ITS Lab Blog

Post-doctoral Researcher Position

2010-06-25T16:08:00.000-07:00

Position Summary

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering invites applications for a post-doctoral researcher to work on model development in the area of transportation, land use and climate change. This is an opportunity to be involved in challenging projects that will have significant impact on public policy in Oregon. Over the past two decades, Oregon has been a leader in the development of state-of-the-art integrated land use and transportation modeling tools. This important innovation continues as Portland State University (PSU) is partnering with Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to develop and apply analytical tools to identify the effectiveness of different scenarios and policy actions on greenhouse gas emissions reductions.

The post-doctoral researcher will be physically located in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at PSU. There is a wealth of transportation expertise at PSU across several departments and a strong and growing specialization in transportation and the environment. The post-doctoral research will play an active role in the newly formed Oregon Modeling Collaborative (http://www.pdx.edu/omc/), an initiative that brings together the technical, policy and scholarly expertise of faculty at four institutions of the Oregon University System (Portland State University, University of Oregon, Oregon State University and Oregon Institute of Technology) and the public agencies that comprise the Oregon Modeling Steering Committee (http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TPAU/OMSC.shtml). In addition, PSU is the administrative home of Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (http://otrec.us/), a federally-funded National University Transportation Center.

Key Responsibilities

The successful candidate will work closely with a team of faculty, agency staff and students to:

• Mature existing analytical tools and develop new models of travel demand, land use and climate change;

• Update, develop and test a series of scenarios to evaluate the effectiveness of state and local policies in the transport sector; and

• Make recommendations on approaches to address recent state legislation mandating the evaluation of greenhouse gas emissions.

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to advance their own research interests, while at the same time working on issues important to Oregon Modeling Collaborative.

Required Qualifications

The ideal candidate will possess a PhD in civil engineering, urban planning, environmental or resource economics, geography, or a related field, and will have solid technical skills related to travel demand modeling. S/he must be a self-starter and independent worker. Essential skills include:

• Experience with econometric estimation of linear and limited dependent variable models, particularly discrete choice models;

• Experience with high-level application programming (R and Python preferred);

• Strong writing and oral communication skills; and

• Good interpersonal skills.

Preferred Qualifications

Desirable qualities include experience with:

• Scenario modeling and simulation;

• GIS analysis;

• Development of graphic user interfaces for decision support tools;

• Database programming and manipulation; and

• Project management skills.

Compensation

The starting annual salary rate for this position will be competitive with an excellent benefits package including fully paid healthcare; a generous retirement and vacation package; and reduced tuition rates for employee, spouse or one dependant at any of the Oregon University System schools. The position is funded for a two-year period, with possible continued funding depending on research and development results and available funding. We offer a collegial and intellectually stimulating work environment.

To Apply

Applications should be submitted electronically to Dr. Kelly J. Clifton (kclifton@pdx.edu) no later than July 23, 2010. The application should include a letter of interest that describes relevant experience, a current curriculum vitae, a sample of work, and contact information for at least three references. Review of applications will begin upon receipt and the position will remain open until finalists have been identified.

Great news of the ITS Lab, spring quarter 2010

2010-05-28T22:01:00.000-07:00

In the past quarter, spring 2010, we had a couple of great news:

Adam got the Eisenhower Fellowship.
Heba got the Chi Epsilon Scholarship for Rocky Mountain District.
Lindsay Walker Received 2010 Portland Chapter WTS Graduate Scholarship
Kaveh presented his research at the Innovations in Pricing of Transportation Systems Conference, Orlando, Florida.
Meead got the Outstanding Graduate Student of the Year award of the CEE department.

ITS Lab Students Visited Transportation Research Lab at Oregon State University

2010-04-13T11:43:00.001-07:00

ITS Lab students visited the Transportation Research Laboratory at the Oregon State University (OSU), Corvallis during the NW Transportation Conference on February 9, 2010. Transportation Research Lab at OSU has recently set up a driving simulator. Raul Avelar and Sahar Nabaee, two of the graduate students of OSU welcomed ITS Lab students and gave them information about their current projects.

OTREC Reception at NW Transportation Conference

2010-04-13T11:40:00.000-07:00

Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC) hosted a reception at the NW Transportation Conference, in Corvallis, Oregon on February 9, 2010. Students from the Oregon State University and Portland State University attended this social event and enjoyed chating with each other and having free food and drink.

STEP Happy Hour, Winter 2010

2010-02-04T13:46:00.000-08:00

On January 25, 2010 STEP hosted a happy hour for transportation students and faculty at the beginning of the new winter term. About 25 students and faculty from different departments at PSU, including Urban Studies and Planning and Civil Engineering attended this social event and enjoyed chating with each other and having free food and drinks.

We had the honor of having Dr. Ren Su, the Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, in our event for a few minutes. STEP also presented the upcoming events for the 2010 winter quarter. We look forward to a great term!

Transportation Research Board (TRB) 2010, Washington D.C.

2010-01-18T15:21:00.000-08:00

Students and faculty from the Intelligent Transportation Systems Lab were very active at the Transportation Research Board's 89th Annual Meeting, held January 10-14, 2010 in Washington, D.C.

A group of 21 students representing Portland State University attended, including:
Meead Saberi, Wei Feng, Huan Li, Rolando Melgoza, Alex Bigazzi, Kristie Gladhill, Todd Johnson, Kaveh Shabani, Nikki Wheeler, Ryan Conrad, David Ruales, Adam Moore, Jessi Boudart, Lindsay Walker, Asa Bergman, Sirisha Kothuri, Alicia Crain, Nathan Mcneil, Hongwei Dong, Joseph Broach, and James Whiteneck.

A number of former PSU students attended as well, including:
Jerzy Wieczorek, Zakhary Horowitz, Mariah VanZerr, and Daniel Constantino.

Here is a link to a photo slide show of PSU folks at TRB:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37939613@N02/sets/721576232174418 34/show/

Another link to a slide show of Region X reception (including OTREC) at TRB:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37939613@N02/sets/72157623217410834/show/

Climate Change Impacts on Surface Transportation Infrastructure Webinar

2009-12-02T12:08:00.000-08:00

As part of the ITS research project on "Climate Change Impacts on Surface Transportation Infrastructure", ITS Lab was hosting a webinar that explored the findings of Transportation Research Board Special Report 299: A Transportation Research Program for Mitigating and Adapting to Climate Change and Conserving Energy. A couple of ITS Lab students attended the webinar.

Fall 2009 ITS Lab Ping Pong Tournament

2009-11-30T11:26:00.000-08:00

After several rounds of playing, Huan Li, Meead Saberi, and Kaveh Shabani entered the final round and played in a league. Kaveh Shabani won all his games and took the first place. Congratulations Kaveh!

Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Final
Chengyu (BYE)	Chengyu	Huan (2-1)	Huan (3rd place)	Kaveh (1st place)
Huan	Huan
Adam
Kaveh	Kaveh (2-0)	Kaveh (2-0)
Todd
Jesse	David (2-1)		Meead (2nd place)
David
Wei (BYE)	Wei	Meead (2-0)
Nathan	Meead (2-0)
Meead

Visiting the Toyota Berth in the Port of Portland

2009-11-29T18:18:00.001-08:00

On Saturday, October 31, ITS Lab students visited a cargo ship named Pyxis at the Toyota Berth in the Port of Portland. The Port of Portland and Toyota on November 1, 2002 celebrated an agreement that will ensure the port remains a West Coast gateway for automobile imports through 2017. Toyota ships automobiles through Portland to more than 30 states in its U.S. sales network. Portland handles about 350,000 auto imports and exports a year, making it the largest auto import center on the West Coast. ITS Lab students had this opportunity to observe automobiles unloading operation at the port. Thanks to STEP and Kristie for organizing this visit.

7th Annual Region X Student Conference at University of Oregon, Eugene

2009-11-29T18:14:00.000-08:00

PSU students participated in the 7th Annual Region X Student Conference at University of Oregon, Eugene on November 13, 2009. Region X is a showcase for transportation research and education in the Pacific Northwest which includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska.

PSU students presented a total of 3 presentations and 11 posters. Awarded by popular vote of fellow students, Rolando Melgoza and David Ruales won a prize for having the best poster. Student travel was supported by OTREC.

ITE Traffic Bowl

2009-11-29T18:10:00.001-08:00

ITS Lab students participated in the social event of the year for the Oregon Section of ITE - the 18th Annual Traffic Bowl. This year, the Portland State team was made up of David Ruelas, Kristie Gladhill, Alicia Crain, and Todd Johnson. The team did a great job and took the first place at the Traffic Bowl competing with Oregon State University, University of Portland, University of Washington, Oregon Institute of Technology, and University of Oregon in the jeopardy-style game. Congratulations to the team!

Step Happy Hour

2009-10-11T14:15:00.000-07:00

On October 7, 2009 STEP hosted a happy hour for transportation students and faculty at the beginning of the new fall term. Over 30 students and faculty from different departments at PSU, including Urban Studies and Planning and Civil Engineering attended this social event and enjoyed chating with each other and having free food and drinks. STEP also presented the upcoming events for the year 2009-10. We look forward to a great busy year!

Fall 2009 ITS Lab Group Photo

2009-10-01T11:04:00.000-07:00

Welcome everyone to the ITS LAB, new students and returning ones.

From left to right: Meead, Ping, Prneeth, Wei, Sirisha, Chris (Dr. Monsere), Kristin (Dr. Tufte), Bryan, Chengxin, Ryan, Huan, Myeonwoo, Chengyu, Rolando, Heba, Nikki, Kristie, X, Ashley (Dr. Haire) , James, Adam, Sathis, Kaveh, Miguel (Dr. Figliozzi), Spicer, Shreemoyee, Y, and Lyndsay.

Coming back to school

2009-09-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

The summer is going to end pretty soon and again it's the time to come back to school and work. Most of the ITS Lab students were working in the lab during the summer, some part-time and some full-time. Helene went to France. Wei, Huan, and Chengyu went back home to China for a short visit and they all are back. Also Sirisha went back to India for a few weeks and she is back as well. American students also had some time off to go back to their hometown and visit family and friends. I think it was a good summer for everybody. Now we all are back to start a new term as strong as before, with more energy and enthusiasm. Next week the fall term starts. Some new students are coming too. I'll post about them in next couple of days. Hello school!

Helene and Dr. Bertini are leaving

2009-08-07T20:16:00.001-07:00

It's always hard to say good bye to those who you like them. This is a sad post. Helene is going back to France after being here in the lab for an internship for about five months. Dr. Bertini is leaving PSU too. Dr. Bertini has been sort of a "Superman" for PSU and our transportation group. He developed the graduate program we have, the ITS Lab, the PORTAL, and the OTREC. He is a great man, I can say in a sentence. Dr. Bertini will be the deputy administrator of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) at Washington D.C. Yesterday we had a good bye party for Helene and today we had one for Dr. Bertini. We all wish both of them best of luck and hope to see them again.

ITE District 6 Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado

2009-07-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

ITS Lab students were remarkably active at the 2009 District 6 ITE Annual Meeting, held July 12-15, 2009 in Denver, Colorado. Students and faculty from Portland State University presented a total of 4 presentations and participated in different sessions. Also Ryan Conrad and Kristie Gladhill won the first and the fourth prize of the James H. Kell Student Competition. Josh Crain was given the outstanding undergraduate student award and Lisa Diercksen was given the outstanding graduate student award. Also STEP won the best website award.

Portland State University students traffic bowl team. This time their questions were not very good. Most of the teams got many negative points. The less aggressive a team was, the less negative points they had. So it wasn't really a fair game. I think our team did a good job!

This is the ames H. Kell Student Competition which Ryan Conrad and Kristie Gladhill won the first and the fourth prize of it. It was fun. The game was designed by UC Berkeley students. Maybe next year PSU students will design a game and submit it.

If you are in transportation profession, I'm sure you've heard about Denver Pedestrian Mall. Here it is. A wonderful place for walking and biking and taking free buses.

Sometimes we were like this. The weather was hot there during the day but it wasn't that hot to stop us visiting around.

Friday Seminar: Pedaling Revolution

2009-06-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

Speaker: Jeff Mapes, senior political reporter for The Oregonian

Topic: Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities

Date: June 5, 2009

Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities

“A growing number of Americans, mounted on their bicycles like some new kind of urban cowboy, are mixing it up with swift, two-ton motor vehicles as they create a new society on the streets. They’re finding physical fitness, low-cost transportation, environmental purity—and, still all too often, Wild West risks of sudden death or injury.” —from the Introduction

In a world of increasing traffic congestion, a grassroots movement is carving out a niche for bicycles on city streets. Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities explores the growing bike culture that is changing the look and feel of cities, suburbs, and small towns across North America.

From traffic-dodging bike messengers to tattooed teenagers on battered bikes, from riders in spandex to well-dressed executives, ordinary citizens are becoming transportation revolutionaries. Jeff Mapes traces the growth of bicycle advocacy and explores the environmental, safety, and health aspects of bicycling. He rides with bicycle advocates who are taming the streets of New York City, joins the street circus that is Critical Mass in San Francisco, and gets inspired by the everyday folk pedaling in Amsterdam, the nirvana of American bike activists. Chapters focused on big cities, college towns, and America’s most successful bike city, Portland, show how cyclists, with the encouragement of local officials, are claiming a share of the valuable streetscape.

“Writing from Portland, the hub of the American cycling renaissance, Jeff Mapes, brimming with passion, humor and salutary insight, makes an admirably clearheaded, convincing and, ultimately, humane argument for making more room for the two-wheeler, in our lives and on our roads.” –Tom Vanderbilt, author of Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)

"Finally, the bicycling movement gets the serious examination that it deserves.” – Jane Holtz Kay, author of Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take It Back

Spring 2009 Ping Pong Tournament

2009-05-29T16:36:00.000-07:00

Again Rafael and Scott competed against each other in the final game like the previous tournament but this time Scott won the game and became Champion. Go Scott!

Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Final
David(BYE)	David	-Huan (2-0)	Scott (2-0)	Scott (2-0)
Alex	Huan (2-1)
Huan
Scott(BYE)	Scott	-Scott (2-0)
Chengyu	Wei (2-0)
Wei
Rafael(BYE)	Rafael	Rafael (2-0)	Rafael (2-0)
Nathan	Todd (2-1)
Todd
Leah(BYE)	Leah	Meead (2-0)
Lisa	Meead (2-0)
Meead

Friday Seminar: Parking in Suburban Downtowns

2009-05-29T16:33:00.000-07:00

Topic: Parking in Suburban Downtowns: A Case Study of Kirkland, WA
Speaker: Ken Dueker, Professor Emeritus, PSU, Center for Urban Studies
Date: May 29, 2009

Friday Seminar: How Public Transportation is Financed in Oregon

2009-05-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

Speaker: Michael Ward, Public Transit Division Administrator, Oregon Department of Transportation

Date: May 22, 2009

Topic: How Public Transportation is Financed in Oregon [presentation]

Naming Computers After Transportation Scholars

2009-05-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

Following the tradition of honoring great scientists, we currently have several computers in the lab that are named after transportation scholars. Recently three new computers have been ordered for the lab and arrived. Students and faculty are brainstorming to find good names for the new machines. Here is a list of our current computers' names with a short bio of each of the scholars.

Adolf May
He is a Professor Emeritus of Civil and Environmental Engineering at University of California, Berkeley. Professor May's research interests include the capacity and quality of service of two-lane highways, development of prototype driver models for highway design. "Traffic Flow Fundamental" is one of his famous publications, published by Prentice Hall in 1990.

William Garrison
William Louis Garrison (born 1924) is an American geographer and transportation analyst, currently a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. While at the University of Washington in the 1950s, Garrison led the "quantitative revolution" in geography, which applied computers and statistics to the study of spatial problems. As such, he was one of the founders of regional science. "The Transportation Experience: Policy, Planning and Deployment" is one of his books, coauthored by David M. Levinson.

George Goethals
George Washington Goethals (June 29, 1858 - January 21, 1928) was a United States Army officer and civil engineer, best known for his supervision of construction and the opening of the Panama Canal. The Goethals Bridge between Staten Island, New York City and Elizabeth, New Jersey is named in his honor, as is the Goethals Medal.

Thomas Urbanik
Dr. Tom Urbanik is the Goodrich Chair of Excellence in Transportation at University of Tennessee. His teaching and research interests are in traffic operations. Professor Urbanik is an international expert in transportation system operation and management including advanced traffic control systems, system performance measurement and optimization, highway-railroad grade crossings, transit priority, geometric design, and transportation management during natural and technological emergencies.

Collis Huntington
Collis Potter Huntington (April 16 or October 22, 1821 – August 13, 1900) was one of the Big Four of western railroading (along with Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker) who built the Central Pacific Railroad as part of the first U.S. transcontinental railroad. Huntington then helped lead and develop other major interstate lines such as the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, which he was recruited to help complete. The C&O, completed in 1873, fulfilled a long-held dream of Virginians of a rail link from the James River at Richmond to the Ohio River Valley. The new railroad facilities adjacent to the river there resulted in expansion of the former small town of Guyandotte, West Virginia into part of a new city which was named Huntington in his honor.

Jason Gould
Jason "Jay" Gould (May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American financier who became a leading American railroad developer and speculator. Jason Gould was born in Roxbury, New York. Gould started, in 1879, to build up a system of railroads in the Midwest by gaining control of four western railroads, including the Union Pacific and the Missouri Pacific Railroad. In 1880, he was in control of 10,000 miles (16,000 km) of railway, about one-ninth of the length of rail in the United States at that time, and, by 1882, he had controlling interest in 15% of the country's tracks.

James Hill
James Jerome Hill (September 16, 1838 – May 29, 1916), was a noted Canadian-American railroad executive. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwest, the northern Great Plains, and Pacific Northwest. Because of the size of this region and the economic dominance exerted by the Hill lines, Hill became known during his lifetime as the Empire Builder.

Walter Kramer
According to the 25th Anniversary History of Portland State University, the Center for Transportation Studies (then called the Transportation Studies Center) was established in 1966 by Professor Walter H. Kramer in the Portland State University Department of Marketing (now School of Business Administration). Professor Kramer joined Portland State University in 1965 as a tenured professor with a transportation studies specialty. Professor Kramer served PSU in various capacities until his retirement in 1987.

F.V. Webster
Dr. F.V. Webster, a British traffic engineer and author of the famous 1966 book "Traffic Signals". The famous British transportation researcher, F. V. Webster, developed a series of useful traffic theories, which have had a very big influence on the modern traffic analysis since the 1950s.

Robert Foote
Robert S. Foote was M.ASCE, Mgr., Research Div., Tunnels and Bridges Dept., Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, New York, N.Y. The first data for developing the first car following model was obtained at the Lincoln Tunnel in New York with his help. Herman and Rothery, together with Edie and Foote of The Port of New York Authority, carried out two studies, a series of measurements of car-following speed and spacing through the vehicular tunnels of New York and more accurate measurements of flow and speed at the Lincoln Tunnel. One of the most interesting results of this series of experiments and observations was the striking agreement between the characteristic speed of cars in the tunnels as determined from gross flow measurements and the values obtained from analysis of the car-following data.

Harmer Davis
Harmer E. Davis, professor emeritus of civil engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and founder of what is now the University of California Institute of Transportation Studies, died Dec. 24 at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, Calif. He was 93. Davis was an international leader in transportation policy and the founder of the nation's first program combining research and teaching in transportation issues. The model established by Davis in 1947, which includes a close collaboration with the State of California's highway department, has since been followed by many states.

Carlos Daganzo
Carlos F. Daganzo is the Robert Horonjeff Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at University of California, Berkeley. He has the following research interests: Logistics, Networks, Traffic flow theory and control, Public transportation. He got his Diploma of Civil Engineering from University of Madrid, Spain in 1972. Then he moved to the US and got his MSCE and PhD in Transportation from University of Michigan.

John Roebling
John Augustus Roebling (born Johann August Röbling, June 12, 1806 in Mühlhausen - July 22, 1869) was a German-born civil engineer famous for his wire rope suspension bridge designs, in particular, the design of the Brooklyn Bridge. On May 22, 1831, Roebling left Germany to the US. He wanted to build big bridges, which was difficult in Germany at the time. John Roebling could not have arrived in the United States at a better time. One year prior to his arrival, President Andrew Jackson had authorized the use of nearly $100 million toward public engineering projects, including the construction of roads, railroads, and canals.

Reuben Smeed
Reuben Jacob Smeed (1909–1976) was a British statistician and transport researcher. He obtained a degree in mathematics and PhD in aeronautical engineering from Queen Mary's College before entering academia as a teacher of mathematics. In 1947 he joined the Traffic and Safety Division as Deputy Director at the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (later the Transport Research Laboratory), where he investigated issues around traffic, road users, accidents, lighting and vehicle behaviour, pioneering the scientific study of transport studies. In so doing, he discovered a number of surprising or counter-intuitive features of road systems. In 1949 he proposed Smeed's law, an empirical rule that broke the usual link between environmental factors and road accidents. Instead he correlated traffic fatalities to traffic density, as measured by the proxy of motor vehicle registrations and country population. He also proposed that the average speed of traffic in central London would always be nine miles per hour, because that is the minimum speed that people will tolerate. He claimed that his new designs for the linked use of traffic lights might increase the number of cars on the roads but would not increase their speed, because, as soon as the traffic flowed faster, more drivers would come to slow it down. In 1962 he was commissioned to head the Smeed Report, an influential study into the benefits and feasibility of congestion charging in urban road networks. Although it was initially well received, successive governments' failed to act, and he left the laboratory in frustration soon after its publication in 1964, joining the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources. In 1967 he became the first Professor of Traffic Studies at University College London where he taught until his death in 1976.

Edward Harriman
Edward Henry Harriman (20 February 1848 – 9 September 1909) was an American railroad executive. Harriman was nearly fifty years old when in 1897 he became a director of the Union Pacific Railroad. By May 1898 he was chairman of the executive committee, and from that time until his death his word was law on the Union Pacific system. In 1903 he assumed the office of president of the company. From 1901 to 1909, Harriman was also the President of the Southern Pacific railroad.

Elliott Montroll

Elliott Waters Montroll (May 4, 1916 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA - December 3, 1983 in Chevy Chase, Maryland, USA) was an American scientist and mathematician. In 1958, as consultant to General Motors Corporation, he undertook studies of traffic flow and published Traffic dynamics: Studies in car following. Montroll's work led to him receiving many honours and prizes. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (United States) in 1969, and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1973. His work on traffic flow led to him winning (jointly) the Lanchester Prize of the Operations Research Society of America in 1959.

Friday Seminar: Multi Modal Level of Service

2009-05-15T17:02:00.000-07:00

Date: Friday, May 15, 2009
Speaker: Seleta J. Reynolds, AICP, Fehr & Peers/Mirai
Topic: Multi Modal Level of Service - State of the Practice

Abstract:

A new way of measuring Level of Service for bicycles, pedestrians, and transit is planned for the next Highway Capacity Manual. Are these the right tools to help us plan and build the system we want? If not, what answers do these tools give us and how should we use them? This presentation will review the approaches to multi-modal Level of Service at the national and local levels and discuss efforts to validate the HCM methods. It will also cover the effect of our LOS policies on climate change and explore ways that we might tweak our analysis to get a more accurate picture of the transportation system for all users.

Bio:

Seleta Reynolds plans, funds, and implements bicycle and pedestrian projects as a consultant for the Seattle office of Fehr & Peers. Seleta contributed to the national Safe Routes to School toolbox and has served as a guest lecturer on transportation planning for San Jose State University, Portland State University, and UC Berkeley. She serves on the Transportation Research Board Pedestrian Committee and as the President of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals. One of her favorite side projects was a collaboration with artists Steve Lambert and Packard Jennings to imagine the future of transportation for the Art on Market Street project in San Francisco. Prior to joining Fehr & Peers in 2001, she was the bicycle and pedestrian coordinator for the City of Oakland, California.

Friday Seminar: Zoning Strategy Effect in ADA Paratransit Services: A Simulation Study in Los Angeles, CA

2009-05-11T11:10:00.000-07:00

Date:
Friday, May 8, 2008

Topic:
Zoning Strategy Effect in ADA Paratransit Services: A Simulation Study in Los Angeles, CA

Speaker:
Luca Quadrifoglio, Assistant Professor, Zachry Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University

Abstract: We study the impact on productivity of a specific operating practice currently adopted by some demand responsive transit (DRT) providers. We investigate the effect of using a zoning vs. a no-zoning strategy on performance measures such as total trip miles, deadhead miles and fleet size. It is difficult to establish closed form expressions to assess the impact on the performance measures of a specific zoning practice for a real transportation network. Thus, we conduct this study through a simulation model of the operations of DRT providers on a network based on data for DRT service in Los Angeles County.

Green Faculty Position 3rd Candidate

2009-05-11T11:01:00.000-07:00

We were very glad to welcome the third candidate for the faculty position in "Green Transportation". We had Dr. Avinash Unnikrishnan from University of Texas, Austin on Friday. Let me introduce him a little bit more.

Ph.D. - University of Texas, Austin, 2008
M.S. - Vanderbilt University, 2004
B.S. - IIT Madras, 2002

Avinash joined the research group at University of Texas, Austin after completing his M.S. studies at Vanderbilt. He did his B.S. at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras - Chennai. He is interested in dynamic traffic assignment, dynamic network modeling, traffic simulation and ITS applications.

He is currently involved in the TxDOT project "Development of Freeway Traffic Time Prediction Capability in Conjunction with Detector Coverage Analysis" and "Dynamic Traffic Models for Network Assessment" for the Mid-America Earthquake (MAE) Center which is a NSF ERC.

Transportation Network Models for Enhancing System Performance and Sustainability

Dr. Avinash Unnikrishnan
Postdoctoral Researcher

University of Texas at Austin

Abstract: This research enhances system performance and sustainability by modeling the impacts of information and uncertainty on the operation and planning of traffic, transit and freight networks. I will first present new methodologies to model and influence traveler behavior by providing real-time information to counter travel cost uncertainties caused by recurring and non-recurring congestion. Travelers with access to real-time information are likely to make adaptive path, route, and mode choice decisions as they traverse the network in order to mitigate travel cost uncertainty. However, traditional network equilibrium models ignore any adaptive behavior and hence inaccurately evaluate energy, emissions, and traveler costs in congested networks. The research findings indicate that network models not accounting for travel cost uncertainty and adaptive behavior produce inaccurate estimates of link flows, congestion, or total system travel time of up to 50%. In my presentation, I will also discuss the application of advanced network equilibrium models to develop, plan, and evaluate sustainable and efficient multi-modal transportation systems under uncertainty. I will present models to select and prioritize capacity enhancement strategies (e.g. bottleneck removal or mitigation) that reduce system travel time or increase equity and environmental justice. Finally, I will also discuss infrastructure planning applications of network modeling in domains such as freight modeling, emission estimations, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

Green Faculty Position 2nd Candidate

2009-05-06T15:08:00.000-07:00

We were very glad to welcome the second candidate for the faculty position in "Green Transportation". We had Dr. Kelly Clifton from University of Maryland - College Park on Wednesday. Let me introduce her a little bit more.

Dr. Kelly Clifton
Associate Professor of Urban Studies and Planning
University of Maryland - College Park

Her main research interests are :

Travel Behavior
Transportation Policy
Land Use and Transportation
Physical Activity and Health
Transportation, Environment and Energy

Her current research projects have focused tools to aid in forecasting the demand for transportation. She is a leader in the team developing the Maryland Statewide Transportation Model, a suite of transportation, land use and economic models developed by the National Center for Smart Growth and INFORUM at the University of Maryland and PB World. Dr. Clifton has also developed a pedestrian demand model MoPeD (Model of Pedestrian Demand) in a GIS platform that predicts pedestrian volumes at the supra-neighborhood scale. Another product of her recent research efforts is PEDS (the Pedestrian Environment Data Scan), an audit tool to evaluate microscale features of the pedestrian environment.

Prior to pursuing an academic career, Dr. Clifton worked as a researcher for the US Department of Energy in Morgantown, WV; a project manager for NuStats, a survey research firm in Austin Texas; and a transportation consulting firm, John F. Hickman and Associates in Austin, Texas.

Dr. Clifton has a PhD in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Texas at Austin, MS in Planning from the University of Arizona, and BS in Mechanical Engineering from West Virginia University.

She gave a presentation about:

Activity and Travel Choice Models - Possible Applications to Understanding Energy Demand

Abstract: This talk focuses on some recent research using activity and transportation choice models and the potential extension of these models to understand residential and transportation energy consumption. The first part of the talk examines the decision to engage in an activity in the home or outside of the home using an individual-level, binary choice model that estimates the choice of activity location as a function of personal characteristics, activity attributes and the land use and transportation system characteristics. Many models of human activity only focus on out-of-home activities because the travel incurred to reach the activity is the primary interest. However, it is important to consider the full complement of daily activities and their location in order to understand the phenomena influencing these choices and the potential for substitution. The second part of the talk will discuss how these models and results might fit into a larger framework to understand the direct energy consumption patterns of households and implications for policy.

Students wish her luck and success through this process.

Green Faculty Position 1st Candidate

2009-05-04T15:12:00.000-07:00

We are very excited to welcome the first candidate for a new faculty position in "Green Transportation" starting in Fall 2009. We had Dr. Nicholas Lutsey from UC Davis on Monday. He gave faculty and students a presentation about his PhD dissertation. Let me introduce him more.

Nicholas Lutsey

Postdoctoral scholar
Institute of Transportation Studies
University of California, Davis
nplutsey@ucdavis.edu

Education

Ph.D., Transportation Technology & Policy, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS, June 2008
M.S., Transportation Technology & Policy, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS, June 2003
B.S., Agricultural and Biological Engineering, CORNELL UNIVERSITY, College of Engineering May 2001

Background

Nicholas Lutsey completed his Ph.D. in Transportation Technology and Policy in June 2008. Over his time at ITS-Davis, his work has included the assessment of technologies and policies to promote cost-effective energy efficiency and emission reduction opportunities in passenger and commercial vehicles. For his dissertation, he created an analytical tool for evaluating technologies to reduce vehicle-related greenhouse gas emissions and compare those strategies with options in other economic sectors. Following the completion of his dissertation, Lutsey has worked within the STEPS program as a post-doctoral researcher. His research plans include exploring the potential for co-benefits of greenhouse gas mitigation strategies and possible compliance paths for a low-carbon fuel standard in California.

Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Supply Curve for Transportation versus Other Sectors in the United States

Abstract: Governments worldwide and in the United States are enacting a variety of measures to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from various economic sectors. This dissertation draws from the expansive literature on energy efficiency and GHG migration technologies to formulate an analytical method to better prioritize future climate change policy actions for the United States. Applying consistent economic assumptions, a multi-benefit cost-effectiveness accounting tool is developed that simultaneously evaluates technology costs, lifetime energy saving benefits, and GHG reductions in a single cost-per-tonne-reduced metric. Using this tool, transportation GHG mitigation technologies are compared directly with options from other sectors on an equal footing. The research findings indicate that motor vehicles and fuels are attractive candidates for reducing GHG emissions in the near and medium term. Vehicle and fuel technologies represent about half of the GHG mitigation options that have net-positive benefits – so-called ‘‘no regrets” strategies – and about 20% of the most cost-effective options to reduce GHGs to 10% below 1990 levels by 2030.

Friday Seminar: Re-examining the influence of work and non-work accessibility on residential location choices with a micro-analytic framework

2009-05-04T15:08:00.000-07:00

Date:
Friday, May 1, 2009

Speaker:
Brian Lee, Doctoral Candidate, University of Washington Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Urban Design & Planning

Topic:
Re-examining the influence of work and non-work accessibility on residential location choices with a micro-analytic framework [presentation]

Abstract:
Abstract: The concept of accessibility has long been theorized as a principal determinant of household residential choice behavior. Research on this influence is extensive but the empirical results have been mixed, with some research suggesting that accessibility is becoming a relatively insignificant influence on housing choices. Further, the measurement of accessibility must contend with complications arising from the increasing prevalence of trip-chains, non-work activities, and multi-worker households, as well as reconcile person-specific travel needs with household residential decisions. This paper contributes to the literature by addressing the gap framed by these issues and presents a novel residential choice model with three main elements of innovation. First, it operationalized a time-space prism (TSP) accessibility measure, which the authors believe to be the first application of its kind in a residential choice model. Second, it represented the choice sets in a building-level framework, the lowest level of spatial disaggregation available for modeling residential choices. Third, it explicitly examined the influence of non-work accessibility at both the local- and person-level. This residential choice model was applied in the central Puget Sound region using a 2006 household activity survey. The model estimation results confirmed that accessibility remain an important influence, with individual-specific work accessibility as the most critical consideration. By using the TSP approach, it was established that non-work accessibility in a trip-chaining context does contribute to the residential choice decision, even after accounting for work accessibility. Empirical tests also revealed a useful aggregation method to incorporate individual-specific accessibility measures into a household-level choice model.

Port of Portland

2009-04-28T16:37:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, April 26, students and faculty visited the Terminal 6 of the Port of Portland. The port owns four marine terminals and four commercial and industrial parks in the Portland area. The port also owns four airports, including Portland International Airport and Hillsboro, Troutdale and Mulino airports. Port of Portland's marine terminals export the largest amount of wheat from the United States and third largest amount in the world. Marine terminals are located along the Willamette River and the Columbia River. Terminals are served by rail (Union Pacific and BNSF railroads), connecting interstates, and river barges. Special thanks to Lisa for organizing this visit.

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Seminar

2009-04-28T16:35:00.001-07:00

Jack Gonsalves P.E. is a Senior Project Manager and the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) National Practice Leader for Parsons Brinckerhoff, one of the world's leading planning, engineering, and program and construction management organizations. On Monday, April 20th, he gave a presentation at Portland State University for STEP on BRT including some up and coming technologies in the area, the economics of BRT and discussions of some of his own projects. Mr. Gonsalves is an expert in the field of BRT and this was a really good opportunity to get some information on an up and coming transit mode.

Thanks to Lisa, Leah, Rolando, David and all the STEP guys who organized this seminar.

Friday Seminar: Measuring Travel and Physical Activity Using GPS and Accelerometry

2009-04-17T19:24:00.000-07:00

Date: April 17, 2009

Topic: Measuring Travel and Physical Activity Using GPS and Accelerometry: Applications for Transportation and Health

Speaker: Jean Wolf, President, Co-Founder of GeoStats

Abstract:
GPS use in travel behavior studies has seen increasing acceptance over the past decade, with more than 15 travel surveys conducted since 2000 including a GPS subcomponent. Similarly, accelerometers have become the gold standard for collecting objective physical activity data in health studies. Since 2003, GeoStats has been involved in studies that have deployed both devices in tandem to collect second-by-second travel and physical activity data never before available. This seminar will cover the use of these technologies to address key research questions facing transportation and health professionals.

Friday Seminar: Powering the Future of Transportation

2009-04-11T11:20:00.000-07:00

Date: April 10, 2009
Speaker: Scott Samuelsen, Director, National Fuel Cell Research Center, UC Irvine
Topic: Powering the Future of Transportation (Fuel Cells)

ITS Lab Spring 2009 Snowshoe

2009-04-05T11:34:00.000-07:00

We have had a lot of fun this term. This time we went to Mirror Lake, Mount Hood for snowshoeing. Have you ever seen such a wonderful lab team, students and faculty?

We snowshoed about 4 miles to Mirror Lake somwhere near Mount Hood. After snowshoeing for more than an hour and getting lost we finally reached the Mirror Lake. A short break, lunch, enjoying looking at green and white colors of earth and blue color of sky, lots of photos and at the end getting ready to go back. It was the second annual snowshoeing event of the ITS Lab.

Lunch Meeting with Dr. David Levinson

2009-04-05T11:23:00.000-07:00

After the seminar on Friday, a group of students, faculty and seminar attendees including professionals from METRO and TRIMET had a lunch meeting with Dr. David Levinson. He 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. He has authored or edited several books including Planning for Place and Plexus: Metropolitan Land Use and Design, Access to Destinations,and Financing Transportation Networks. He is also the editor of the Journal of Transport and Land Use.

He answered several questions of the attendees about land use and public transportation and etc. It was a great honor and chance to had Dr. Levinson at PSU. We hope to meet him again.

Friday Seminar: Transport, Land Use, and Value

2009-04-05T11:19:00.000-07:00

Date:
Friday, April 3, 2009

Topic:
Transport, Land Use, and Value

Speaker:
David Levinson, 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

Abstract:
This presentation considers co-evolutionary process between the development of land and transport networks. Using data from the rail and Underground in London and the streetcar system in the Twin Cities, the empirical relationship is established statistically under several different contexts, and hypotheses about the positive feedback nature of the interaction are tested. Using insights from empirical observation, a numerical simulation is constructed to more formally test the relationship, and to understand the extent to which allowing networks to vary in response to land use (and land use to vary in response to network) affects the spatial organization of each. Models of network growth which fix land use, and models of land use which fix network growth, underestimate the degree of hierarchy that emerges in the system. Given transportation creates land value, and recognizing the problem of underfunding transport infrastructure, new funding sources can be used to increase transport investment, create additional land value, and improve social welfare.

STEP Spring Term Happy Hour

2009-04-05T11:12:00.000-07:00

STEP hosted a happy hour at the beginning of the new spring term to inject fresh enthusiasm and energy to students to start the new term.

Free dinner and drinks were provided and students enjoyed chatting for a few hours in a non-academic atmosphere, laughter and joy!

Welcome Back to Spring Term!

2009-03-30T11:09:00.000-07:00

Hope every one had a good spring break. It's the time to gear up again and get ready for lots of classes, assignments and research works. Ready to wrap up your research projects and start writing the papers? Deadlines are approaching. Good luck every body!

Helene Arrived!

2009-03-19T23:13:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, March 19, 2009 at 8:30 pm, Helene Siri, a new international student from France who will work as an intern in the ITS Lab for a couple of months just arrived Portland. Nikki and Meead picked her up at the airport. We warmly welcome Helene and we hope she will have a great stay in Portland. We'll see and read more about her and her projects in the lab pretty soon.

The 50th Annual Transportation Research Forum

2009-03-19T22:51:00.000-07:00

OTREC helped sponsor the 50th Annual Forum of the Transportation Research Forum, held in Portland, Oregon March 16-18, 2009. OTREC faculty partner B. Starr McMullen of Oregon State University served as conference chair and OTREC sponsored the Keynote Speaker Daniel McFadden, 2000 Nobel Prize recipient in Economics, who presented "Sociality, Rationality and the Ecology of Choice."

ITS Lab students and faculty were active at the 50th Annual Forum of the Transportation Research Forum, held in Portland, Oregon March 16-18, 2009. ITS Lab students served as volunteers at all conference sessions and organized the very successful poster session. Thanks to Lisa Diercksen for organizing the volunteers.

A full summary of our involvement can be found below:

Miguel A. Figliozzi, Portland State University and Zeyan Zhang, The University of Sydney
Session 9.3: Managing Transportation Disruptions
A Study of Transportation Disruption Causes and Costs in Containerized Maritime Transportation

Robert L. Bertini (session chair), Portland State University and David Lovell, University of Maryland
Session 4.1: Transportation Measures
Can Sensors Be Used to Provide Accurate Travel Time Information?

Meead Saberi K., Portland State University
Session 2.1: Mode Choice
Evaluating the Factors Affecting Student Travel Mode Choice

Alexander Bigazzi and Robert L. Bertini, Portland State University
Poster Session
Adding Sustainability Performance Measures to a Transportation Data Archive

Meead Saberi K., Priya Chavan, and Robert L. Bertini, Portland State University
Poster Session
Does Weather Affect Traffic Flow on Freeways?

Miguel A. Figliozzi, Kristin Tufte and Scott Fletcher, Portland State University
Poster Session
Integration and Visualization Challenges and Opportunities for Online Freight Data Mapping

Wei Feng and Robert L. Bertini, Portland State University
Poster Session
Characteristics of Transitions in Freeway Traffic

Zip Car: How Sharing and Openness Should Play a Critical Role in Our Transportation Future

2009-03-13T16:19:00.000-07:00

Seminar topic:
How Sharing and Openness Should Play a Critical Role in Our Transportation Future

Date:
Mar 13, 2009

Speaker:
Robin Chase, founder and former CEO of Zipcar, founder and current CEO of GoLoco and Meadow Networks

Friday Seminar: ITS at Trimet; Improving Service & Saving Money

2009-03-06T16:41:00.000-08:00

PSU Center for Transportation Studies

Transportation Seminar

March 6, 2009

Speaker: David Crout, Analyst, Trimet

Topic: ITS at Trimet: Improving Service and Saving Money

The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet), the transit provider for urban Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington Counties, has been a leader in applying ITS technologies to its operations since the mid-1990s. The use of ITS technology has enhanced service for its customers while providing significant operational efficiencies.

In this presentation, analyst David Crout will describe many of TriMet's ITS projects, including the automatic vehicle location (AVL) system, computer-aided dispatch (CAD), real-time customer information, transit signal priority, and automatic stop announcements, and show how they have resulted in improved service and cost savings for the agency.

OTREC Board of Advisors

2009-03-06T16:38:00.000-08:00

No students were in this meeting, so I have no idea what went on there. I post this just to document it with some photos. Maybe I can tell you a little bit about OTREC.

OTREC is a National University Transportation Center created by Congress in 2005 and is a partnership between Portland State University, the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, and the Oregon Institute of Technology. With a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, OTREC sponsors research, education and technology transfer projects at our partner universities. OTREC programs relate to the OTREC theme and support national transportation initiatives and needs. Through collaboration and partnerships with transportation agencies, industry, and other universities in the Northwest, OTREC aims to address the transportation needs of Oregon, the Northwest, and the nation. The OTREC theme is focused on contributing to USDOT strategic objectives including: safety, mobility, global connectivity, environmental stewardship, security and congestion.

Friday Seminar: Seen and Heard at TRB, 2009

2009-02-27T19:43:00.000-08:00

Date: February 27, 2009
Topic: Seen and Heard at TRB, 2009

A Panel Debrief featuring Mike Hoglund (Metro), Gail Achterman (OSU), and Matt Berkow (Alta Planning + Design)

Sister Laboratories: Travel Demand Lab and ITS Lab

2009-02-17T11:32:00.000-08:00

Dr. John Gliebe, Daniel Costantino, Asa Bergman, Hongwei Dong, Josh Roll, KiHong Kim, and Joe Broach from the Travel Demand Lab were warmly welcomed by ITS Lab students and faculty on Tuesday, February 17, 2009.

Let me talk a little bit about Dr. Gliebe. Dr. John Gliebe joined the PSU School of Urban Studies and Planning three years ago, bringing with him six years of transportation and land use modeling experience. Dr. Gliebe has a master's degree in urban planning from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Northwestern University.

Dr. Gliebe has developed a travel demand modeling lab at PSU School of Urban Studies and Planning. His and his students' (Travel Demand Lab folks) research interests are on the development of advanced travel demand modeling methods, such as activity-based models and integrated land use and transportation models. Their objective is to improve the behavioral realism of modeling practices, with the underlying goal of offering better tools for policy analysis. Most of their current research projects are supported and funded by Metro, ODOT, and OTREC.

ITS Lab students and faculty are so glad that had the chance to host Travel Demand Modeling Lab students and faculty. It was a great opportunity to learn about what they're doing in their lab. All of us, in labs with different names, work on "Transportation" research projects! That's a big enough similarity. Historically there is a gap between Urban Planning departments and Civil Engineering departments in almost all universities in the world but here at Portland State we're trying to fill this gap! Our today meeting was a very good example of this effort.

Friday Seminar: Private Sector Role in Reducing Auto Travel: Motives for Innovation?

2009-02-17T11:28:00.000-08:00

Topic: Private Sector Role in Reducing Auto Travel: Motives for Innovation?
Date: Feb 13, 2009
Speaker: Tom Brennan, Principal, Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates

Friday Seminar: 21st Century Smart Truck and Smart Back Office Technologies

2009-02-08T11:53:00.000-08:00

Speaker: Robert DeKoning, President and CEO, Routeware, Inc.
Topic: 21st Century Smart Truck and Smart Back Office Technologies
Date: Friday, February 6, 2009

Time-Space Diagram and Queueing Theory

2009-02-08T11:23:00.001-08:00

A challenging question: Does the time-space diagram relate to the queueing theory?

Here are 4 steps to find the answer of this interesting question:
1. Time space diagram looks at one or more objects, many points. It looks like an aerial photo.
2. Queueing theory looks at one point, many objects. It's a simple cumulative count curve.
3. Combining the two results in a three-dimensional surface.
4. Use care when distinguishing between queuing diagrams and time space diagrams!

Now let's look at this three-dimensional surface from one side.

Take vertical 'slices' at t1 and t2
Construct vehicle counting functions N(x,t1) and N(X,t2)
You can observe distances traveled and numbers passing a particular point

Now have a look at this three-dimensional surface from one another side.

Take horizontal 'slices' at t1 and t2
Construct vehicle counting functions N(t,x1) and N(t,x2)
You can observe accumulations and trip times between points

Reference: Robert Bertini, Unlocking Some Mysteries of Traffic Flow Theory

Friday Seminar: Diverging Diamond Interchanges

2009-01-30T14:37:00.000-08:00

Speaker: Smith Siromaskul, P.E., Mobility Coordinator, Oregon Bridge Delivery Partners
Topic: Diverging Diamond Interchanges: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
Date: January 30, 2009

Engineering Discovery Showcase

2009-01-23T14:37:00.001-08:00

Starting January 23, 2009 Starts: 11:00am Ends: 2:00pm The Engineering Discovery Showcase was a fun, hands-on, interactive event for high school and secondary school students interested in engineering and computer science.

Young students (kids!) met PSU’s engineering and computer science faculty and students; learned about the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science Degree Programs and its innovative research opportunities through interactive lab tours. This was a great opportunity to discover more about student life as well as hands-on engineering design and research.

Watching The Inauguration Live in The Lab

2009-01-23T14:00:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, January 20, 2009, was a wonderful and historical day not only for the U.S. but for the world. We watched the inaugration live in the lab with some students and faculty. Isn't fun?

Friday Seminar: Willamette River Crossing

2009-01-23T13:57:00.000-08:00

Date:
Friday, Jan 16, 2009

Speakers:
Dave Unsworth, TriMet Sr. Manager of Transit Development
Guenevere Millius, Principal at SRM Architecture and Marketing, Inc.

Topic:
Willamette River Crossing (Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Project) [presentation]

ITS Berkeley Reception, Marriott Hotel, Washington D.C.

2009-01-18T15:31:00.000-08:00

ITS Berkeley & UCTC held a reception on Monday, January 12, 2009 at Marriott Hotel, Washington D.C. Some of our students attended the reception and enjoyed talking with current and former students (Dr. Bertini, Dr. Lovel, Dr. Ahn and etc) and faculty of University of California at Berkeley (Dr. Cassidy, Dr. Skabardonis, Dr. Madanat and a few others).

OTREC and Region X Reception, Marriotte Hotel, Washington D.C.

2009-01-18T15:20:00.000-08:00

Students and faculty gathered in OTREC reception on January 11, 2009 and met dozens of students, professors, and professionals from all over the world.

The Region X Transportation Consortium and OTREC hosted a reception at the 88th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board. The consortium is made up of the University Transportation Centers and Departments of Transportation in Alaska, Washington, Idaho and Oregon. The annual reception provides an opportunity for transportation professionals, educators and students to visit with colleagues from Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. For the first time, the UTC Students of the Year (SOY) were introduced.

Transportation Research Borad (TRB) 2009, Washington D.C.

2009-01-18T15:12:00.000-08:00

Students and faculty from the Intelligent Transportation Systems Lab were very active at the Transportation Research Board's 88th Annual Meeting, held January 11-15, 2009 in Washington, D.C.

Students and faculty presented a total of 14 peer-reviewed papers, and participated in committee meetings and other activities. Student travel was partially supported by OTREC. A full summary of our involvement can be found below:

Rafael J. Fernandez-Moctezuma, Robert Lawrence Bertini, David Maier, Kristin A. Tufte, Portland State University
Session 250: Detecting Traffic
Toward Improved and Transparent Imputation Techniques for Online Traffic Data Streams and Archiving Applications (09-1559)
Alexander Y. Bigazzi, Robert Lawrence Bertini, Portland State University
Session 254: New Concepts in Urban Data
Adding Green Performance Metrics to a Transportation Data Archive (09-2462)
Mathew Berkow, Alta Planning + Design, Christopher M. Monsere, Portland State University, Peter J .V. Koonce, Kittelson & Associates, Inc., Robert Lawrence Bertini, Michael Wolfe, Portland State University
Session 265: Managing System Performance: Developing Tools to Maximize Efficiency
Prototype for Data Fusion Using Stationary and Mobile Data Sources for Improved Arterial Performance Measurement (09-2280)
Miguel Figliozzi, Portland State University
Session 327: Freight Systems Research
Planning Approximations to Average Length of Vehicle Routing Problems with Time Window Constraints (09-1343) (P09-1536)
Miguel Figliozzi, Portland State University
Session 327: Freight Systems Research
Route Improvement Algorithm for Vehicle Routing Problem with Time-Dependent Travel Times (09-3821) (P09-1567)
Huan Li, Robert Lawrence Bertini, Portland State University
Session 327: Practical Bus Rapid Transit Planning
Assessment of Optimal Bus Stop Spacing Model Using High-Resolution Archived Stop-Level Data (09-1422)
Miguel Figliozzi, Portland State University
Session 411: Freight and Transit Network Models
Planning Approximations to Average Length of Vehicle Routing Problems with Time Window Constraints (09-1343)
Miguel Figliozzi, Portland State University
Session 411: Freight and Transit Network Models
Route Improvement Algorithm for Vehicle Routing Problem with Time-Dependent Travel Times (09-3821)
Sirisha Kothuri, Portland State University
Session 451: Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program Research Showcase
Bottleneck Identification and Optimal Detector Placement for Travel Time Application (P09-0875)
Delia Chi, HNTB Corporation, Jennifer Dill, Christopher M. Monsere, Portland State University
Session 457: Pedestrian Safety
Observational Evaluation of Safety Effectiveness of Marked and Unmarked Crosswalks at Unsignalized Intersections (09-1727)
Christopher M. Monsere, Oren Eshel, Robert Lawrence Bertini, Portland State University
Session 537: Freeway Operations
Empirical Evaluation of Freeway Corridor Performance Before and After Systemwide Adaptive Ramp Metering System Implementation (09-0611)
Mathew Berkow, Alta Planning + Design, Ahmed M. El-Geneidy, McGill University, Canada, Robert Lawrence Bertini, Portland State University, David T. Crout, Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon
Session 552: Optimum Performance for Transit: Explorations in Transit Economics and Transit Management
Beyond Generating Transit Performance Measures: Visualizations and Statistical Analysis Using Historical Data (09-2188)
Hannah Kapell, Alta Planning + Design, Jennifer Dill, Portland State University
Session 681: Research Developments in School Transportation
Factors Affecting Walking and Biking to Elementary School: Urban form, parental attitudes, and school characteristics (09-2163)
Soyoung Ahn, Arizona State University, Manasa Rayabhari, Arizona State University, Qing Ou, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, Robert Lawrence Brtini, Portland State University
Session 730: Travel Time Characteristics in Congested Networks
Empirical Study of Transient Freeway Traffic States Along Kinematic Waves (09-3377)
Zeyan Zhang, University of Sydney, Australia, Miguel Figliozzi, Portland State University
Session 731: Freight Analysis Case Studies
Survey of Chinese Importers and Exporters: China's Logistics Industry Developments and Impacts of Transportation System Performance on Supply Chain Costs and Operations (09-2848)
Miguel Figliozzi, Kristin A. Tufte, Portland State University
Session 760: Collecting, Analyzing, and Displaying Freight Data
Prototype for Freight Data Integration and Visualization Using Online Mapping Software: Issues, Applications, and Implications for Data Collection Procedures (09-3820)

In addition, a group of students representing the Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning (STEP) chapter attended, including:
Chengyu Dai, Lisa Diercksen, Meead Saberi, Wei Feng, Huan Li, Rolando Melgoza, Alex Bigazzi, Kristie Gladhill, Enas Fayed, Oliver Smith, Ray Delahanty, Hongwei Dong, Brandon Haggerty, Mariah Vanzerr, Daniel Constantino, Joe Broach, and Mathew Berkow.

Goodbye Portland & Hello Washington D.C.

2009-01-09T23:53:00.000-08:00

About 20 students from Civil Engineering and Urban Planning departments are going to leave Portland tomorrow to Washington D.C. to attend the TRB 2009. Our trip is partially funded by OTREC. Thanks to OTREC. Have a safe trip all guys and see you in Washington D.C.

Alex Bigazzi, Huan Li, Jerzy Wieczorek, Rolando Melgoza, Meead Saberi, Kristie Gladhill, Chengyu Dai, Enas Fayed, Wei Feng, Oliver Smith, Ray Delahanty, Hongwei Dong, Brandon Haggerty, Mariah VanZerr, Daniel Constantino, Joe Broach, and Lisa Diercksen and a few others.

First Seminar of the Winter Term

2009-01-09T23:42:00.000-08:00

Today, Alison Wiley, the Transportation Options Program Manager from Oregon Dept. of Transportation had an interesting presentation about "Global Warming Transportation Solutions Via Social Marketing". There were relatively many people in the room whom asked her several questions about global warming. Social Marketing is the systematic application of marketing along with other concepts and techniques to achieve specific behavioral goals for a social good.

Winter Term Starts!

2009-01-06T10:37:00.000-08:00

Today we had our first Lab meeting in winter term; January 6, 2009. Welcome back all the students and faculty. We look forward to another great term with many research projects, classes, papers and fun activities.
Next Saturday many of the Lab students will travel to Washington D.C. for TRB conference. More news, information and photos will be posted on the blog next week regarding the TRB.

Dr. Monsere was the only faculty who was present today. Alex Bigazzi had an informative presentation about "Climate Change and Transportation".

Potential Impacts of CLIMATE CHANGE on U.S. Transportation

2008-12-23T12:18:00.000-08:00

According to OTREC website: "The Region X Consortium will soon release a request for proposal in response to the following research problem statement relating to Climate Change Impact Assessment for Surface Transportation in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. OTREC is hoping to assemble a research team involving their university partners and potentially those in any of the Region X states. The RFP is expected to be released early 2009. (You may know what the RFP is? Request for Proposal).

For those students (or non-students) who are interested to learn more about this issue, I'm writing to let you know that there is a pretty new book published by TRB in 2008 with this title: Potential Impacts of CLIMATE CHANGE on U.S. Transportation.
You can download this book through this link http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/sr/sr290.pdf or you can also take a look at its online version here http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12179&page=R1. There is also a chance to request this book through Summit to have it for a few weeks.

Michael Wolfe Thesis Defense

2008-12-22T00:19:00.000-08:00

Michael Wolfe defended his thesis on Friday, December 19. His thesis was about arterial performance and data aggregation. He discussed about several methods to estimate travel time on arterials and then he presented how data aggregation affects each of those methods. Refreshments were also served. Good job Michael! Congratulations.

You can have a look at his presentation if you are interested:
presentation Wolfe, M., "The Effects of Data Aggregatioon on Measuring Arterial Performance." Presented as a Masters thesis defense in the ITS Lab, Portland State University

Global Warming and Intelligent Transportation Systems

2008-12-16T05:07:00.000-08:00

The massive double-barreled snow storm that started from Alaska and stretched to South Central California and even to New Mexico made me think about the second "Ice Age" on the earth and the Climate Change. Have you read this sad news that "Over 2 Trillion Tons of Ice Melted in Arctic Since 2003"?

The question is how ITS can help to prevent Global Warming. There are several areas that ITS can help. All the ITS applications that reduce congestion and travel times help emiting less greenhouse gases. Before I had told you about the GREEN PORTAL (do you remember?) and I promised you to talk about it more later. Here is the abstract of Bigazzi and Bertini's paper about "Adding Green Performance Metrics to a Transportation Data Archive":

Abstract. Transportation sustainability is of increasing concern to professionals and the public. This paper describes the modeling and calculation of sustainability performance measures in a transportation data archive. The purpose of these measures is to assess the sustainability of Portland, Oregon’s metropolitan freeway system. The measures were developed to be part of, and use the data from, the PORTAL regional transportation data archive at Portland State University. They estimate vehicle emissions (CO, VOC, NOx, and CO2), fuel consumption, cost of time delay, and person mobility (travel in person-hours and person-miles, and delay in person-hours). Methods for modeling and necessary data are described. In the future, plans call for integrating these measures into the PORTAL web interface to expand the types of performance measures used for regional transportation planning and operations.

Happy Snowy Sunday!

2008-12-14T12:05:00.000-08:00

Today is Sunday, December 14, 2008; 28F degree, feels like 15F; Snowy and windy. Portland State campus is all white. Snow in Portland is rare.

Portland State University Sign

Maseeh College of Engineering & Computer Science Sign

And these are the footprints of one of the ITS Lab students, Wei Feng. You see, they are the only footprints there. Wei was the first person who came to the Lab and even the college today (on Sunday?). Yes, even on Sunday. I told you we work hard 24/7!

ITS Lab 24/7

2008-12-11T15:52:00.000-08:00

ITS Lab works 24/7 during all the times in the year, even during the winter break. This is what our researchers (I mean undergrad/graduate research assistants) really want; to serve the transportation science society with their research findings without interruption. Happy holidays everyone & keep up the good work!

The Last Seminar of Fall Quarter 2008: Fringe Urbanism

2008-12-05T15:40:00.000-08:00

Today we had the last seminar of Fall quarter, 2008. Nico Larco who is an assistant professor at University of Oregon, School of Architecture gave a presentation about "Fringe Urbansim: Potential Transportation Patterns In Overlooked Suburban Density". He took our attention to the lost connectivity for pedestrians in suburban areas and how people find their way to walk even without a walk path. Walking in suburbs is really a desire and planners should think how to meet this desire.

Video Conferencing

2008-12-04T16:46:00.000-08:00

Today (Thursday, December 4, 2008) and on Tuesday, December 2, we had exciting video-conferencing with Dr. Bertini. He is now at University of Monash, Melbourne as a visiting professor. 14 Students gave their presentations as part of their class project.

Todd: Potential for Real-Time Parking Systems in Rocky Mountain National Park on Bear Lake Road
Amanda: Variable Message Signs, ITS Application
Kristie: Comparing Vehicle Traffic and Gas Price in Portland, OR
Ray: Integrated Corridor Management
Meead: Segment Level Analysis of Travel Time Reliability
Heba: Benefits of Smart Work Zone Technology Deployment
David: ITS and Shared Use Vehicles
Rolando: Variable Speed Limits
Alex: Temporal Aggregation Effects on ITS Data Applications
Josh: Analysis of Speed Distribution by Lane
Chengyu: PSU Advanced Parking Management
Ping: Freeway Travel Time Estimation Using Loop Detectors
Wei: Optimal Loop Detectors Spacing
Bryan: Funding Highways in the 21st Century

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-29T23:14:00.000-08:00

No one was alone on Thanksgiving, even our international students. Wei was invited by Ryan and his family. Rolando (from Kansas City), Heba and Enas were invited by Kristie and her family. PSU president invited Meead for Thanksgiving dinner. How about you? Where were you on Thanksgiving? On the plane to Australia or alone in your house doing the assignments and studying for final exams?

Congratulations to our new PhD students!

2008-11-25T20:28:00.000-08:00

Benjamin Auffray and Huan Li are going to be our new PhD students. Ben will probably start his PhD on Spring term and Huan will start it next term. Congratulations! Let's get a little more familiar with them.

Huan Li got her B.S. of Traffic Engineering from University of Architecture and Technology, Xian, China in 2004. She received her master's degree in Traffic and Transportation Planning and Management at Beijing Jiaotong University in China. She is currently pursuing her second master degree in civil engineering at PSU (2007-present). She is also a graduate research assistant at the ITS Lab. Her paper has been accepted for presentation and publication in TRB 2009: ASSESSMENT OF AN OPTIMAL BUS STOP SPACING MODEL USING HIGH RESOLUTION ARCHIVED STOP-LEVEL DATA.

Benjamin Auffray has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from National School of Public State Work, Marseille, France. He has received his M.S. degree in the same field from Lacole Nationale Des Travaux Publics d'Etat (ENTPE), France. Due to his interest in transport, Ben chose to come to the ITS Lab at Portland State University for an internship for a few months. He came back to Paris last year but now he is again here to pursue his PhD. Welcome back Ben!

Portland is good, but Copenhagen and Amsterdam are AWESOME!

2008-11-21T19:24:00.000-08:00

IBPI (don't you know what the IBPI is?) board Members/founders Mia Birk, Principal of Alta Planning + Design, Jay Graves, owner of the Bike Gallery, and Rob Burchfield, City of Portland Traffic Engineer had a great informative presentation with lots of fun today, Friday, November 21, 2008. Are you interested to have their PPT? So click here.

The room was more than full! Some people stood in the back till the end of the seminar and some people sat on the ground. Was the seminar that interesting to sit on the ground?! It seems it was.

These guys traveled to Netherlands and Denmark on October and they observed lots of interesting things and learned lots of lessons from the world's best large cycling cities: Amsterdam and Copenhagen. I haven't ever had the chance to visit those places.

Opportunities Abound

2008-11-20T10:39:00.001-08:00

This is a post on the various opportunities within our ITS lab.

First we had a visit from DKS Associates on Thursday, November 13, 2008 where Chris Maciejewski and Brian Copeland informed us about what DKS is and what they do, talked with those interested in opportunities, and answered questions from well-fed students (more on that later).

Next we had the FHWA: Western Federal Lands Highway Division talk with us about their STEP summer internship and career opportunities on Tuesday November 18, 2008. Kahaa J. Rezantes, Curtis L. Jorgenson and Nathaniel Price all gave presentations and answered questions. Nathaniel Price is from FHWA (not WFLHD). Interviews were immediately set up for both Tuesday and Wednesday. If you like being in nature (I do!!), this seems like an excellent opportunity.

Did I mention that in both of these presentations, free pizza and soda (I'm not a fan of soda) were provided?

Monday November 17, 2008 we also had a traffic bowl practice. The Traffic Bowl is tonight (Thursday November 20, 2008), the anticipation is HUGE. Let's hope Meead, Alex, Rolando, Leah, and Robert will bring back the gold (lane striping paint).

Last night (Wednesday November 19, 2008) at the Portland Building, Gordon Price gave a presentation on sustainability and planning. He used Vancouver, B.C. as a model for setting growth boundaries. In turn, these boundaries encourage denser development. It was a very good presentation and he is an excellent speaker (and powerpoint slide creator). I'd encourage people to attend one of his presentations if you ever get the chance.

Lastly, the ITS lab now has a coat rack! Here is Meead showing how to properly (in fashion and function) use this contraption.

Happy GIS Day!!

2008-11-19T16:36:00.001-08:00

So many people were not aware that today (Wednesday November 19th) is Geographic Information Systems (GIS) day. Happy GIS day everyone!! I had it on my calendar...did you?

We do use GIS occasionally in our ITS lab mainly in coordination with GPS and vehicles. Below is an example of Trimet Bus #14 at certain locations per their onboard AVL systems.

ITS Lab Bike Ride: Fall Tour

2008-11-17T00:31:00.000-08:00

As part of the seasonal ITS Lab bike rides (we're trying to have a bike ride in each season. Actually we've just started it. It was our first seasonal bike ride: Fall 2008. The next one will be in a day in Winter), some of the ITS Lab students (Ryan, Wei and Meead) went out in a nice sunny day - Saturday November 16, 2008 - to have a bike ride.

They started the tour from the ITS Lab at 10 am and after riding more than 25 miles through the riverside, Springwater trail, Mt. Tabor, SE neighbors, and having lunch out somewhere (pizza!), they ended the tour at the ITS Lab at 3 pm. Below you can see their path on a map (Isn't it kind of GIS?).

Unfortunately, Ryan had a flat tire in the middle of the tour but he was enough professional to bring all the essential things for any kind of repair. He changed his flat tire in less than five minutes. It was a big surprise for Wei and Meead that how he could do that so quickly and he had everything in his small bag: from a small CO2 air compressor to a compacted new tube.

ِIt was really a nice day with a full bright sun, a blue sky and an average temperature of 59F degree. Did you miss the ITS Lab "Fall Bike Ride"? No problem, we'll have another one in Winter. Let's see when the next sunny holiday in winter will be.

Good to know that Rafael, Lisa, Jerzy and Dr. Bertini have traveled to New York to attend the 15th ITS World Congress. Rafael and Lisa will present two posters: Developing an imputation strategy for an archived data user service and Advanced Curve Warning System and Jerzy is going to have a presentation: Using archived ITS data to automatically identify freeway bottlenecks. Good luck guys!

Friday Seminar: Out of Gas, David Goodstein

2008-11-14T15:57:00.000-08:00

Center for Transportation Studies (CTS) at Portland State University invited Dr. Goodstein to have a presentation this Friday, November 14, 2008. Dr. David L. Goodstein, Ph.D., is a Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Caltech, where he has been on the faculty for more than 35 years. He is the author of the book "Out of Gas". Today his presentation topic was "Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil ". The room was almost full of students, faculty and interested residents who came to listen to his interesting speech. Did you miss this seminar? No problem, you can watch the archived video here. We'll look forward to see you on next Friday.

We took a group photo at the end but where the other students are? Why do most of the students like to leave seminars/classes as quickly as possible? If you stay just a little more, you may have this chance to talk to some new people, shaking hands and take photos: Socializing!

From Horse to ITS: How was the public transit in Seattle?

2008-11-11T12:24:00.000-08:00

Horses were the first and only transportation mode of human for hundreds of years. Sculptures and drawings that date from the 2nd millennium BC show men and women on horseback (1). Archaeologists believe that the very first step toward man-made transportation began in either Mesopotamia or Asia, sometime around 4000-3500 BC, with the invention of the wheel (2).

With increase in population and urban growth, people brought available transportation modes into their cities to transport faster and easier. In 1832, the New York and Harlem Railroad Company introduced the first horse-powered rail car, designed by Abraham Brower, which ran between downtown Manhattan and Harlem. Similar horse-drawn carriage (or omnibus) service appeared in Philadelphia in 1831; Boston, 1835; and Baltimore, 1844. By 1836, New York City alone had over one hundred omnibuses (3).

Today we have different modes of urban transportation. Bus is the most common and widely used mode for public transit. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) increase public transit efficiency. Transit ITS services include surveillance and communications, such as automated vehicle location (AVL) systems, computer-aided dispatch (CAD) systems, and remote vehicle and facility surveillance cameras, which enable transit agencies to improve the operational efficiency, safety, and security of the nation's public transportation systems. Another part of ITS in public tranist is information dissemination which allow passengers to confirm scheduling information, improve transfer coordination, and reduce wait times. Electronic transit status information signs at bus stops help passengers manage time, and on-board systems such as next-stop audio annunciators help passengers in unfamilar areas reach their destinations (4).

Public Transit in Seattle: No ITS

Seattle's bus transit system is a successful traditional public transportation in my opinion (long buses but with no ITS). There were no information displays in the bus stops, neither in the buses. The driver announces the next stop that is hard to hear. I experienced this several times. There was a phone number for bus tracking. To tell you the truth, I called that number three times in three different locations and times, but no one answered. If you're interested to know more, you can visit this website: http://transit.metrokc.gov/

2008-2009 Sixth Annual Region X Student Conference (a different perspective)

2008-11-10T13:11:00.000-08:00

Hi,

This is my first post here (Todd Johnson). We went up to the Region X Student Conference in Seattle at UW. While our ITS department was the largest program represented there, students from the hosts University of Washington, the University of Oregon, Oregon State and the University of Idaho were also present.

The students at UW did a wonderful job hosting this conference. We were served a lunch with three, yes three, different types of sandwiches (the eggplant humus one was definitely the tastiest) and cookies. Below is a picture of Wei Feng from PSU contemplating how many cookies to take.

I must also add that the keynote speaker Dr. Stephen D. Van Beek from the Eno Transportation Foundation was excellent. The student presentations were good as well, fellow PSU student Meead Saberi came away with the 200$ prize for his informational and entertaining presentation on the data accuracy in loop detectors. Congrats Meead!

Thanks again UW!

What is Region X Transportation Consortium (TransNow)?

2008-11-09T17:08:00.000-08:00

"With the passage of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act (SAFETEA-LU), enacted on August 10, 2005, Region X now has a University Transportation Center (UTC) in every state. In addition to the regional center in Washington (TransNow), there are two national centers in Alaska and Oregon and a tier 1 center in Idaho. All universities in the original TransNow consortium (OSU, PSU, UAF, UI, UW, and WSU) belong to one of these centers.

The six universities that formed the consortium for the original Region X UTC (TransNow) signed a formal agreement on May 2, 2006 to reestablish this university consortium to continue the synergetic relationships and collaborative efforts that have flourished over the years of involvement in the federal UTC Program. This Statement of Intent was signed by representatives of OSU, PSU, UAF, UI, UW, and WSU and acknowledged the formation of the consortium and recognized the regional center, TransNow, as the focal point for coordination and communication. In January 2008, members signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the UTCs and the Department of Transportation in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, officially forming the Region X Transportation Consortium."

If you are interested to know more about TransNow, visit http://www.transnow.org/

The 6th Annual Region X TransNow Student Conference

2008-11-09T12:22:00.001-08:00

PSU Students actively participated in the 6th Annual Region X Student Conference at University of Washington, Seattle. A total of 60 students from Northwest universities participated in the conference. 20 PSU students from Urban Planning, Civil Engineering and Computer Secience departments attended this "only" students conference. PSU students presented a total of 3 (of 10) presentations and 12 (of 16) posters. Awarded by popular vote of fellow students, Meead Saberi (yes, me!) won a $200 prize for having the best presentation. Huan Li, Chengyu Dai, Rolando Melgoza and Nathan McNeil were also awarded for having the best posters.

Alex Bigazzi, Wei Feng and Meead Saberi were the students who had the following presentations in the conference:

Adding Sustainability Metrics to a Transportation Data Archive (Green PORTAL), Alex Bigazzi
Transition Features near Freeway Congestion, Wei Feng
Evaluating the Data Accuracy of Loop Detectors in Adaptive Signal Control Systems, Meead Saberi

75% of the presented posters in the conference were from PSU. Such an active participation! Let's see who presented what:

Assessment of an Optimal Bus Stop Spacing Model Using High Resolution Archived Stop-Level Data, Huan Li
Using VISSIM to Solve a Bottleneck, Rolando Melgoza
Bike Boxes at Signalized Intersections, Nathan McNeil
Portland Streetcar Validation, Chengyu Dai
Portland Bicycle Rider Performance Study, Ryan Conrad, Nikki Wheeler
HSM Calibration Factors for Oregon, Kristie Gladhill
Rocky Mountain National Park Transportation, Todd Johnson
Re-evaluation of the Mrytle Creek Adaptive Warning Curve System, Lisa Diercksen
Adding Sustainability Metrics to a Transportation Data Archive (Green PORTAL), Alex Bigazzi
Transition Features near Freeway Congestion, Wei Feng
Analysis the Factors Influencing the Mode Choice of Students, Meead Saberi
Does Weather Affect Traffic Flow on Freeways?, Meead Saberi

Friday Seminar

2008-11-01T13:45:00.001-07:00

On Friday, October 31, we had the last seminar of October, 2008. Who was the speaker? Smith Siromaskul, P.E., Mobility Coordinator, Oregon Bridge Delivery Partners. He had a presentation of Oregon's Statewide Work Zone Traffic Analysis Program.

From left ro right: Dr. Glibie, Dr. Figliozzi, Dr. Monsere, Smith Siromaskul's colleague (Excuse me, I don't remember his name), and Smith Siromaskul

Champion Rafael Fernandez

2008-11-01T10:39:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Rafael for your victory!

The final match was between Scott Fletcher and Rafael Fernandez. I must confess that he really deserves being the champion. He is really good at playing Ping Pong. He plays smartly (often). He first tries to identify the weaknesses of his competitor and then keep shooting them untill getting the win. Scott lost several points because of touching the table by his racket during the game. "Thanks table", Rafael says.

What was the prize for the first place?
A CHAMPION CUP!

GPSs and IQues

2008-11-01T09:53:00.000-07:00

First, Happy Halloween!

We have bunch of GPSs and IQues in the lab for research/classes projects. Josh has recently had a presentation about how to use IQues. Are you interested to know more? You can view his PPT on our Wiki (Wiki? What's it? I will talk about it later). Thanks to Josh for helping me writing this post.

The iQues are used for two different data collections. The ITS-Count is used to count vehicles, usually at intersections. It can record lane (or vehicle type) and the time that each vehicle passes. From this we can find count/flow, headway, and maybe saturation flow rate.
ITS-GPS-Q is a position recording tool. It is pretty simple and just records position, time and a few internally calculated parameters such as speed and accuracy. We usually do not use anything other than location/time. Once some QA/QC were used in a project (by Josh) on the speed calculations and it was within 0.1% in open terrain. Sirisha's Travel Time estimation project used the iQues (with Dr. Tufte). The data gave us total travel time and speeds along the route. They compared the speeds reported by the loop detectors to the speeds of the GPS. Dr. Dill also used the iQues in her bikes project for tracking the routes people used and how they traveled in that mode. There is a seminar on her preliminary data available in the video archives (Video archives? Yes, I told you before about our weekly Friday seminars that are archived).

Fall 2008 Ping Pong Tournament

2008-10-27T19:07:00.000-07:00

Who will be the champion?

A few weeks ago, Dr. Bertini suggested ITS Lab students to hold a Ping Pong tournament. But where? In the Gym? ... No sorry, you're wrong. Do you believe that we have a Ping Pong table in our lab? Yes, we really have it.

Twelve students signed up their names and started playing the games in a bracket that was created by Alex who is one of the nicest guys in the lab. He is an undergrad student in Civil Engineering. It may be interesting for you to know that his paper got accepted for presentation and publication in the TRB 2009. It means his paper (Adding Green Performance Metrics to a Transportation Data Archive) will be published in the Transportation Research Record. YES! Congratulations Alex. He is one of the few undergrad students who has a journal paper. Good job Alex!

Anyway, the final game will be on the Halloween and there will be an amazingly awesome prize for the champion - beyond the respect and awe of his/her peers.

Friday Seminar(s)

2008-10-26T09:55:00.000-07:00

We have weekly transportation seminars on Fridays, in the Distance Learning Center Wing of the Urban Center. Not only our Friday seminars are free and open to the public, they can be watched online. On Friday, October 24, we had the fourth seminar of fall term 2008. Who was the speaker? Ted Buehler, UC Davis alumni. He had a presentation about 50 years of bicycling in Davis California.

From left to right: Dr. Monsere, Ted Buehler, Dr. Bertini and Dr. Dill

Friday Seminar, October 17, 2008
Speaker: Michael Berman, AICP, Senior Strategic Planner, ICx Transportation
Topic: The Past, Present, and Future of Data for Traveler Information

(click to enlarge)

Friday Seminar, October 10, 2008
Speaker: Christopher Monsere, Assistant Professor, Portland State University
Topic: Using Archived ITS Data to Measure the Operational Benefits of a System-Wide Adaptive Ramp Metering System (SWARM)

(click to enlarge)

Friday Seminar, October 3, 2008
Speaker: Meghan Oldfield, Trimet
Topic: Trimet Update: I-205

(click to enlarge)

Football in the Lab!

2008-10-24T09:09:00.000-07:00

Hey, look at that football ball in the shelves, nextto the Dr. Bertini's ITS book (CE455/555). I was curious to know the story of that ball. I emailed this question to our its lab mailing list: "Anyone knows whose the football ball in the lab is?"
Dr. Monsere replied quickly that he is pretty sure it is either Steve Boice or Zach Horowitz, both have alumni profiles on the lab website. Let's see who are these guys?

Zach Horowitz is originally from Montreal, Quebec, and moved to Los Angeles when he was 2, and lived there until 1991, when he moved Portland and finished high school. He graduated from McGill University in Montreal with a B.A. in Geography, and then moved back to Portland to get his Master degree in Civil Engineering at PSU. Zach now works for David Evans and Associates. Hey Zach, how do you do? I'm thinking of a football game between two groups of ITS Lab students, ofcourse not in the lab.

But I couldn't find Steve Bioce's profile. The only thing that I know of him is that he was a graduate assistant in the lab. I've heard his name somewhere else; maybe in a paper.

Josh added the following notes:
"On the football topic, Steve Boice works for DKS and did his MS coursework a few years ago. I think he's still working on his thesis so he hasn't officially graduated yet. He has been out of the office for the last few days, next time I see him I'll ask if he is missing a football. Zach's little brother Jon is still at PSU I think but I don't think he'd know much about the origins of the football."

ITS Lab Phone: 503-725-4285

2008-10-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

The ITS Lab phone rarely rings. But since I've came here, the phone has rung a few times and each time someone on the phone wanted to talk to me. Isn't it surprising? No, it is actually not. I do not have a cell phone and I gave some of my friends this phone number to find me during the day, and also night. I often stay in the lab till midnight to study.

Anyway, call the ITS Lab if you want to talk to any of the students or faculty. If you are shy to talk, you can visit our website its.pdx.edu instead.

ITS Lab Team, Fall 2008

2008-10-22T18:24:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Lab at Portland State University. We are a large group of students and faculty here in the lab, working on different research projects in a friendly professional environment. We've recently started the fall term 2008 and we look forward to a great year!

From left to right:
Jerzy Wieczorek, Josh Crain, Todd Johnson, Rolando Melgoza, Dr. Kristin Tufte, Alex Bigazzi, Dr. Chris Monsere, Kristie Gladhill, Nathan McNeil, Huan Li, Meead Saberi, Lisa Dierckse, Scott Fletche, Wei Feng, Nikki Wheeler, Dr. Robert Bertini, Dr. Miguel Figliozzi, Ping Guo, Rafael Fernandez.