Student Spotlight | National Institute for Transportation and Communities

Four NITC Students Win WTS Portland Scholarships

Feb 04, 2020

Each year, the Portland Chapter of WTS bestows scholarships to assist exceptional women in their educational pursuits in the field of transportation. The scholarships are competitive and based on the applicant’s specific goals, academic achievements, and transportation related activities. Four NITC students were awarded WTS Portland scholarships for the 2019/2020 academic year:

Briana Orr, Portland State University

Briana Orr is a student in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning program at Portland State University. In addition, Briana is a Capital Project Planner at the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT). As a part of the Central City in Motion team, Briana advances PBOT's effort to implement pedestrian crossings, transit lanes, and bikeways in the city’s core. Prior to PBOT, Briana worked in Seattle as Cascade Bicycle Club’s Communication Manager, and secured seed funding for bike share in Eugene as the University of Oregon’s first professional Bike Coordinator.

Corrie Parrish, University of Oregon

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Celebrating the 2019 NITC Students of the Year: Samuel Jensen, Damian Matzen, and Sarah Robinson

Jan 01, 2020

The Outstanding Student of the Year award is presented during the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC) banquet at each annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board, where the U.S. Department of Transportation honors an outstanding graduate student from each UTC. Sam Jensen will be presented with the award for NITC at the CUTC award ceremony and banquet in January 2021. See past NITC Students of the Year.

2019 NITC Outstanding Student of the Year: Samuel Jensen, University of Arizona

Samuel Jensen is a planning masters student at the University of Arizona. He has been selected as the 2019 NITC Student of the Year, and will be presented with the award at the Council of University Transportation Centers banquet at the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board in January 2020. He will present research on "An Inventory of Bus Stop Amenities Guidelines at U.S. Transit Agencies" at TRB, in the Bus Transit Research and Practices poster session. Samuel's interest in transportation developed through his work as an advocate for transit justice. He also serves as the president of Graduate Planning Society, UA's planning student...

NITC Student Spotlight: Samuel Jensen of University of Arizona

Student Spotlight: 2019 NITC Student of the Year - Samuel Jensen, University of Arizona

Dec 18, 2019

Tell us about yourself?

I'm a somewhat non traditional masters student with a background in transportation and social justice/community organizing. I'm currently studying at the University of Arizona where I'm assisting with separate research projects in the areas of bus transit and walkability. I also serve as the president of our planning student organization, Graduate Planning Society, and vice-chair of the city of Tucson's...

Student Spotlight: Damian Matzen, Oregon Institute of Technology

Dec 02, 2019

Photo by Ruffnekgal/iStock

Damian Matzen is a masters student at the Oregon Institute of Technology. He is a 2018-2019 National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) scholar, and was selected by NITC's executive committee as the 2019 NITC Outstanding Masters Student. As a recipient of this recognition, NITC is supporting Damian's attendance at the 2020 annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) in Washington, D.C. next month.

Tell us about yourself?

I’m a third-generation college student from rural Oregon who has always had a passion for solving complicated problems and wading through numbers. My early days were spent with Camp Fire USA exploring local wilderness areas and teaching the younger kids about how to survive. As I grew older, my hobbies began to shift towards the virtual world. Video games became a big part of my life around middle school, with them becoming the dominant hobby during high school. As school became more intensive, video games had to take a back seat, becoming a weekend hobby. During school, I devoted time to helping my classmates and anyone else in the degree who needed it. I never went so far as to give the other students answers, but I would explain terms and equations and do my best to guide them towards the right process.

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PSU Transportation Students Take Home the Oregon ITE Traffic Bowl Trophy

Nov 26, 2019

Last week the Portland State University’s Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning (STEP-ITE) group competed in the 28th annual Bill Kloos Traffic Bowl Competition held by Oregon ITE.

Competition in this trivia-based challenge was fierce, but the PSU student team took first place against the ITE student chapters of Oregon State University, Oregon Tech, and the University of Washington. In addition to bragging rights, they won a $500 cash prize that will go towards supporting STEP student activities for PSU transportation students.

Portland State University 2019 Team

STEP President Nicholas Puczkowskyj | PhD Candidate, Urban Studies
STEP VP Finance Rohan Sirupa | Graduate Student, Civil Engineering
STEP VP Communications Katherine Keeling | Graduate Student, Civil Engineering
STEP VP Events Gabby Galvez | Undergraduate Student, Civil Engineering
STEP VP Creativity Polina Polikahina | Undergraduate Student, Civil Engineering

Photo Credit: Oregon ITE Chapter

In addition to this annual event, Oregon ITE...

Julian Griffee next to a photo of e-scooter users in a green bike lane

Student Spotlight: Julian Griffee, University of Arizona

Oct 25, 2019

Julian Griffee is a second-year masters student in urban and regional planning at the University of Arizona and a 2020 TRB Minority Student Fellow. He has worked as a planner, volunteered with the Peace Corps in Albania, and worked on bicycle and pedestrian transportation. He is currently a Climate Adaptation Outreach Assistant for the City of Tucson, Arizona.

Tell us about yourself?

My name is Julian Griffee, a current 2nd year M.S. Urban Planning Candidate and Paul D. Coverdell Peace Corps Fellow at the University of Arizona. Originally from Wilmington, North Carolina, I received my B.S. in Geography with a concentration in land use planning from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Professionally, I have worked as a Planner I, have embarked on a Peace Corps service as an Urban and Regional Planning Volunteer to Albania, have interned within the City of Tucson Department of Transportation Bicycle and Pedestrian Program as well as the Burlington-Graham Metropolitan Planning Organization in North Carolina, and now I am working with the City of Tucson’s Planning and Development Services Department where I research climate adaptation policies. During my time with the Bicycle and Pedestrian Program, I assisted in the development...

Student Spotlight: Byron Head, University of Utah

Oct 09, 2019

Byron Head is a masters student in the department of City and Metropolitan Planning at the University of Utah. His focus is on active transportation and transportation demand management, and he is joining the University of Utah's sustainability office as the first Sustainability Graduate Assistant. Prior to beginning the masters program at UU he worked for the Tennessee Department of Transportation as a transportation program monitor.

Tell us about yourself?

It’s been quite a winding road for me to end up in the world of transportation planning. I went to Ole Miss for my undergrad in International Studies and Arabic because I thought I wanted to join the Peace Corps. Then I thought I wanted to be an English teacher, then a biologist. Eventually, I stumbled across a TDOT job posting in the Division of Multimodal Transportation Resources and thought to myself, “Multimodal? That means, like, bikes and buses and walking, right? I like riding my bike!” And that’s how I ended up working for TDOT, which eventually led me to the University of Utah.

I’m in my first semester of the Master of City and Metropolitan Planning program at the University of Utah. Outside of work and school, I enjoy cycling and playing Ultimate Frisbee. Since I’ve moved to Utah, I’m trying to get better at cycling up mountains because we don’t have those in Tennessee. I’m also...

A view of the ballroom with attendees eating lunch during the Summit keynote

Transportation and Communities Summit 2019: Prioritizing Housing, Multimodal Data, and Access to Active Mobility

Oct 09, 2019

The 11th annual Transportation and Communities Summit 2019, held at Portland State University (PSU) on September 19–20, drew attendees from 14 states across the U.S. Over 250 people joined us for the Summit day, and nearly 60 took part in the deep-dive workshop day. We hope the event offered new opportunities for collaboration and synergy between researchers, practitioners, and community members.

Peter DeFazio, the U.S. Representative for Oregon's 4th congressional district, kicked off the day with a video welcome message for the summit attendees, followed on the main stage by TREC director and urban planning faculty Jennifer Dill.

At lunchtime Ben Wellington, the data...

Student Spotlight: Farah Naz, University of Texas at Arlington

Sep 11, 2019

Farah Naz is a doctoral student at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). She earned an M.S. in Transportation Engineering from Northeastern University in Boston Massachusetts where she conducted transit related research. She worked with the Oregon Department of Transportation in the Rail and Public Transit division where she assisted in developing the Transit Network Analysis (TNA) software tool in collaboration with Oregon State University. She is currently the Vice President of the ITE student Chapter at UTA. On September 19th she will be presenting in two sessions at the 11th annual Transportation & Communities Summit in Portland, Oregon.

Tell us about yourself?

I am a doctoral student and work as a teaching and research assistant at the University of Texas at Arlington. I have worked on numerous research projects focused on shared mobility, social media data-based performance measures, cost optimization modeling, and travel characteristics of transportation disadvantaged population in collaboration with social workers, environmental engineers, computer scientists and industrial engineers. This year I am planning to showcase my research findings at numerous national and international conferences.

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Student Spotlight: Catherine Rohan, University of Oregon

Aug 14, 2019

Catherine Rohan, University of Oregon

Catherine Rohan is a masters student at the University of Oregon. She earned a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Texas at Austin, has worked as an environmental inspector, a ground truth surveyor, a GIS technician and a Fleet Response Specialist, and is now working toward a masters in community and regional planning. In July 2019 she studied abroad - see her blog about bicycle-focused planning in the Netherlands - and this September, Catherine will present her work on "Planning for New Mobility in Gresham, Oregon" in a poster session at the 2019 Transportation & Communities Summit in Portland, Oregon.

Tell us about yourself?

I am a community and regional planning masters student at the University of Oregon. Born and raised in Houston, I came to Oregon via Austin, Texas, where I completed my undergrad in environmental science. While I love Eugene I do miss the Tex-Mex and live music in Austin (unfortunately Oregon-Mex is not a thing). In my free time I like to get outdoors, read, and hunt through vintage and thrift stores. I just finished up an amazing...

2019 NITC Outstanding Student of the Year: Samuel Jensen, University of Arizona

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