speeds? Testing Differences in Driver Recognition of Local Versus National Retail at Different Travel Speeds—Jonathan Bean and Arlie Adkins, University of Arizona (Full Proposal)
  • How Will Autonomous Vehicles Change Local Government Budgeting and Finance? A Case Study of Solid Waste, Drop-off/Pick-up Zones, and Parking—Benjamin Clark, University of Oregon (...
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City testing out protected bike lanes in uptown this week

Post date: Thu, 10/26/2017 - 11:29am
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Content Type: TREC in the News
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Friday Transportation Seminar: Student Presentations from TRB, Week 2

Post date: Tue, 10/24/2017 - 2:43pm
Event Date:
Jan 26, 2018
Content Type: Events

*NEW* LOCATION: Karl Miller Center at PSU, 631 SW Harrison St., Room 465
*NEW* REGISTRATION: Sign up through GoToWebinar

Portland State University students will share the work they presented at the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) 2018:

SEMINAR VIDEO

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Friday Transportation Seminar: Student Presentations from TRB, Week 1

Post date: Tue, 10/24/2017 - 2:40pm
Event Date:
Jan 19, 2018
Content Type: Events

*NEW* LOCATION: Karl Miller Center at PSU, 631 SW Harrison St., Room 465
*NEW* REGISTRATION: Sign up through GoToWebinar

SEMINAR VIDEO

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Research Investigates Racially Disparate Crosswalk Interactions

Post date: Thu, 10/05/2017 - 8:37am
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In 2014, NITC published a study on racial bias at crosswalks under a Small Starts grant. Read coverage of that project in the New York Times and Washington Post. The next phase of the research is now complete, with more comprehensive findings. 

Principal Investigator: Kimberly Kahn, Portland State University
Learn more about this research by viewing the two-page Project Brief, related presentations, and the full Final Report on the Project Overview page. Hear firsthand from the PI by tuning in for the webinar on...
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NITC Research Brings Transportation Impact Assessment into the 21st Century

Post date: Tue, 08/22/2017 - 2:28pm
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Principal Investigator: Kristina Currans, Portland State University
Project Overview: Data and Methodological Issues in Assessing Multimodal Transportation Impacts for Urban Development
Learn more about this research by viewing the two-page Project Brief, related presentations, and the full Final Report on the Project Overview page.

As cities aim to promote sustainable, multimodal growth, sometimes the way we go about development review processes can create barriers to achieving the results we want. Some of the methods we have inherited, while still useful, have distinct limitations.

NITC dissertation fellow Kristina Currans took on this challenge in her doctoral research project, Data and Methodological Issues in Assessing Multimodal Transportation Impacts for Urban Development.

The guidelines for evaluating transportation impacts of new development were originally published  in 1976 by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). Decades later, we’re still using essentially the same processes all across the U.S. and Canada, and these methods—which harbor a lack of...

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Positive Utility of Travel Could Change the Way We Think About Mode Choice

Post date: Wed, 08/09/2017 - 8:47am
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Principal Investigator: Patrick Singleton, Portland State University
Learn more about this research by viewing the related presentations and the full Final Report on the Project Overview page.

Normally we assume that travel is a means to an end, but the latest NITC report examines other benefits of travel—aspects that aren’t about reaching a destination.

One such benefit is travel-based multitasking. A good example of this is using time on a commuter train to listen to music, relax or get some work done. The simple enjoyment of a walk in the fresh air relates to another benefit, known as subjective well-being, in which the act of travel itself makes a person feel better. These intrinsic benefits can impact travel behavior and mode choice, but our current models don’t have any way to reflect this.

NITC fellow Patrick Singleton investigated the policy and planning implications of this in his dissertation, Exploring The Positive Utility Of Travel And Mode Choice.

"The way we analyze travel behavior assumes people want to get from A to B as quickly as possible. We don’t include the...

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NITC program invites new general research proposals

Post date: Wed, 03/08/2017 - 3:58pm
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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...

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Portland State student wins top modeling presentation award at TRB

Post date: Fri, 01/20/2017 - 2:51pm
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Portland State doctoral student Patrick Singleton won the best presentation award for the Doctoral Research in Transport Modeling and Traveler Behavior session of the Transportation Research Board annual meeting in Washington, D.C. This marks the second year running that a Portland State student has won the award, after Steven Gehrke won in 2016.

Singleton presented “Exploring the Positive Utility of Travel and Mode Choice,” drawn from his dissertation research. Positive utility of travel is a concept that travel can provide benefits and be motivated by factors beyond reaching a destination.

The award will be formally presented during the Network Modeling Committee meeting at next year’s Transportation Research Board conference.

Singleton continues to rack up awards. He has been named the NITC university transportation center student of the year and has received Eno and Eisenhower fellowships, being named the top-ranked Eisenhower recipient at the 2015 TRB annual meeting. He was also named a NITC dissertation fellow in 2016.

He is a doctoral student in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department and is involved in several TREC research projects. His adviser is Prof....

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Tara Goddard Named 2016 UTC Student of the Year

Post date: Fri, 01/06/2017 - 1:42pm
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Content Type: News Item

Read more of our TRB 2017 coverage here.

Tara Goddard, a doctoral candidate in the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University, has been selected as the 2016 NITC university transportation center student of the year.

NITC takes pride in the development of tomorrow’s transportation leaders, involving students in research and supporting student transportation groups.

Goddard is the 11th student of the year since Portland State established its university transportation center in 2006. She is being recognized at the Council of University Transportation Centers 2017 Annual Awards Banquet in Washington, D.C., where she's also attending the Transportation Research Board annual meeting.

Goddard’s dissertation research explores drivers’ attitudes and behaviors toward bicyclists. This reflects her broader interest in the intersectionality between transportation and the social sciences, and how professionals in both disciplines can work together to improve upon public spaces and the ways that people interact within them.

This research focus comes with exciting opportunities for future work, a future which is still being determined: Goddard has applied for academic positions in different parts of the world and is waiting to...

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