2013 OTS Speaker Biographies

Ree Armitage is a Field Representative for Congressman Earl Blumenauer, specializing in transportation policy. He holds a B.A. from the University of Oregon and earned both an M.S. in Political Science and a Master of Public Administration from Suffolk University in Massachusetts.

 

Lisa Bates is an assistant professor at Portland State University’s Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning where she conducts research related to housing policy and planning. Her work is particularly focused on social justice issues, including understanding how inequitable outcomes may arise from institutionalized racism in policy design and implementation. She has a B.A. in Political Science from George Washington University and a Ph.D. from the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

 

Jerry Benson is Chief Operating Officer for Utah Transit Authority. He holds a Master of Human Resource Management and a Ph.D. in Organizational Communication. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Utah, a board member and past Chairman of the Transit Labor Exchange, and has served as Chairman of the Labor Relations Subcommittee and the Human Resources Committee of the American Public Transportation Association.

 

Robert Bertini is a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Portland State University where he helped develop the Intelligent Transportation Systems Laboratory and the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC). He chairs the TRB Committee on Traffic Flow Theory and Characteristics, and received a National Science Foundation CAREER award. Bertini earned a B.S. from California Polytechnic State University, an M.S. from San Jose State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.

 

Alex Bigazzi is a Ph.D. student at Portland State University in the department of Civil & Environmental Engineering. He is a U.S. National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, currently studying the effects of transportation systems on bicyclists’ intake of air pollution.

 

Jerri Bohard is the Transportation Development Division Administrator at ODOT. Her responsibilities include managing the programs of Active Transportation, Research, Planning, and Transportation Data, as well as integrating the Divisions of Rail and Transit in support of developing a more multimodal transportation system.

 

David Chapman advocates for multi-modal transportation in the Rogue Valley. After serving on Ashland’s Traffic Safety Commission and Bicycle and Pedestrian Commission, he was a member of the Ashland City Council for eight years. He represented Ashland on the RVMPO Policy Committee and League of Oregon Cities Transportation Committee. David is currently serving on Ashland’s Transportation Commission and is a certified instructor with the League of American Bicyclists.

 

KC Cooper is a communication strategist with a focus on transportation. She has worked at TriMet, ODOT and BergerAbam. She is currently with David Evans and Associates, working on the Sellwood Bridge project and other transportation projects. KC is past president of the WTS Portland Chapter and was instrumental in bringing the 2014 WTS International conference to Portland.

 

Jennifer Dill is a Professor in the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University where she also serves as the director of OTREC. Prior to her academic career, Dill worked for ten years in transportation and air quality for regional and federal agencies. Dill earned her Ph.D. in city and regional planning at the University of California, Berkeley (2001) after previously earning an MA in Urban Planning from UCLA and BS from UC Davis.

 

Scott Drumm is the manager of the Port of Portland’s Research & Strategic Analysis Department. An active member of the Transportation Research Board, Scott is the past chair of TRB’s Freight Transportation Data Committee, and has served on a number of TRB committees and NCHRP and NCFRP panels. Scott holds a B.A. in political science from the University of Oregon and a masters in urban planning from Portland State University.  

 

Angus Duncan is the founding President of the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, which supports renewable energy development and watershed restoration. He has worked as a Member and Chair of the Northwest Power Planning Council, and as USDOT Director of Energy Policy. In 2004 he chaired the Drafting Committee that wrote Oregon’s Climate Change Goals and Strategy. In 2008, he was appointed by Governor Kulongoski as Chair of Oregon’s new Global Warming Commission; and in 2009, to the Governor’s Energy Policy Council.

 

Steven Farber is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Utah. His research is focused on urban economic and transportation geography using spatial analytical methods. Steven earned a BA in Geography and Computer Science from McGill University in 2003, an MSA from Ryerson University in 2004, and a PhD in Geography from McMaster University in 2010.

 

Wei Feng is a PhD student in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Portland State University. His research interests include bus transit efficiency and reliability, transit signal priority, freeway travel time estimation and vehicle fleet management. Feng holds a Masters Degree and a Bachelors Degree from Beijing Jiaotong University. 

 

Miguel Figliozzi is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Portland State University. He is a member of the TRB Network Modeling Committee, Transportation and Logistics Committee, and Intermodal Terminal Design Committee. He is the faculty advisor for STEP (Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning). He holds a BS from the Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, an MS from the University of Texas at Austin and a PhD from the University of Maryland College Park. 

 

In addition to Straphanger, Taras Grescoe is the author of Sacré Blues, The End of Elsewhere, The Devil’s Picnic, and Bottomfeeder. He is a frequent contributor to the New York Times, the Independent, and National Geographic Traveler. He has written features for Saveur, Gourmet, Salon, Wired, the Walrus, the Los Angeles Times, the Guardian, the Globe and Mail, Maclean’s, Men’s Health, the Chicago Tribune Magazine, the International Herald Tribune, the Times of London, and Condé Nast Traveller. He has prowled nocturnally in the footsteps of Dalí and Buñuel in Toledo, Spain for National Geographic Traveler, eaten bugs at the Insectarium for The Independent, and substituted for William Safire in the New York Times Magazine. 

 

Chuck Green is C-TRAN’s Bus Rapid Transit project manager. Chuck started with C-TRAN in January 2011 after almost 13 years as Transportation Planning Supervisor with Parsons Brinckerhoff. He is a licensed professional engineer in Oregon, Washington and Colorado. His job with C-TRAN is to lead the current Project Development process for the Fourth Plain Bus Rapid Transit project, as well as seek funding for the first Bus Rapid Transit project in Southwest Washington. 

 

Chris Hagerbaumer is Deputy Director for the Oregon Environmental Council, Chris joined OEC in July 1996 and led its program to curb global warming pollution until she became OEC’s Director of Programs in April 2006 and Deputy Director in April 2008. Chris has a background in environmental policy, advocacy and education, including work with the Environmental Law and Policy Center in Chicago and the U.S. Peace Corps. She has a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago and an undergraduate degree in German from Reed College.

 

Dru van Hengel joined Alta in 2011 after 15 years of experience in transportation. She worked for the City of Santa Barbara as Supervising Transportation Engineer and as Mobility Coordinator, leading efforts that doubled the number of bike lanes, initiated the Safe Routes to School Program, and started a Work Trip Reduction Incentive Program for city employees. She has an MBA focused in Sustainable Business, and is a Bronze level Toastmaster and a former US National Team and Olympic athlete.

 

Eric Hesse is Strategic Planning Coordinator at TriMet. He serves as Co-Chair of the Performance Measures Working Group of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and as Chair of the APTA Climate Changes Standards Working Group. Prior to joining TriMet, Eric was Development Manager for Green America (previously Co-op America), a national nonprofit member organization based in Washington, DC. Eric holds a Master’s of Science in Sustainable Systems and a Master’s of Public Policy from the University of Michigan, as well as a BA in Political Science from Amherst College.

 

Bob Hillier has over 20 years of planning experience and has worked on a variety of multi-modal transportation projects. Bob is the Freight Transportation Planning Coordinator for the Portland Bureau of Transportation, and recently served as project manager for the Portland Street Design Guidelines for Trucks, the Central Eastside Street Plan, and the Central City Sustainable Freight Strategy. Bob has a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Arizona and a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from Portland State University.

 

Nicole Iroz-Elardo is a PhD Candidate in Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University. Her research interests include urban health, collaborative planning models, and the intersection of planning and public health. Iroz-Elardo holds a BS in Economics and completed graduate-level statistical training at the University of Utah. Prior to entering the PhD program, Iroz-Elardo worked as a statistical researcher for Battelle Memorial Institute.

 

Mohammad Islam is a PhD student in Civil Engineering at Oregon State University. Islam’s research interests include traffic operation, safety, and ITS. Islam spent about four years working for private consultants and for Public Works in Bangladesh. Islam holds a Master’s Degree from University of Idaho and a Bachelor’s Degree from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.

 

John Ivan is Professor and Associate Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Connecticut. He spent the academic year 2002-2003 as a Fulbright scholar at the Institute for Transport Studies at University of Karlsruhe in Germany, and as a Research Engineer at the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University. He has earned B.S, M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, MIT, and Northwestern University, respectively.

 

Mafruhatul Jannat is a Ph.D student in the Department of Civil Engineering at Oregon State University. She grew up in Bangladesh and obtained her BS from the Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology in Civil Engineering. She completed her Masters in Transportation Engineering in 2011 from Oregon State University. Afterward she joined the PhD program at OSU with a research focus on traffic safety and operation, and multimodal transportation system. 

 

Randy Knapick is a transportation Associate with IBI Group in Portland, Oregon. Randy works with transportation agencies on a wide range of multimodal transportation projects. Currently, he is managing a TriMet/City of Hillsboro high capacity transit feasibility study for Oregon’s “Silicon Forest,” as well as a proposed modern electric trolleybus system in Spokane. Randy has bachelor’s degrees in Civil Engineering and Urban Planning from the University of Pittsburgh, and a master’s degree in Transportation from MIT.

 

Sirisha Kothuri is a PhD student in Civil Engineering majoring in Transportation at Portland State University. Kothuri’s research interests include multimodal transportation, traffic operations and engineering. She previously worked at the Texas Transportation Institute. Kothuri holds a Masters Degree from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge and a Bachelors Degree from Osmania University, India. 

 

Heather Laird is a project coordinator and grant writer at Resource Consultants. Heather’s work with Oregon Solutions has helped move Oregon toward the implementation of the FHWA’s comprehensive traffic incident management training program. Heather recently helped to facilitate a stakeholder workshop brainstorming new ideas for intelligent transportation systems. She has a BS in Broadcast Journalism from Emerson College.

 

Alan Lehto is the Director of Planning & Policy at TriMet in the Portland, OR metropolitan region.  His department is responsible for active transportation and transit access planning, major transit capital planning, and long-range and strategic planning.  He has worked for TriMet for 14 years and in transit for 19.  He previously spent five years as a transit planning consultant, working on service planning and both bus and rail projects throughout the West.

 

Stephanie Lotshaw is the Manager for US and Africa Programs at the Institute for Transportation & Development Policy. She primarily works on developing The BRT Standard as a planning, policy and evaluative tool, and on implementing Bus Rapid Transit and traffic management projects in Uganda. Stephanie holds an MS in international development economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies and a BS in Latin American development from Colorado College.

 

Kelly McGourty is a Program Manager in the Planning Department of the Puget Sound Regional Council. She is responsible for the agency’s air quality and climate change program and for its Transportation Improvement Program. Kelly has an undergraduate degree in Environmental Policy and Assessment from Western Washington University and a graduate degree in Environmental Science from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

 

Christopher Monsere is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Portland State University where he also directs the Intelligent Transportation Systems Lab. His primary research interests are in the areas of highway safety, freight transportation, and traffic operations. Monsere received his BSCE from the University of Detroit Mercy in 1995; MSCE with an emphasis in transportation from Iowa State University (Ames, Iowa) in 1997; and Ph.D. in civil engineering at Iowa State University in 2001. 

 

Adam Moore is a PhD student in civil engineering at Portland State University. Moore’s research interests include transportation air quality and the implications of motor vehicle activity, the built environment, and weather on pollutant exposure for those traveling along urban roadways. Moore holds a Masters Degree from Portland State and a Bachelors Degree from Georgia Tech. 

 

Jonathan Mueller is a PhD student in Transportation Engineering at Oregon State University. Mueller’s research interests include rail development, alternative transportation, and sustainability. Mueller holds a Masters Degree from Oregon State University and a Bachelors Degree from Gustavus Adolphus College. 

 

Rich Newland is a Project Manager at the Portland Bureau of Transportation. He currently manages the 50s bikeway project, a 4.3-mile, next-generation bikeway project that is part of the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030.

 

Marcia Pincus is currently the Program Manager, Environment (AERIS) and ITS Evaluation, for the ITS Joint Program Office at the US Department of Transportation. Marcia has over 15 years experience as an ITS policy analyst and program manager in the public, private, and academic sectors. She holds an MPA from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.

 

Tobias Read is serving his fourth term as State Representative during Oregon’s 77th Legislature. He represents the residents of House District 27. Tobias is Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Economic Development, as well as a member of the Ways and Means Committee, Ways and Means Subcommittee on Transportation and Economic Development, Revenue Committee, and Joint Committee on Tax Credits. Read holds a Bachelors degree in Politics and Economics from Willamette University and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Washington.

 

Rob Sadowsky joined the BTA as executive director in June 2010. Previously, Rob served as Executive Director of the Active Transportation Alliance in Chicago. He has more than 25 years of non-profit advocacy and management experience. He serves on the board of the Alliance for Biking and Walking, Institute for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation and OTREC. He is also on the State of Oregon’s Access Management Oversight Task Force.

 

Marc Schlossberg is an associate professor of Planning, Public Policy and Management at the University of Oregon. He is also Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Sustainable Cities Initiative. His research interests include the relationship between urban form and active transportation, and community empowerment with mobile GIS technology. He holds a bachelors from the University of Texas, a masters from San Jose State University and a PhD in urban planning from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 

 

Tom Schwetz is the Planning and Development Director for Lane Transit District in Eugene, Oregon, where his responsibilities are largely focused on the development of the region’s Bus Rapid Transit system. Tom previously worked at the Lane Council of Governments for 20 years as Transportation Program Manager. Tom has a Master of Science in Commerce and Business Administration (Transport) from the University of British Columbia and a Bachelor of Science in Urban and Regional Planning from the California Polytechnic University.

 

Paul Thompson manages the Central Lane Metropolitan Planning Organization Regional Transportation Plan at LCOG. He has conducted over 70 projects for local governments, in all aspects of public infrastructure planning and finance. Paul developed the first land use allocation model for LCOG’s transportation system over 10 years ago, an updated version of which is still used today to forecast land use patterns 20+ years into the future. Paul has a BS in Economics and a MS in progress in Urban Planning, both from the University of Oregon. 

 

Adie Tomer is a Senior Research Associate and Associate Fellow at the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and a member of the Metropolitan Infrastructure Initiative. He is a noted expert on driving trends, metropolitan aviation patterns, passenger rail ridership, and the links between metropolitan economies and freight movements. Prior to joining Brookings, Adie worked at the New York County District Attorney’s Office where he advised Senior Executives on operational business decisions. He holds a Master’s in Public Policy from American University and a BA from the University of Florida.

 

Jarrett Walker is an international consultant in transit network design. He serves as a Principal Consultant with MRCagney based in Australia. He grew up in Portland, Oregon in the revolutionary 1970s, during the era when Portland made its decisive commitment to be a city for people rather than cars. He completed a Ph.D. in theatre arts and humanities at Stanford University.

 

John Willis is Vice President and Northwest Region Transportation Manager for CH2M HILL. He is a Professional Engineer who holds an M.S. in civil engineering from the University of Illinois and a B.S. in civil engineering from Oregon State University. Mr. Willis has been a chair of the Portland Business Alliance Sustainability Committee. He also serves on the board of directors for the Engineering Technology Industry Council. 

 

Garlynn Woodsong is a Project Manager at Calthorpe Associates. He is a geographer and urban planner who works in transit-oriented development, bicycle transportation planning, and regional transportation policy. and funding He received his Bachelor of Arts in Geography from Portland State University.