News: Oregon Institute of Technology

NITC program awards funding for new round of research, education projects

Posted on July 8, 2014

The executive committee of the National Institute for Transportation and Communities, or NITC, program has selected a third round of research, education, and technology transfer projects for funding. This grant is part of the University Transportation Center (UTC) program funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Research and Technology, and is a partnership between Portland State University, the University of Oregon, the Oregon Institute of Technology, and the University of Utah. The committee chose eight projects, totaling $800,000, under the NITC theme of safe, healthy and sustainable transportation to foster livable communities. 
 
The projects are national in scope and support innovations in priority areas including public transit and active transportation. 
 
Projects selected include:
  • An analysis of the effects of commuter rail on population deconcentration.
  • A look into prioritizing pedestrians at signalized intersections.
  • A study of cyclist-vehicle interaction.
  • An evaluation of an eco-driving intervention.
The eight projects were chosen from among 20 proposals with a total request of over $2 million. 
 
A complete list of projects and principal investigators is below:

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Tags: bicycle infrastructure, complete streets, cycle tracks, e-bikes, green lanes, light rail, national institute for transportation and communities, nitc, otrec, traffic-related pollution, transit, transit equity, transportation safety, university of utah, utah transit authority, walking

OTREC gives “green light” to new hybrid electric vehicle

Posted on April 11, 2014

OTREC researchers and students from the Oregon Institute of Technology have teamed up with Green Lite Motors to test a next-generation hybrid car.
 
Green Lite Motors, a clean-tech start-up company based in Portland, Ore., has developed a small, three-wheeled, gas-electric hybrid vehicle based on the platform of a Suzuki Burgman scooter.
 
The vehicle is classed as a motorcycle, and has all the advantages of the smaller vehicle — it doesn’t take up a whole parking space, and it gives off fewer emissions — but it also has an advanced roll-cage design, giving it the safety and comfort of a standard passenger car. It has two wheels in the front, one in the back, and mileage possibilities greater than 100 miles per gallon.
The target market areas for this two-passenger vehicle are urban commute zones, where large numbers of people travel daily from suburban homes to city-based professions. 
 
The tiny hybrid car could change the commuting experience, minimizing gas expenditure and cutting down the time people spend looking for parking.

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Tags: electric vehicles, emissions, livability, oregon institute of technology, otrec

NITC program accepting proposals for third funding cycle

Posted on February 14, 2014

The National Institute for Transportation and Communities, or NITC, program invites proposals for a third round of research, education, and technology transfer projects. The NITC program supports innovations in: livability, incorporating safety and environmental sustainability.  This grant is part of the University Transportation Center program, funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration, and is a partnership between Portland State University and the University of Oregon, Oregon Institute of Technology and the University of Utah.

The NITC program will award at least $750,000 in this funding round to research, education and technology transfer projects that support NITC’s theme. Projects should range from $30,000 to $150,000. Projects can focus on research, education, or technology transfer. All projects submitted for this request for proposals (RFP) will undergo peer review. All awards require one-to-one non-federal match in the form of cash or in-kind services from project partners—to include universities, transportation and other public agencies, industry, and nonprofit organizations. Please refer to Section 3 of the linked document below for specific details. Projects awarded under this RFP may start as soon as August 1, 2014 and must be completed by December 31, 2015, including the final report.

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Tags: livable communities, nitc, rfp, rita

OTREC research shines on national stage: TRB 2014

Posted on January 7, 2014

 

OTREC research played a prominent role at this year’s Transportation Research Board annual meeting, the preeminent national conference for transportation researchers. An estimated 12,000 transportation professionals from around the world are attending the conference.

A total of 75 affiliated researchers from three campuses of OTREC’s NITC program present their research in 64 lectern and poster sessions Jan. 12-16. Faculty and students presided or presented at an additional 16 workshops, committee meetings and sessions.

Potential presenters at TRB submit full research papers for peer review; only around half of the submitted papers are chosen for presentation at the annual meeting. Portland State University researchers had 41 papers accepted for presentation; University of Oregon, 3; University of Utah, 20. Portland State, University of Oregon, Oregon Institute of Technology and the University of Utah are partners in the National Institute for Transportation and Communities, or NITC, program. (New NITC partner University of South Florida had an additional 37 papers accepted for presentation.)

Student researchers from OTREC programs always have a strong presence at TRB, and this year was no exception. For Portland State alone, 27 students had their work as lead or secondary authors accepted for presentation. A full 25 papers had Portland State students as lead authors.

To show the extent of OTREC involvement at TRB, we compiled a day-by-day guide to presentations, available to download at:

http://theotrec.org/files/NITC_TRB_guide.pdf

We also showcase individual research efforts that were presented during the conference.

In addition:

The annual meeting of the Transportaion Research Board of the National Academies ran from Jan. 12 to Jan. 16 at three convention sites in Washington, D.C. More information on the conference and TRB is at http://www.trb.org/AnnualMeeting2014.

Tags: transportation research board

Looking back at OTREC by the numbers

Posted on December 13, 2013

As we prepare for the next step in our development as a center, we're taking a look back at the seven years since OTREC's founding:

The Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium, or OTREC, was founded in 2006 with a theme that emphasized advanced technology, the integration of transportation and land use, and healthy communities. OTREC’s mission is to inform transportation decision making through timely, useful primary research and to build the capacity of the transportation workforce.

Reflecting the DOT mission, OTREC promotes choices that make our transportation system safe, resilient and adaptable. Providing access to travel options that promote the health of our communities and our environment makes our country stronger.

From the research that makes our communities living laboratories to the innovative education and technology transfer efforts that wed research and practice, our programs lay the groundwork for livable communities. Our advanced technology projects have shown the effect of traffic-signal timing on pedestrians’ exposure to pollution and helped a state Department of Transportation place sensors to best estimate travel times for the least cost. Our healthy communities projects have helped shape national guidelines for bike boxes and helped improve safety at intersections using the flashing-yellow-arrow traffic signal. Projects under our integration of transportation and land use theme have shown how agencies can retrofit suburban land uses for active transportation and helped adjust Institute of Transportation Engineers trip-generations rates for dense, multimodal sites.

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Tags: flashing yellow arrow, institute of transportation engineers, oregon transportation summit, otrec, sustainable city year program, transportation seminar series

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