News: Research

OTREC’s Feedback to USDOT Strategic Research Direction

Posted on February 7, 2010 in Research

In January 2010, the USDOT Research and Innovative Technology Administration issued a request for public comment regarding their Strategic Research Direction, Research Priority Areas and Performance Metrics To Guide Departmental Strategic Plan for Research, Development and Technology Activities (2010ó2015). OTREC and our partners crafted a three part response that identified barriers and ways to research innovation, including:

• Broadening federal match for University Transportation Centers (UTCs);
• Embracing the cross-modal perspective on transportation;
• Better tracking of how research is implemented; and
• Increasing the role of national university transportation centers.
• Making better linkages between research groups.

In regards to the key priorities, areas that could key areas could be emphasized and perhaps not fully captured in the key priorities as currently stated included:

• Resiliency in the face of climate change & natural disasters;
• Considering equity issues across all priorities; and
• Recognizing active transportation as a mode.

To view the full OTREC memo, go to: http://theotrec.org/RefDocuments/RDT_OTREC_Final.pdf

Tags: rita

Expanding Portland State’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Design Curriculum

Posted on January 31, 2010 in About | Research

This OTREC educational project took students at Portland State University beyond the lecture hall and the library. Dr. Lynn Weigand expanded the bicycle and pedestrian design curriculum at PSU by turning an existing three-credit course into a five-credit course with an applied lab. The new course gave students the opportunity to apply the knowledge they gained in class to real projects in their community. Working in teams, the students developed projects that focused on improving bicycle and pedestrian connections to the PSU campus. The course received excellent reviews from the students, and the department recognized the courseís value by offering it again the following year. The report can be downloaded at: http://theotrec.org/project/279.

Tags: bicycle, lynn weigand, pedestrians, portland state university

OTREC Releases 2010 Request for Proposals!

Posted on January 18, 2010 in Research

OTREC is pleased to announce the posting of the 2010-2011 Request of Proposal (RFP). The total funding available under this RFP is approximately $2 million, and OTREC expects to fund as many high quality proposals as possible to support relevant work that relates to the theme and supports national transportation priorities, initiatives and needs. Please note some of the changes to the 2010-2011 RFP based on feedback and input from faculty, the OTREC Board of Advisors, and OTREC partners. The changes include the following:

1. OTREC is defining research emphasis areas that provide strategic research direction for the next year. These research areas are multimodal and the priorities are NOT at the exclusion of other thematic research areas, but proposals submitted that directly respond to these priority areas will rank higher among the diverse portfolio of proposals.

2. OTREC has reserved funding for initiatives. An initiative goes beyond a single project and can be a center, program, or laboratory that involves collaboration between more than one campus, more than one discipline, more than one agency, and more than one faculty member. See Section 5 of the RFP for details.

3. OTREC is accepting multi-year proposals for both projects and initiatives with a limit of 2 years. If selected, OTREC will fund the first year. Second year funding is contingent on congressional reauthorization, and currently cannot be guaranteed.

4. Abstracts are no longer required prior to submitting full proposals. To download the RFP, proposal and budget forms, please go to: http://theotrec.org/content/rfp2011.php.

Proposals are due 5:00 pm on April 9, 2010.

Tags: proposals

OTREC Selected 20 New Projects for 2009-2010

Posted on June 16, 2009 in Research

OTREC has completed the proposal review process for its 2009-2010 funding cycle. OTREC received a total of 48 proposals with a request of $3.9 million for consideration. We would like to thank Michael Wolfe for managing the peer review process and to recognize the 110 peer reviewers who contributed to this important selection procedure. Twenty proposals were selected for funding by the OTREC Executive Committee at our meeting Monday afternoon. The complete list can be viewed here: http://www.theotrec.org/main/projects.php?year=2010
OTREC urges principal investigators to view the results of their peer reviews and OTREC comments for their proposal by logging into the OTREC proposal and project management system at: http://www.theotrec.org/main/login.php.
Those with proposals that were not selected but fit well with the OTREC theme of Advanced Technology, Integration of Land Use and Transportation, and Healthy Communities are engrouraged to strengthen their approach, linkage with transportation and consider resubmitting it for the 2010-2011 funding year.

Tags: proposals

Call for Best Practices in Context Sensitive Solutions

Posted on June 5, 2009 in Research

The CSS National Dialog is currently seeking submissions of best practices in the application of Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) principles to transportation projects, programs and plans. Selected case studies will be presented at a series of one-day Workshops. Submissions are welcome from transportation agencies, planning agencies, communities and other organizations. To submit your transportation project, program or plan, visit the National Dialog Website. Submissions will be accepted until June 30, 2009. Submissions accepted in the following four categories: Implementation of CSS in Transportation Project Design and Construction, CSS in Transportation Planning, Context-Sensitive Programs for Project Delivery, and Organizational and Institutional Advancements for Systematic Implementation of CSS.

Tags: context sensitive solutions, css

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