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Intelligent Transportation Systems Laboratory News Items
  Portland State Takes First Place in 18th Annual Traffic Bowl • November 2009 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! | ||||
  Active Participation in the Seventh Annual Region X Student Conference, University of Oregon, Eugene • November 2009 PSU students participated in the Seventh 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. | ||||
  DKS Presented in The ITS Lab about Careers and Latest Projects • November 2009 Chris Maciejewski and Brian Copeland from DKS Associates visited the ITS Lab on November 9, 2009 and presented a summary of latest projects of DKS in Portland, OR. DKS Associates is a national, employee-owned transportation planning and engineering firm providing state-of-the-art consulting services for all modes of ground transportation. About 20 students from Civil Engineering and Urban Planning departments particpated in the meeting and enjoyed a free pizza lunch. They also let the ITS Lab students know about the current job/internship openings of DKS in Portland and Seattle. | ||||
 ITS Lab Mourns the Loss of Bill Kloos • November 2009 It is with great sadness that ITS Lab faculty and students pass along the news of the death of William C. Kloos on November 4th. Bill was a long time supporter of the ITS Lab, the CEE Department (he served on our advisory board), and PSU students. Bill was an extremely innovative traffic engineer and more importantly a great person. We will miss his humor, insight and help and everything that he contributed to our profession and world. Our thoughts go out to his family during this difficult time. A Celebration of Life is planned for January 9 at 3 PM at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, 3228 SW Sunset Blvd., Portland, OR 97239 (SW Dosch & Sunset Blvd). | ||||
  ITS Lab Students Visit The Port of Portland • October 2009 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. | ||||
 Prof. Figliozzi Chairs a Session and Presents at Informs 2009 • October 2009 Professor Figliozzi chaired a session on Heuristics for Vehicle Routing Problems and presented his work on Algorithm for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Stochastic Travel Times and Customer Deadlines at the annual INFORMS conference, held on San Diego, October 2009. | ||||
  Prof. Monsere Presents Lab Work at the Innovations in Congestion Monitoring Workshop, Beijing China • October 2009 Prof. Monsere gave an invited presentation about the ITS Lab's recent activities at the Innovations in Congestion Monitoring Workshop in Beijing China October 28-29, 2009. The workshop was sponsored by the Beijing Transportation Research Center and co-sponsored by the Beijing Municipal Committee of Transportation, the Texas Transportation Institute, and the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Performance Measures Committee. The workshop's objective was to share knowledge to help understand traffic congestion, which is a critical transportation issue in China. Increasing urbanization, economic development, and private auto ownership are combining to create large delays and a lack of reliability on most major urban highways and streets throughout the entire daytime hours. The conference was very enjoyable (Dr. Monsere is shown at right visiting Summer Palace with co-presenters) and a success. | ||||
 ITS Lab Students and Faculty Active at National Urban Freight Conference 2009 • October 2009 Portland State University faculty and students presented their work at the National Urban Freight Conference (NUFC) in Long Beach, CA October 21-23, 2009. NUFC brings together researchers and practitioners in the public and private sectors from many disciplines within freight transportation. This conference is the only one of its kind in the US, and brought attendees and presenters from the US, Canada and Europe. A full summary of our involvement can be found below: Track 1-1: Urban Vehicle Routing Emissions & Energy Minimization Vehicle Routing Problem Track 6-2: Impact Assessment A Study of Transportation Disruption Causes and Cost in Containerized Maritime Transportation Track CP-2: Regional Comparison: Congestion Algorithms and Methodologies to Analyze and Quantify the Impacts of Congestion on Urban Distribution Systems Using Real-world Urban Network Data Track CP-2: Regional Comparison: Congestion Analysis of the Impacts of Congestion on Freight Movements in the Portland Metropolitan Area | ||||
 Prof. Monsere Presents at the IMSA Northwest Section 2009 Conference in Eugene, OR • October 2009 Prof. Monsere jointly presented with Dr. Karen Dixon from OSU on their work to develop a safety investigations manual for the Oregon DOT at the the IMSA Northwest Section 2009 Conference in Eugene, OR. The manual is intended to be a working tool for safety investigators studying crash-prone locations. | ||||
 ITS Lab Hosts TransPort Technical Advisory Committee Meeting • October 2009 On October 14, 2009 TransPort Technical Advisory Committee visited the ITS Lab to meet with Prof. Kristin Tufte, Prof. Chris Monsere, PORTAL team, and PSU students. James Whiteneck, Shreemoyee Sarkar, Poonam Singh and Sathish Periasamy had presentations on latest enhancements to PORTAL (Portal 2.0). PSU students Kristie Gladhill, Meead Saberi, Ryan Conrad, Nikki Wheeler, and April Cutter also made presentations about their research projects. We were pleased to welcome our guests to PSU and had an excellent discussion on various topics. Presentations are available: Saberi, Wheeler, Whiteneck, Sarkar, Periasamy, Singh . | ||||
 ITS Lab Faculty Host FIRST Lego Robitics Groups • October 2009 Prof Monsere and Tufte (along with Hau Hagedorn from OTREC) hosted three groups of 5-7th graders participating in the First Lego League. The objective of the competition is to "introduce younger students to real-world engineering challenges by building LEGO-based robots to complete tasks on a thematic playing surface.". This year as part of this competition, they are required to do a research on a topic that is relevant to their community -- transportation!! The participants came prepared with detailed and interesting questions to ask PSU faculty. Best of luck to the teams! | ||||
 ITS Lab Welcomes New and Returning Students • September 2009 On September 30, 2009, the ITS Lab welcomed new and returning students in the first lab staff meeting of fall 2009 quarter. Bryan, Kaveh, Prneeth, Adam, and Jesse from Civil Engineering department and Lyndsay from Urban Planning department are the new Graduate Research Assistants in the ITS Lab. We look forward to a great year! | ||||
| Prof. Figliozzi Appointed Member of TRB Committee on Network Modeling • September 2009 Prof. Figliozzi has been appointed member of the National Academies' Transportation Research Board Committee on Network Modeling, for a three year term. The Network Modeling Committee is one of the most active and prestigious committees within the Transportation Research Board. | ||||
  Lab student Alex Bigazzi presents at ITS World Congress in Stockholm • September 2009 ITS Lab student Alex Bigazzi presented two papers at the ITS World Congress in Stockholm, Sweden on September 22. The papers, on optimal bus stop spacing from archived transit AVL data and integrating weather and traffic data for ATMIS, were authored by fellow lab students and faculty members Huan Li, Meead Saberi, and Dr. Robert Bertini. Alex is currently a guest student and researcher at Delft Technical University in the Netherlands, which was well represented at the conference. | ||||
 Dr. Ashley Haire Joins ITS Lab Faculty • September 2009 Dr. Ashley Haire joins the ITS Lab as a Senior Research Associate in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Her primary research interests include sustainable transportation systems and public transportation operations. Dr. Haire's current work explores the impacts of climate change on transportation infrastructure, the environmental health effects of traffic stream characteristics, and the influences of fuel price and unemployment on transit ridership. Originally from North Carolina, Dr. Haire received a BSCE from the University of Arizona, after which she worked in roadway and freeway design before earning an MSCE from Arizona. She completed her doctoral work at the University of Texas at Austin in 2009, focusing on transit and traffic operations. Welcome Dr. Haire! | ||||
 ITS Lab Faculty Participate in OTREC Transportation Summit • September 2009 The ITS Lab Faculty participated in the Oregon Transportation Summit sponsored by the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC), the Portland chapter of WTS, the Oregon chapter of APA, and the Oregon section of ITE. Prof. Monsere was a panelist on the "Safety Smackdown" session and Prof. Figliozzi was a panelist on the "Moving Cooler" session. Kristin Tufte, new ITS Lab faculty Ashley Haire (see related news item), and future faculty member Kelly Clifton (arriving in winter quarter) also participated. | ||||
 ITS Lab Work Presented at National Rural Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Conference • August 2009 Prof. Andrew Nichols (co-PI from from Marshall University) presented Extracting Freight Corridor Performance from Weigh-In-Motion Data at the National Rural Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Conference in Seaside, OR August 23-27. Prof. Chris Monsere was the principal investigator on this project. | ||||
 Shelley Row, ITS Joint Program Office Director, Visits ITS Lab • August 2009 Dr. Kristin Tufte led a debriefing of the PSU ITS Lab on August 26 for Shelley Row, ITS Joint Program Office Director. Students Huan Li (Detection of Bottleneck Activation Historically and in Real-Time), Alex Bigazzi ("Greening" PORTAL), Heba Wakiel (Developing Corridor-Level Truck Travel Time Estimates and Other Freight Performance Measures from Archived ITS Data), and Ryan Conrad (Algorithms and Methodologies to Analyze and Quantify the Impacts of Congestion on Time-dependent Real-world Urban Networks) gave presentations on their OTREC-supported work. TransPort representatives Deena Platman (METRO), Dennis Mitchell (ODOT), and Jim Gelhar (City of Gresham) also provided an overview of their work. The debriefing was followed by a reception that was co-sponsored by WTS and OTREC. | ||||
  ITS Lab Students and Faculty Participate in 2009 Providence Bridge Pedal • August 2009 "Perfectly Portland" is what The Oregonian called Providence Bridge Pedal. This annual tradition is a community celebration of Portland, the Willamette River bridges and bicycling. More than 18,000 people including the ITS Lab students and faculty took over the bridges on Sunday, Aug. 9 to enjoy the panoramic views of Portland. It is our one opportunity each year to bicycle across Portland's bridges from the Sellwood to the St. Johns, including the top decks of the Marquam and Fremont bridges. | ||||
 Bertini Appointed Deputy Administrator of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration at the US Department of Transportation • August 2009 Professor Bertini has been appointed the deputy administrator of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration at the US Department of Transportation. As the founding director of the Intelligent Transportation Systems Lab and the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium, Bertini's influence on transportation education and research at PSU is nearly unmeasurable. All of the current, past and future ITS Lab faculty and students thank Prof. Bertini for his unending effort and dedication to making so many things possible. We wish him all the best in his new position and look forward to working with him in the future! See the story in the Oregonian | ||||
  ITS Lab Bids Farewell to Prof. Bertini • August 2009 The ITS Lab and STEP students along with the OTREC faculty members and staff gathered at the ITS Lab to bid farewell to Prof. Robert Bertini. At Portland State University, Prof. Bertini developed a transportation engineering graduate program, the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) lab, the Portland Oregon Transportation Archive Listing (PORTAL), and the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC.) He has been a faculty member at the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies & Planning since 2000. Prof. Bertini will be the deputy administrator of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) at Washington D.C. We all will miss him and hope to see him and work with him again in the future! | ||||
  ITS Lab Bids Farewell to Helene Siri • August 2009 The ITS Lab and STEP students gathered at Departure to bid farewell to Helene Siri, who has been a visiting master's student from the ENTPE, Lyon, France since March, 2009. Helene contributed a lot to the lab and to her fellow lab mates, and we all enjoyed getting to know and work with her. Helene you will be missed, please stay in touch! | ||||
 Bertini Presents at 11th International Conference on Advanced Systems for Public Transport (CASPT09) in Hong Kong, July 20-22, 2009 • July 2009 Prof. Bertini presented "Using Archived Stop Level Transit Data for Assessing Bus Operations and Exploring Optimal Stop Spacing," co-authored with Huan Li (PSU graduate student) and Prof. Ahmed El-Geneidy of McGill University, at 11th International Conference on Advanced Systems for Public Transport (CASPT09) in Hong Kong, July 20-22, 2009. | ||||
  Active Participation in the 2009 District 6 ITE Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado • July 2009 Students and faculty from the Intelligent Transportation Systems Lab were remarkably active at the 2009 District 6 ITE Annual Meeting, held July 12-15, 2009 in Denver, Colorado. Students and faculty presented a total of 4 presentations and participated in different sessions. A summary of our involvement can be found below. 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 Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning (STEP) from Portland State University won the best website award. List of Presentations: Segment Level Analysis of Travel Time Reliability: A Case Study of I-5 Freeway in Portland, Oregon, Meead Saberi Impacts of ITS Data Aggregation on Sustainable Transportation Performance Measures, Alexander Bigazzi Extracting Freight Corridor Performance from Weigh-in-Motion Data, Christopher Monsere Highway Safety Manual Predictive Methods: Calibration for Oregon Highways, Christopher Monsere | ||||
  Oregon University System Board and University Presidents Visit ITS Lab • July 2009 ITS Lab faculty and students were honored that the Oregon University System Board visited the ITS Lab as part of their Portland State University tour on Thursday, July 9, 2009. PSU President Wim Wiewel, plus Presidents from the University of Oregon, Oregon State University and the Oregon Institute of Technology, Chancellor George Pernsteiner, and other board members and guests spent about an hour in the lab, learning about PSU's vision for the future, the Regional Research Institute in the School of Social Work as well as OTREC. Thanks to all who contributed to the successful visit! | ||||
 MAX Green Line Preview Ride • July 2009 ITS Lab students had the opportunity to preview the Max Green line and ride it for the first time on Wednesday, July 8. Starting September 12, 2009, TriMet's newest light rail line, MAX Green Line, will carry riders from Clackamas Town Center to Portland City Center. MAX Green Line is a partnership between TriMet, the City of Portland, Metro, Clackamas County and the Oregon Department of Transportation. | ||||
 ITS Lab Mourns the Loss of Prof. Wendelin Mueller • July 2009 The ITS Lab students and faculty were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Professor Emeritus Wendelin Mueller on July 6, 2009. Wendell was an important mentor for Prof. Bertini in the founding of the ITS Lab. In the early years, Prof. Mueller was an inspiration in the sense that he maintained a strong team environment with undergraduate and graduate students in the STAR lab in Science Building 2. Prof. Bertini adapted the idea of the "lab" environment into what is now the ITS Lab. Wendell was also very kind and supportive of the expansion of the transportation program, and as search committee chair for the recruitment of Prof. Peter Dusicka, acted in a highly unselfish manner by reducing his FTE in the CEE department so that his "replacement" could be recruited. We will miss Wendell's great sense of humor, strong sense of community and his spirit of "sociality," whereby he tried to build community through social events in his lab and in the department. We send our most sincere sympathies to the Mueller family and will remember Wendell fondly (especially his great STAR lab parties and the special ancient refrigerator...) | ||||
 ITS Lab Students and Faculty Celebrate End of Academic Year • June 2009 ITS Lab students and faculty celebrated the end of the 2008-2009 academic year at our annual BBQ - held on a perfect Portland summer day at the home of Dr. Monsere. The lab looks forward to a wonderful, productive summer! Many thanks for the Monseres for their hospitality. | ||||
  Prof. Geoff Rose Visits ITS Lab • June 2009 On Thursday, June 25, Dr. Geoff Rose, Professor of Department of Civil Engineering at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia visited the ITS Lab and gave an interesting presentation about "Emerging types of private vehicles and their implications for road system management." Prof. Rose then met with ITS Lab students to discuss ongoing research projects. | ||||
  ASCE Mini-ExCEEd Teaching Workshop Held in ITS Lab • June 2009 ITS Lab faculty Professors Bertini, Monsere, Figliozzi and Tufte participated in the American Society of Civil Engineers' Mini-ExCEEd (Excellence in Civil Engineering Education) Teaching Workshop, held in the ITS Lab on June 24, 2009. The Workshop was sponsored by the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC) and National Institute for Advanced Transportation Technology (NIATT), as part of the national Transportation Education Conference held in Portland June 22-24. The Mini-ExCEEd was taught by Prof. Ronald Welch (University of Texas at Tyler) and Prof. Allen Estes (California Polytechnic State University), who are founders of the ExCEEd program. Ping Wei from ASCE also assisted with the presentation of the workshop. More than 30 professors from around the U.S., Canada and Australia participated in the workshop. | ||||
 Prof. Geoff Rose, ITS Lab Students and Faculty Take Field Trip to Mt. Hood • June 2009 Prof. Geoff Rose director of Institute of Transport Studies and faculty of Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University in Melbourne, Australia visited Portland State University during the Transportation Education Conference hold by OTREC in Portland. ITS Lab students and faculty along with Dr. Geoff Rose took a field trip on June 21, 2009. The trip included a visit to the Historic Columbia River Highway, Multnomah Falls, Bonneville Dam, Hood River, the Hood River Valley, Mt. Hood's Timberline Lodge (where it was snowing), and Vista House. | ||||
 Monsere Participates in PSU Golf Tournament at Langdon Farms • June 2009 Prof. Monsere participated in the PSU Golf Tournament, with colleagues Prof. James Strathman (PSU Center for Urban Studies), Dr. Barnie Jones (ODOT Research) and Prof. Nancy Nihan (TransNow/University of Washington). Transportation topics were discussed and a good time was had by all! | ||||
  ITS Lab Faculty and Students Participate in PSU Commencement Ceremony • June 2009 ITS Lab Faculty (Prof. Monsere and Prof. Bertini) along with students Alex Bigazzi (BSCE), Jerzy Wieczorek (MS Statistics), Michael Wolfe (MSCE) and Sandeep Puppala Rao (MSCE) participated in Portland State University's Commencement held at the Rose Garden Arena on June 13, 2009. Congratulations to all of the graduates! | ||||
  Lisa S. Diercksen Inducted Into Denice Dee Denton Women Engineers Hall of Fame • June 2009 Lisa S. Diercksen, ITS Lab Graduate Student, along with Xerox Corporation President Ursula M. Burns were inducted into the Denice Dee Denton Women Engineers Hall of Fame at the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science at Portland State University (PSU) on Friday, June 12. The induction ceremony was held in conjunction with the Maseeh College's All College Graduation Reception. Accepting the award for Ms. Burns was Debra Koehler, Xerox's Director of Sustainability. Ms. Koehler and Ms. Diercksen briefly addressed the members of the Maseeh College's graduating class. "The Denton award was created to recognize outstanding women who are shaping the engineering profession," stated Maseeh College Interim Dean Richard I. Knight. "Ms. Burns and Ms. Diercksen exemplify the success and importance of women in engineering and serve as important role models for others." | ||||
 Prof. Benjamin Coifman of Ohio State University Visits ITS Lab • June 2009 Prof. Benjamin Coifman, Associate Professor at Ohio State University, visited the ITS Lab on June 12, 2009 as part of his role as OTREC Visiting Scholar. Prof. Coifman spoke at the Friday Transportation Seminar and then met with ITS Lab faculty and students to discuss ongoing research and potential areas of collaboration. | ||||
 Bertini Participates in TransNow Annual Advisory Committee Meeting • June 2009 Prof. Bertini participated in the Transportation Northwest (TransNow) Annual Advisory Committee Meeting at the University of Washington on June 11, 2009. Other Oregon participants included Prof. James Strathman, Prof. Emeritus Ken Dueker, and ODOT Research Manager Barnie Jones. Bertini spoke to the meeting participants on the topic "Education and Outreach Projects with Other UTCs." The meeting was a great opportunity to hear about TransNow's ongoing projects and future plans. | ||||
 Prof. Chris Monsere Selected as Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Member of the Year • June 2009 The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering student leaders have unanimously selected Prof. Chris Monsere as the Faculty Member of the Year for 2009! Dr. Monsere is extremely active with students, including his service as the Chi Epsilon and STEP advisor, instructor of CE 454 and the developer and instructor of the new CE 115 Engineering Graphics Course. Congratulations to Dr. Monsere and thank you for your service to the department! | ||||
 Alex Bigazzi Presents Honors Thesis • June 2009 On June 10, 2009, BSCE student Alex Bigazzi presented his undergraduate Honors Thesis entitled Carbon Sponsoring: a New Idea in Personal Carbon Trading, Direct Carbon Offset Pledges for Travel. We were honored that Dean Dick Knight and Alex's mother Pat Bigazzi joined faculty and students for the presentation. Congratulations Alex! | ||||
 Metro Councilor and JPACT Chair Carlotta Collette and Dave Mayfield of Cogan Owens Cogan Visit ITS Lab • June 2009 On June 8, 2009 Metro Councilor and JPACT Chair Carlotta Collette and Dave Mayfield of Cogan Owens Cogan visited the ITS Lab to meet with Prof. Bertini and OTREC staff Hau Hagedorn, Jon Makler and John MacArthur. We were pleased to welcome our guests to PSU and had an excellent discussion of future possibilities for collaboration. | ||||
 Prof. Bertini Speaks at ITS America Annual Meeting in National Harbor, Maryland • June 2009 Dr. Robert Bertini presented "The Future of a Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) Based User Fee" at a Congressional Fact-Finding Session sponsored by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee as part of the ITS America Annual Meeting and Exposition held in National Harbor, Maryland (near Washington, D.C.), June 2, 2009. The Intelligent Transportation Society of America was established in 1991 as a not-for-profit organization to foster the use of advanced technologies in surface transportation systems. | ||||
  ITS Lab Spring Hike • May 2009 ITS Lab students celebrated a successful spring by taking a great hike through the Silver Falls. Silver Falls State Park is located near Silverton, about 20 miles (east-southeast of Salem. It is the largest state park in Oregon. There are 10 waterfalls and more than 22 miles of multiple use trails leading to them. These trails took us behind the popular 177-foot South Falls and as well the 136-foot North Falls. Special thanks to Kristie for organizing this wonderful hiking trip. | ||||
  Peter Furth Visits ITS Lab • May 2009 Peter Furth, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, visited ITS Lab on Tuesday and met students and faculty at our lab meeting. Dr. Furth gave two presentations about "Aggressive Signal Priority with Compensation: Maximizing the Transit Benefit Without Disrupting Traffic" and "Cycle Tracks and Bicycle Priority Lanes: More Tools to Serve Traffic Intolerant Riders" on May 26 and 27 as part of the transportation seminar series of the Center of Transportation Studies. | ||||
 Prof. Figliozzi Presents at Odysseus 2009 • May 2009 Professor Figliozzi presented his work on Time-dependent Vehicle Routing at the Fourth International Workshop on Freight Transportation and Logistics, held on Cesme, Turkey, May 26-29, 2009. This prestigious triennial workshop brought together researchers from five continents to discuss the most recent developments in freight transportation and logistics. | ||||
 Bertini Visits Daimler AG, Boblingen, Germany • May 2009 Prof. Bertini visited the Daimler AG research facility in Boblingen Germany, where he presented an update on ITS Lab and OTREC research projects, and met with intelligent transportation research staff Hubert Rehborn, Jochen Palmer, and Boris Kerner. Bertini looks forward to future collaborations with Daimler AG colleagues in the coming months and years. | ||||
 Lisa Diercksen and Josh Crain Receive Oregon ITE Scholarship • May 2009 Oregon Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) recently awarded two $1,000 scholarships to ITS lab students. Josh Crain from Portland State University received the Undergraduate scholarship and Lisa Diercksen from Portland State University received the Graduate scholarship. Congratulations Lisa and Josh! | ||||
  Prof. Monsere Participates in Second FHWA/UTC/RITA Workshop on ITS and Operations • May 2009 Prof Monsere represented OTREC and the ITS Lab at the second conference on traffic management sponsored by FHWA, Office of Research and Development and USDOT Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA). The workshop, designed to help coordinate and guide research at university transportation centers (UTCs), featured presentations from Federal staff and university researchers in adaptive signal timing, microsimulation, traffic data, intelligent infrastructure and vehicles. Robust discussion identified potential collaboration and research areas. Prof. Monsere highlighted related research by OTREC faculty. The workshop concluded with a tour of the related research laboratories at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, which hosted the conference. Proceedings of the workshop should be available shortly. | ||||
  Bertini Participates in ITS Edunet Short Course on V2X Communications, Munich, Germany • May 2009 Professor Bertini participated in a Short Course entitled "Challenges and Opportunities of Vehicle-to-X-Communication," an interactive course for transport professionals and decision makers, sponsored by the Intelligent Transport Systems Education Network (ITS-Edunet), held 14 - 15 May 2009 in Munich and Ingolstadt, Germany. Bertini presented a lecture entitled "IntelliDrivesm and Vehicle Infrastructure Integration in the USA." | ||||
  Bertini Presents at mobil.TUM 2009 Conference "ITS in Larger Cities," Munich, Germany • May 2009 Professor Bertini presented a paper "Intelligent Transportation Solutions for Planning, Optimizing and Measuring Public Transport Performance," co-authored with student Huan Li and colleague Prof. Ahmed El-Geneidy of McGill University, at the mobil.TUM 2009 Conference "ITS in Larger Cities," held at the Alte Kongresshalle am Bavariapark in Munich, Germany on May 12-13, 2009. Prof. Bertini also served on the Scientific Advisory Board for the conference which was sponsored by the Munich University of Technology. Further, Bertini spoke as part of the closing conference panel on "ITS for Larger Cities - Challenges for Science and Research." | ||||
 ITS Lab Students Active Participants in the ITE Quad Conference, Vancouver B.C. • May 2009 Students from the Intelligent Transportation Systems Lab were very active at the ITE Quad Conference held April 30-May 2, 2009 in Vancouver B.C. Students delivered two presentations: "The Effects of Weather on Freeway Traffic Flow," by Alex Bigazzi and "Collision Diagramming Tool Evaluation," by Josh Crain (co-presented with Brian Copeland from DKS Associates) and three posters" "Temporal Aggregation Effects on ITS Data Applications," by Alex Bigazzi, "Assessment of An Optimal Bus Stop Spacing Model Using High Resolution Archived Stop-level Data," by Huan Li and "Impacts of Sensor Spacing on Accurate Freeway Travel Time Estimation for Traveler Information," by Wei Feng. The students thank OTREC for financial support. | ||||
  ITS Lab Students and Faculty Visit The Port of Portland • April 2009 On Sunday, April 26, ITS Lab 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. Thanks to STEP for organizing this visit. | ||||
 Heba Alwakiel Receives WTS Scholarship • April 2009 The Portland Chapter of the Women's Transportation Seminar (WTS) has recently announced that PSU student Heba Alwakiel (MSCE) has been selected to receive the 2009 Portland Graduate Scholarship. WTS fosters the development of women in the transportation field by encouraging bright new professionals to undertake careers in the area of transportation. One way it does this is by awarding scholarships to women pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies in transportation or a related field. | ||||
| Scott Fletcher represent ITS Lab at the GIS in Action 2009 Conference • April 2009 Scott Fletcher presented a poster at the GIS in Action 2009 Conference in Vancouver, Washington on April 21st and 22nd. The poster highlighted the work surrounding the Oregon Freight Data Mart and its accompanying Google Maps Web Application managed by Miguel Figliozzi and Kristin Tufte. The conference hosted speakers from regional and national level businesses and governments with talks ranging from Open Source Software to Marine Resource Management to Auto Vehicle Location. | ||||
 Bertini Participates in TRB Traveler Information Research Needs Workshop • April 2009 Prof. Bertini participated in the Transportation Research Board's Workshop on Identifying Traveler Information Research Needs to Achieve "All Roads, All Modes, All the Time," sponsored by the TRB Committee on Intelligent Transportation Systems, and held at the National Academies' Beckman Center on the U.C. Irvine campus in Irvine, California. A set of research needs and priorities will be published later in the spring and presented at the ITS America Annual Meeting. | ||||
  Bertini Appointed Chair of TRB Committee on Traffic Flow Theory and Characteristics • April 2009 Prof. Robert L. Bertini has been appointed chair of the National Academies' Transportation Research Board Committee on Traffic Flow Theory and Characteristics, for a three year term beginning April 15, 2009. Bertini succeeds Prof. Nathan Gartner, University of Massachusetts Lowell, who has served as committee chair since 2000. The TFT Committee is one of the most active committees within the Transportation Research Board. | ||||
 Meead Saberi and Alex Bigazzi Receive Eisenhower Graduate Fellowships • April 2009 ITS Lab students Meead Saberi (M.S. student) and Alex Bigazzi (currently B.S. student) were recently notified that they have been selected to receive 2009 Dwight D. Eisenhower Graduate Fellowships from the U.S. Department of Transportation! The Eisenhower Graduate Fellowship provides funding for the pursuit of Master's Degrees or Doctorates in transportation related fields. The program objective is to attract qualified students to the fields of transportation education and research, and advance transportation workforce development. The Program is intended to help upgrade the scope of knowledge of the entire transportation community in the United States and encompasses all modes of transportation. Congratulations to Meead and Alex! | ||||
  Lab student Alex Bigazzi awarded National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship • April 2009 Alex Bigazzi, currently an undergraduate research assistant in the ITS Lab at PSU, has been awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. NSF Fellowships are generous three-year awards in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. "NSF Fellows are expected to become knowledge experts who can contribute significantly to research, teaching, and innovations in science and engineering." Alex is the third student in the history of Portland State University to receive the NSF GRF, and will begin graduate studies at PSU in the fall. | ||||
 Transportation for 7th Graders • April 2009 Kristie Gladhill gave a presentation to 7th grade students at Whitford Middle School on Transportation Engineering. The talk included the ramp metering demonstration with rice and funnels, giving a chance for student volunteers to help make the "traffic" flow. | ||||
  Bertini Visits University of Arizona • April 2009 Professor Bertini visited the Department of Systems and Industrial Engineering (SIE) and Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at the University of Arizona on April 7, 2009. Bertini delivered an invited lecture entitled "Intelligent Transportation Solutions for Planning, Optimizing and Measuring Public Transport Performance" at the SIE Seminar and met with colleagues including Larry Head, Pitu Mirchandani, Wei Lin, Mark Hickman and Yi-Chang Chiu. | ||||
 New Furniture Arrives in ITS Lab • April 2009 Our new furniture has arrived at last and the lab space is nearly complete. Our space now contains distance learning capabilities (including streaming video, sound, and content), recording capabilities, a video-over-ip conferencing system and the ability to project three images. We are very grateful to our long term sponsors and supporters for helping us develop this resource. It will be an extremely useful space! Please don't hesitate to contact one of the faculty if our space could be used for professional or academic purposes. | ||||
  ITS Lab Spring 2009 Snowshoe • April 2009 In preparation for the beginning of the spring quarter, ITS Lab faculty and students snowshoed more than 4 miles to Mirror Lake, near the Mt. Hood National forest. The weather was perfect and sunny and everyone had a great time. Thanks to STEP for organizing this fun trip. | ||||
 Dr. David Levinson Visits ITS Lab • April 2009 On Friday, April 3, Dr. David Levinson, 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 visited the ITS Lab. 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. ITS Lab students and faculty warmly welcomed Dr. Levinson and gave a brief presentation about their research projects in the lab and got feedback from him. | ||||
 Bertini Visits University of Nevada Reno • April 2009 Prof. Bertini visited the University of Nevada Reno on April 1, 2009, where he delivered two invited lectures. First he visited the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the invitation of Prof. Zong Tian, and spoke at the meeting of the Institute of Transportation Engineers Student Chapter Meeting. Bertini presented "Impact of Sensor Spacing on Travel Time Estimation and Information," and enjoyed lunch with the transportation research group. Later, Bertini spoke at the Geography Colloquium, at the invitation of Prof. Tony Brinkman in the Department of Geography. Bertini presented "How Transportation Technology Can Limit the Impact of Future Climate Change" to the group of Geography students and faculty. | ||||
  Dr. Thamizh Arasan Visits ITS Lab • March 2009 On Thursday, March 19, Dr. Thamizh Arasan, Professor of Department of Civil Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madraas, India visited the ITS Lab and gave an interesting presentation about "Modeling Transportation and Traffic in India". The traffic on Indian roads is highly heterogeneous and the vehicles move on the roads without any lane or queue discipline. An appropriate methodology for modeling heterogeneous traffic flow has recently been developed at Indian Institute of Technology Madraas. Dr. Arasan was warmly welcomed by faculty and students. He was also given a "Portland Bridges" book as a gift from the ITS Lab. | ||||
  ITS Lab Students and Faculty Active at Transportation Research Forum • March 2009 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: Session 9.3: Managing Transportation Disruptions A Study of Transportation Disruption Causes and Costs in Containerized Maritime Transportation Session 4.1: Transportation Measures Can Sensors Be Used to Provide Accurate Travel Time Information? Session 2.1: Mode Choice Evaluating the Factors Affecting Student Travel Mode Choice Poster Session Adding Sustainability Performance Measures to a Transportation Data Archive Poster Session Does Weather Affect Traffic Flow on Freeways? Poster Session Integration and Visualization Challenges and Opportunities for Online Freight Data Mapping Poster Session Characteristics of Transitions in Freeway Traffic Congratulations to all for a successful conference! | ||||
 Atam P. Dhawan Visits ITS Lab • March 2009 On Tuesday, March 3, Dr. Atam P. Dhawan, Distinguished Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, visited the ITS Lab. Dr. Dhawan is the first of four finalists selected to interview for the position of Dean of the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science, Portland State University. | ||||
 PORTAL project releases a video depicting 1,000 days of bottlenecks on northbound I-5 in Portland • March 2009 The PORTAL project in the ITS Lab recently released a video depicting 1,000 days of bottlenecks on northbound I-5 in Portland. Using data collected from ODOT freeway sensors, the PORTAL team has developed a mechanism for identifying bottlenecks and characterizing their impact on freeway performance. For more information see PORTAL. Watch the video: | ||||
 PORTAL used for Corridor Summary • March 2009 PORTAL data was used to prepare corridor operating condition summaries to be included in the regional Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) plan. These summaries are an example of the use of PORTAL data for planning and problem identification. We include links to two example summaries one for I-5 NB and one for I-5 SB. The summaries were created by Jen Bachman of DKS. Thanks to Jim Peters, also of DKS, for providing them to the ITS Lab team. | ||||
 Shazia Malik Visits ITS Lab • February 2009 ITS Lab Alumni Shazia Malik visited the ITS Lab on February 25, 2009 to give a presentation about using the VISSIM in the Columbia River Crossing (CRC) project. She talked about the VISSIM model development of I-5 freeway and the calibration process for the CRC project. She was also asked different questions about micro-simulation and VISSIM by students. Shazia received her Master's degree in Civil Engineering from PSU in 2003. She completed her M.S. Project on Observed Dynamic Traffic Features on a Freeway Section With Merges and Diverges, from which a paper was published in the Journal of the Transportation Research Board. Students and faculty were very glad to have her in the ITS Lab after several years. Thanks for coming Shazia! | ||||
  Kittelson and Associates, Inc. Staff Visit ITS Lab • February 2009 Brian Ray and Julia Knudsen of Kittelson and Associates, Inc. (KAI) presented information on transportation engineering and planning careers, on February 16th. KAI was founded in Portland in 1985. The corporate headquarters employs over 60 professionals who provide a full scope of transportation planning and traffic engineering services to clients throughout the Pacific Northwest, spearheading projects as far away as Alaska and Texas. After the presentation, they stayed to discuss possible internship and full-time employment opportunities at KAI in a small group setting and individual. Snacks and beverages were also provided. | ||||
 ITS Lab Students Participate in ITS Oregon Lunch Meeting • February 2009 On February 10, 2009, ITS Lab students participated in the ITS Oregon lunch meeting which was held at CH2M HILL, Portland offices. Celena Stone and Bill Love presented CH2M HILL's work on the Mercer Street Corridor in Seattle, Washington. This six- block, one-way couplet connecting I-5 to the Seattle Space Needle is also a shared facility with Streetcar and Metro Transit lines. The presentation covered design challenges of the existing conditions, calibration of the VISSIM model microsimulation, transition of the one-way couplet to a two-way system, ITS design elements, signal design challenges, and lessons learned. | ||||
 ODOT Staff Visit ITS Lab • February 2009 Blake Dye, Stephen Hay, and David Johnson from Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) visited the ITS Lab on February 3, 2009 and gave a presentation about 40+ internship opportunities with ODOT. To develop the next generation of agency leaders, ODOT has created programs for college students and recent graduates to gain meaningful experience with employment opportunities throughout the agency. Students may receive training and experience in areas throughout the organization with some experiences starting in the summer. In the engineering disciplines training and experience are in areas related to Construction Project Management, Civil, Environmental, Geotechnical, Hydraulic, Structural, and Traffic Engineering. Thank you STEP for arranging this presentation. | ||||
  Tim Janes Visits ITS Lab • February 2009 Tim Janes, Advanced Traffic Products Speaker, visited ITS Lab on February 2, 2009 and gave a presentation about Wavetronix Advance Detectors. The Wavetronix Smart Sensors use the latest technology to collect consistently accurate traffic data in high definition. Using the Digital Wave Radar II patent, these smart sensors are able to measure traffic volume, individual vehicle speed, average speed, 85th percentile speed, average headway, average gap, lane occupancy, vehicle classification and presence. Refreshments were also provided for attendees at the beginning of the presentation. | ||||
  ITS Lab Welcomes Prospective Students at Second Annual Engineering Discovery Showcase • January 2009 The Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science held the second annual Engineering Discovery Showcase on Friday January 23, 2009, and ITS lab students and faculty were active participants! Students staffed a STEP table and Meead Saberi and Wei Feng led tours of the ITS lab. The Discovery Showcase is designed to be a fun, hands-on, interactive event for prospective secondary and high school students. This was a great opportunity to meet PSU's engineering and computer science faculty and students, learn about the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science Degree Programs, engage in interactive lab tours and learn about innovative research opportunities, and discover student life and the many project opportunities for hands-on design and research. Thanks to all who participated! | ||||
 ITS Lab Students Visit Congressman Wu • January 2009 On January 14, 2009, ITS Lab students visited Congressman David Wu at his office after having a tour of the United States Capitol in Washington D.C. Students visited the Congressman to thank and express their deep appreciation to him for his enthusiastic interest and support of the ITS Lab and OTREC. Students were warmly welcomed by Congressman Wu and his staff and also had the chance to observe the House of Representatives and Senate in action. | ||||
  Active Participation in the Transportation Research Board's 88th Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C. • January 2009 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:
In addition, a group of students representing the Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning (STEP) chapter attended, including: | ||||
  Bertini Speaks at International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) • January 2009 Prof. Bertini was an invited panelist at a session entitled "How Transportation Technology Can Limit the Impact of Future Climate Change" at the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), held in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 9, 2009. The session was organized by ITS America, and Bertini joined ITSA president Scott Belcher and Jessica Wei of Google's Strategic Partner Development Group on the panel. The International CES is produced by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the consumer technology industry. CEA represents more than 2,200 corporate members involved in the design, development, manufacturing, distribution and integration of consumer electronics products. More than 2,700 exhibitors filled more than 1.7 million net square feet of exhibit space to showcase their latest products and services to more than 130,000 attendees. | ||||
 Michael Wolfe Defends Thesis • January 2009 On January 6, 2009, Michael Wolfe successfully defended his Master's thesis, "The Effects of Data Aggregation on Measuring Arterial Performance." The presentation was attended by his committee, ITS Lab students, family and friends. Congratulations Michael! | ||||
 Rafael Fernandez presents paper at CIDR 2009 • January 2009 Rafael J. Fernandez-Moctezuma, Kristin Tufte, and Jin Li authored the paper "Inter-Operator Feedback in Data Stream Management Systems via Punctuation", accepted to the Fourth Biennial Conference on Innovative Database Research (CIDR 2009). The conference had a 27% accept rate. The paper documents a new inter-operator feedback mechanism in stream engines. The work is part of the latte project, which aims toward refinement and development of stream engines which support online processing of data streams, such as the traffic data from freeway loop detectors. | ||||
 Lab Alum Zachary Horowitz wins Neville A. Parker Award • December 2008 Zachary Horowitz's paper, "Freight Railroad Capacity Alternatives in the Pacific Northwest: An Analysis of Class I Cooperation in the Columbia River Gorge" won the Neville A. Parker Award for Outstanding Non-thesis Masters Degree Paper in Policy and Planning from CUTC (Council of University Transportation Centers). He is the first student from the state of Oregon to win a CUTC award. His paper examined the impact of freight railroad traffic volumes in the Pacific Northwest, which are rapidly increasing toward capacity. Using OpenTrack, a railroad simulation software application developed at the Swiss Institute of Technology in Zurich, the paper explored the potential benefits of a directional operating strategy in which the two railroad companies, BNSF Railway and Union Pacific, would combine their track and communication infrastructure. The results of the simulation model showed that the cooperative directional operating strategy has the potential to substantially increase capacity in the Columbia River corridor. Mr. Horowitz completed a M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Portland State University in 2007. While at Portland State University, he studied traffic capacity analysis on Oregon highway 217 and presented his original research at the Transportation Research Board, ITE, and Transportation Northwest conferences. He also took on a number of student leadership roles, including co-organizing the 2006 TransNow student conference and serving as fundraising coordinator for the 2005 ITE District 6 Annual Meeting. Mr. Horowitz now works for David Evans and Associates as a transportation planner on the Columbia River Crossing project. Zach's advisors were Dr. Monsere and Dr. Bertini. | ||||
 ITS Lab Celebrates Successful End of Fall 2008 • December 2008 Despite a major snowstorm, the ITS Lab students and faculty gathered on December 20, 2008 to celebrate the end of a successful Fall term. A group of about 20 brave travelers (by foot, bus and car) enjoyed delicious home-made pizza supplied by Tullio Bertini, father of Prof. Bertini. Other holiday goodies were also enjoyed, including some traditional Iranian treats supplied by Meead Saberi. We look forward to many future celebrations. | ||||
  Bertini Presents at 30th Annual Conference of Australian Institutes of Transport Research • December 2008 Prof. Bertini presented "Exploiting High Resolution Archived Transit Data for Improved Planning and Operations: A Portland, Oregon Case Study," co-authored with Huan Li, at the 30th Annual Conference of Australian Institutes of Transport Research (CAITR), held at the University of Western Australia in Perth, December 10-12, 2008. Bertini also moderated a session on "Travel Modelling," served as a judge for the student paper competition, and presented a summary of Portland State University's transportation research and education programs. Faculty and students from universities throughout Australia (and one from the Netherlands!) participated in CAITR, and it was an excellent opportunity to visit Western Australia, learn about ongoing research projects, and engage in active discussions. Thanks to Dr. Doina Olaru, Lecturer in the UWA Business School, for all of her efforts to organize the conference. | ||||
 Alex Bigazzi Receives Coral Sales Scholarship • December 2008 Alex Bigazzi, undergraduate research assistant, received the Coral Sales / Douglas P. Daniels Scholarship during the fall of 2008. He's pursuing a B.S. in Civil Engineering at PSU. Coral Sales Company of Milwaukie, Oregon college scholarship program began in 1987 to provide scholarships for men and women majoring in Transportation Engineering and Construction Engineering at sixteen Colleges and Universities in the Pacific Northwest. The intent of the scholarship is to support students in the transportation field who are involved in their area of study as well as the future of their communities. From left to right, Olivia Crichlow-Weick, Carolyn Vail (President), Lauren Van Bishler (Coral Sales), and Alex Bigazzi. Congratulations Alex! | ||||
  Bertini Serves as Visiting Professor at Monash University • December 2008 Prof. Bertini served as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and the Institute of Transport Studies at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, during December 2008. Bertini had the chance to work with Assoc. Prof. Geoff Rose (who is Director of the Institute of Transport Studies and also the Transport Theme Leader of the Monash Sustainability Institute), Senior Lecturer Majid Sarvi and Senior Lecturer Yibing Wang. There were also opportunities to meet with several Ph.D. students to discuss their research, as well as a visit to the regional VicRoads Traffic Control Centre, the CityLink Control Centre (toll road and tunnel) and to learn about the major upgrade to the Monash Freeway which includes comprehensive dynamic traffic management. Bertini also presented "Introduction to the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium and the Intelligent Transportation Systems Laboratory" at the weekly Transport Research Workshop. Bertini's visit also coincided with a visit by Assistant Professor Hans van Lint of the Delft University of Technology, which provided further excellent collaboration opportunities. During his visit, Monash celebrated their 50th Anniversary, and Bertini had the opportunity to meet university Vice-Chancellor and President Richard Larkins (see photo). Bertini is grateful for the excellent hospitality provided by all of the faculty and staff at Monash! | ||||
  Bertini Presents at International Developments in Dynamic Traffic Management Workshop, Monash University • December 2008 Prof. Bertini presented two topics at the International Developments in Dynamic Traffic Management Workshop, held at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia on December 1, 2008. First, he presented "Freeway Performance Before and After Installation of a Systemwide Adaptive Ramp Metering System," followed by "The Power of Archived Data and Visualization Techniques as a Platform for Improved Traffic Management." Other presentations were given by Assistant Professor Hans van Lint from the Delft University of Technology and Senior Lecturer Yibing Wang of Monash University. Thanks to Assoc. Prof. Geoff Rose and Senior Lecturer Majid Sarvi for organizing the workshop! | ||||
 Traffic Bowl Students Visit ITS Lab • November 2008 As part of the 2008 ITE Traffic Bowl events, 25 students from Oregon State University, the Oregon Institute of Technology, and the University of Idaho visit the PSU Intelligent Transportation Systems Laboratory on Friday November 21, 2008 for a tour and discussion on ongoing research projects. Dr. Monsere provided an overview of ITS lab projects and students described their work and experiences working in the lab. We appreciated the chance to meet with our fellow Northwest university students! | ||||
 ITS Lab Students Participate in the 17th Annual Oregon ITE Student Traffic Bowl Competition • November 2008 ITS Lab students participated in the social event of the year for the Oregon Section of ITE - the 17th Annual Traffic Bowl. The PSU team was made up of Alex Bigazzi, Leah Tomlinson, Rolando Melgoza, and Robert Acevedo. The team did a good job, winning the first round competing with Oregon State University and the Oregon Institute of Technology in the jeopardy-style game. Similar to last year, in the second round PSU's team tussled with University of Portland and the University of Washington. The Pilots of UP, the eventual winner, again brought the famed "Traffic Bowl" home. This year the Vikings of PSU settled for 3rd place and won a $200 prize. Congratulations to all of the winners! | ||||
  ITS Lab Students and Faculty Participate in 15th World Congress on ITS • November 2008 ITS Lab students and faculty were active participants in the 15th World Congress on Intelligent Transportation Systems, held in New York City, November 16-20, 2008. Lisa Diercksen, MS student, presented "A Second Look at the Effectiveness of the Myrtle Creek Dynamic Advanced Curve Warning System;" Jerzy Wieczorek, MS student, presented "Using Archived ITS Data to Automatically Identify Freeway Bottlenecks in Portland, Oregon;" Rafael J. Fernandez-Moctezuma, Ph.D. student, presented "Developing an Imputation Strategy for an Archived Data User Service in Portland, Oregon;" Galen McGill of the Oregon Department of Transportation presented "Accuracy in Real-Time Estimation of Travel Time," co-authored with Prof. Tufte. Prof. Robert Bertini also presented "Empirical Evaluation of Adaptive Ramp Metering Along Two Freeway Corridors in Portland, Oregon;" and "Toward Transport Payment Integration in Portland, Oregon." The World Congress is sponsored by ITS AMerica, ERTICO-ITS Europe and ITS Japan. | ||||
  FHWA staff visit ITS Lab • November 2008 Kahaa J. Rezantes, Curtis L. Jorgenson and Nathaniel Price from US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) visited the ITS Lab on November 18, 2008 and gave a presentation about internship and career opportunities with the FHWA Western Federal Land Highway Division (WFLHD) for undergraduate and graduate students in Civil Engineering and Urban Planning. Through the Student Temporary Experience Program (STEP), the WFLHD hires university students to fill short term staffing needs in highway construction. Students typically work during the summer months, the peak of construction season in the Pacific Northwest. This program is the primary mechanism for recruitment into entry-level positions within the WFLHD Project Delivery Branch. Through this program, students gain highway construction experience that complements academic study, provides an excellent opportunity for on-the-job experience, and prepares the student for future consideration for employment within the Federal Highway Administration and the transportation industry. A free pizza lunch was also provided for attendees at the beginning of the meeting. | ||||
  Chris Maciejewski and Brian Copeland from DKS visit ITS Lab • November 2008 Chris Maciejewski and Brian Copeland from DKS Associates visited the ITS Lab on November 13, 2008 and presented a summary of current projects of DKS in Portland, OR. DKS Associates is a national, employee-owned transportation planning and engineering firm providing state-of-the-art consulting services for all modes of ground transportation. About 15 students from Civil Engineering and Urban Planning departments particpated in the meeting and enjoyed a free pizza lunch from Hot Lips. They also let the ITS Lab students know about the current job/internship openings of DKS in Portland and Seattle. | ||||
 Monsere Presents PORTAL visulization techniques in FHWA Webinar • November 2008 Prof. Monsere presented about PORTAL's unique visualization capabilities during a Travel Model Improvement Program webinar on November 13, 2008 titled "Using Visualization Techniques to Communicate Transportation Planning Data". The webinar featured four interesting presentation and a virtual audience of nearly 120. A complete transcript including a PDF of the presentation can be found here | ||||
 Bertini Visits University of Illinois at Chicago • November 2008 Prof. Bertini visited the University of Illinois at Chicago on November 10, 2008 where he presented a seminar titled "Travel Time Estimation for Traffic Management and Traveler Information" at the Department of Urban Planning and Policy and Computational Transportation Science IGERT Seminar. Thanks to Prof. Kazuya Kawamura (Department of Urban Planning and Policy) who organized the visit, Bertini also had a chance to meet with Prof. Ouri Wolfson (UIC Department of Computer Science and IGERT Director), Prof. Piyushimita Thakuriah (UIC Department of Urban Planning and Policy and IGERT Co-Director). | ||||
 ITS Lab Students Visit STAR Lab at University of Washington • November 2008 As part of an ongoing tradition of exchange, ITS Lab students visited the Smart Transportation Applications and Research Laboratory (STAR Lab) at the University of Washington, Seattle during the Sixth Annual Region X TransNow Conference on November 7, 2008. Yao-Jan Wu and Yegor Malinovskiy, two of the graduate students at UW welcomed ITS Lab students and gave them some information about their current projects. The main focus of the STAR Lab research includes advanced traffic detection technologies and their applications for safer and more effective traffic operations. | ||||
  Active Participation in the Sixth Annual Region X Student Conference, University of Washington, Seattle • November 2008 Nineteen PSU students participated in the Sixth Annual Region X Student Conference at University of Washington, Seattle on November 7, 2008. Region X is a showcase for transportation research and education in the Pacific Northwest which includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska. A total of 60 students from Northwest universities participated in the 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 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. Student travel was supported by OTREC. A summary of their involvement can be found below: Presentations: 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 Posters: 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 Reevaluation 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 | ||||
  Congressman Wu Visits MCECS • October 2008 Congressman David Wu visited the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science on October 22, 2008. Hosted by Dean Dick Knight, Congressman Wu also met with Prof. Mark Weislogel, Prof. David Sailor (both from the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering) and Prof. Bertini (CEE and ITS Lab Director) to discuss ongoing research and education initiatives. Congressman Wu was accompanied by staff members Ramona Perrault and John Trull. We appreciated the opportunity to share our work with the Congressman and as always appreciate his enthusiastic interest and support! | ||||
 Monsere Presents at Oregon Transportation Safety Conference • October 2008 Prof. Monsere organized a session about putting safety data in the hands of users at the annual Oregon Transporation Safety Conference in Canyonville, OR. Monsere presented about the ITS Lab's ongoing work to develop the Oregon Traffic Safety Data Archive. The mission of the Oregon Traffic Safety Data Archive is to build the knowledge base of traffic safety data in Oregon. The archive hopes to become a valuable traffic safety data resources for researchers, practioners, and community supporters and is funded by OTREC. The session also included a presentation from Robin Ness, manager of ODOT's Crash Analysis Unit. | ||||
 Figliozzi Presents Three Papers at INFORMS Annual Conference • October 2008 Prof. Miguel Figliozzi presented three papers, "Approximations to the Average Length of Vehicle Routing Problems with Time Window Constraints," "A Route Improvement Algorithm for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Dependent Travel Times," and "Analysis of LTL Routes in Congested Urban Areas" at the national conference of the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science Annual Meeting, Washington, DC on October 11-14, 2008. He also chaired a session on Vehicle Routing. | ||||
  ITS Lab Students and Faculty Attends Group Mackenzie Open House • October 2008 On October 16, 2008 ITS Lab students and faculty attended the Group Mackenzie Open House. As a leading design firm in the Pacific Northwest, Group Mackenzie provides quality professional services, including architecture, interior design, structural engineering, landscape architecture, land use planning, transportation planning, and civil engineering. They recently renovated a historic warehouse on the east shore of the Willamette River, with a special focus on sustainability, which earned LEED Gold status. Several students and faculty from different universities in the region attended the open house, and a physical tour was also given to visitors to get known of different parts of Mackenzie's green building. Lab alum Matt Dorado works for Group Mackenzie. | ||||
 ITS Lab Students Participate in ITS Oregon Lunch Meeting • September 2008 On September 26, 2008, ITS Lab students participated in the ITS Oregon lunch meeting which was held at David Evans and Associates, Inc. In this presentation, analyst David Crout described 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 showed how they have resulted in improved service and cost savings for the agency. | ||||
 PSU Transportation Group Welcomes New Graduate Students • September 2008 Faculty in CEE welcomed new graduate students right after the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science orientation on September 25, 2008. Prof. Monsere and Prof. Bertini, from the Transportation group, participated in the meeting and welcomed new transportation graduate students. From left to right: Wei, Kristie, Ryan, Ping, Prof. Monsere, Meead and Nikki. | ||||
 ITS Lab Students and Faculty Take Field Trip to Mt. Hood • September 2008 ITS Lab students Qin Ou (Ocean) and his wife (visiting from the Netherlands) and Huan Li, along with Prof. Bertini, took a field trip on September 20, 2008. The trip included a visit to the Historic Columbia River Highway, Multnomah Falls, Bonneville Dam, Hood River, the Hood River Valley, Timberline Lodge, and Edgefield. Despite some cloudy weather some beautiful views of Mt. Hood and migrating salmon were possible. We wish Ocean and his wife well as they return to the Netherlands. | ||||
  ITS Lab Welcomes Meead Saberi and Wei Feng and Bids Farewell to Qin Ou • September 2008 On Friday September 19, 2008, the ITS Lab faculty and students welcomed two new international graduate students, Meead Saberi, and Wei Feng who just arrived in the USA! We also bid farewell to Qin Ou (Ocean) who has been visiting us from the Delft University of Technology and is returning to the Netherlands. The team celebrated with a pizza dinner. We were also very pleased that new student Kristie Gladhill also joined us along with other continuing students, Massoud Saberian from the City of Lake Oswego, faculty and CEE staff K.C. Hall and Sara Vandehey. We look forward to a great year! | ||||
 Bertini Promoted to Professor • September 2008 Robert Bertini has been promoted to tenured full Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University, effective September 16, 2008. | ||||
  Qin Ou (Ocean) Presents at TransPort Meeting • September 2008 Mr. Qin Ou (Ocean), visiting Ph.D. student from the Delft University of Technology, presented a summary of his travel time data fusion research at the monthly meeting of the TransPort ITS Advisory Committee on September 10, 2008. We appreciated the opportunity to learn about Ocean's research as well as travel time research from the Netherlands. We hope that this will lead to further collaboration between the Delft University of Technology and Portland State University. | ||||
  Umbrella Tour Visits ITS Lab • September 2008 A special PSU Umbrella Tour visited the ITS Lab on September 9, 2008, and Prof. Bertini provided a brief introduction to the lab and OTREC, while Prof. Jennifer Dill discussed the latest developments with the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI). Participants included PSU President Wim Wiewel, Foundation Board President John Petersen, Alumni Board President Jeff Austin, Metro Council President David Bragdon, PSU Assistant Vice President of University Communications Jennifer Williamson, PSU Geology Professor Scott Burns, Student Ambassador Lloyd Daggett, and PSU Faculty Senate President Robert Mercer. | ||||
 Gail Achterman Visits ITS Lab • September 2008 Gail Achterman, Director of the Institute for Natural Resources (INR) at Oregon State University (and chair of the Oregon Transportation Commission) visited the ITS Lab and OTREC for an update and to discuss possible opportunities for collaboration between INR and OTREC. We appreciate Gail's passion for transportation research and sustainability! | ||||
  Christian Treue of Dresden University of Technology Visits ITS Lab • September 2008 Christian Treue, a student in telematics at the Dresden University of Technology in Germany visited the ITS Lab on September 8, 2008. Christian was working at the Washington Department of Transportation at a summer internship and had the opportunity to visit Portland, have lunch with several STEP students, and visit the lab during an Umbrella Tour. We wish Christian the best as he returns to Germany! | ||||
 Rafael Fernandez Visits Utah Traffic Lab • August 2008 Rafael Fernandez visited the University of Utah's Traffic Lab on August 29, 2008, where he learned about Prof. Peter Martin's and Prof. Aleksandar Stevanovic's research. The Utah Traffic Lab's research areas include Intelligent Transportation Systems, Traffic Operations, and Advanced Traffic Signal Technology. We look forward to future opportunities to collaborate! | ||||
 New Portland State University President Wim Wiewel Visits ITS Lab • August 2008 The Intelligent Transportation Systems Laboratory was honored to welcome new Portland State University President Wim Wiewel (shown at right in accompanying photo) for a visit during his first week on the job on Thursday, August 28, 2008. President Wiewel was accompanied by Dean of the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science Dick Knight, and had an opportunity to briefly meet students, faculty and staff who are working on transportation research projects in the lab. We are excited to welcome President Wiewel and his family to Portland! | ||||
  Monsere Participates in TRB Highway Safety Manual Mid-Year Meeting in Irvine, CA • August 2008 Prof. Monsere participated in the mid-year meeting for the TRB Task Force for the Highway Safety Manual, ANB25T, on August 20-22, 2008. The meeting was an intensive 3-day work session reviewing the technical content of the second draft of the Highway Safety Manual. Nearly all material was approved. A third and final draft will be reviewed at the TRB Annual Meeting in January 2009 after which a final document will be delivered to AASHTO for balloting and publication. Monsere was joined at the meeting by OTREC colleagues Prof. Karen Dixon (chair of the research subcommittee, pictured right) and Prof Ida Van Schalkwyk both from Oregon State University. The meeting was held at National Academies of Sciences and Engineering's Beckman Center on the University of California Irvine campus. Prof. Monsere is a member of the committee. | ||||
  STEP Active Participants in 2008 ITE Annual Meeting and Exhibit • August 2008 STEP members attended the 2008 ITE Annual Meeting and Exhibit in Anaheim, California. Students were able to interact with professionals from all over the country and learn about case studies that were divided into four categories; traffic engineering and design, safety, planning, management and operations, and conversation circles. Members also went on a special tour of the toll lanes on California State Route 91. This congestion priced road is one of the country's few roads that generate enough revenue to fully pay all of its expenses. Dr. Christopher Monsere presented on the National Transportation Education Conference at the Current Practice in Professional Education and Training session. STEP also won the Student Chapter Web Site Award. STEP members also had the opportunity in the evenings to enjoy nearby Downtown Disneyland and Newport Beach. STEP would like to thank SALP and OTREC for their funding support. The picture on the left shows (from left to right) Dr. Christopher Monsere, Chengyu Dai, Rolando Melgoza, Huan Li, Alex Bigazzi, Lisa Diercksen, and Leah Tomlinson. | ||||
 Clackamas County Intern Day • August 2008 ITS Lab research assistants and interns from local engineering firms participated in an Introduction to Clackamas County Transportation. The event was a follow-up to the "Intern Jamboree" organized by Kittelson and Associates in July. The program highlighted Clackamas County transportation engineering projects and some of the challenges unique to the area. The group visited a recently constructed signalized intersection with video traffic monitors, and discussed intelligent transportation operations in Clackamas County. | ||||
  ITS Lab Faculty Present at NATMEC 2008 • August 2008 ITS Lab faculty made four presentations at at the North American Travel Monitoring Exhibition and Conference (NATMEC) in Washington D.C., August 6-8, 2008. Professor Monsere presented "Toward Incorporating Arterial Performance Quality in the PORTAL Archived Data User Service," "Building a WIM Data Archive for Improved Modeling, Design, and Rating" and "Techniques for Establishing and Measuring Data Quality in an Archived Data User Service." Co-authors included R.L. Bertini, K. Tufte, A. Nichols, M. Berkow and M. Wolfe. Professor Figliozzi presented "Linking Freight Planning and Real-Time Traffic Data to Monitor Freight Performance Measures," which was co-authored with K. Tufte. | ||||
  Bertini and Li Participate in Sixth International Conference on Traffic and Transportation Studies, Nanning, China, August 5-7, 2008 • August 2008 Prof. Bertini participated in the Sixth International Conference on Traffic and Transportation Studies (ICTTS 2008), held in Nanning, China, August 5-7, 2007, which is organized by the Beijing Jiaotong University. Bertini is a member of the International Scientific Committee for ICTTS, and also served as a peer reviewer for several papers. He also presented a welcome address during the morning plenary session on behalf of Prof. Kumares Sinha of Purdue University who represents the American Society of Civil Engineers. Bertini also presented a plenary address, "Leveraging Intelligent Transportation Systems Data to Improve Transportation Efficiency," and chaired session C5. Bertini presented a peer-reviewed paper co-authored with Zachary Horowitz, "Diagnosing a Freeway Bottleneck in Portland, Oregon (USA) Using Archived Sensor Data" in session C3. Master's student Huan Li presented "Optimal Bus Stop Spacing for Minimizing Transit Operation Cost," co-authored with Prof. Bertini in session B4. The papers appear in the published conference proceedings. Bertini and Li also had a chance to meet with a group of students from the Beijing Jiaotong University (right). Bertini appreciates the opportunity to develop this partnership between Beijing Jiaotong University and Portland State University, and appreciates the efforts of Prof. Baohua Mao who is the Executive Chair of the conference organizing committee. Photo at left courtesy of Joan Shen; photo at right courtesy of Zhaofeng Tian. See group photo. | ||||
  Student Researchers Participate in 2008 Intern Jamboree • August 2008 ITS Lab research assistants and graduate students participated in the 2008 Intern Jamboree organized by Kittelson and Associates, Inc., on July 30th and 31st. The intern jamboree brought together interns, research assistants, and mentors from PSU, KAI, the City of Gresham, and Clackamas County to learn more about civil engineering organizations and career paths. Discussions and activities focused on the public, private, and academic work environments and how they all interact to serve the public. Program highlights included a tour of the ITS lab, a student poster fair, a roundtable discussion, and "Road Trip" (an interactive game based on access management). Second day activities also included local high school students interested in learning more about the engineering profession. The two-day event was preceded by a "kiddie kegger" social gathering on Tuesday afternoon hosted by KAI summer interns. | ||||
 Prof. Manoj Jha of Morgan State University Visits ITS Lab • July 2008 Dr. Manoj K. Jha, P.E., Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Morgan State University visited the ITS Lab on July 28, 2008. Prof. Jha was in Portland to attend the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) Annual Meeting, in his role as the Maryland Delegate. Prof. Jha is also the Director of the Center for Advanced Transportation and Infrastructure Engineering Research at Morgan State and serves as Governor and Treasurer for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)Region 2. Prof. Jha and Prof. Bertini discussed current issues related to transportation research and education, in particular the latest status of the ASCE Body of Knowledge (BOK) and the national movement to increase the amount of education required for professional registration. | ||||
 Stefano Spaccapietra from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) Visits ITS Lab • July 2008 Prof. Stefano Spaccapietra from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) visited the ITS Lab to explore future collaborative activities with the PSU ITS Lab and the Department of Computer Science Data Lab. Prof. Spaccapietra presented "Space and Time Modeling: From Points to Trajectories" at the Computer Science Colloquium. As head of the EPFL Database Laboratory, his research focuses on data semantics issues, in particular data conceptual modeling. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Paris VI in 1978. He has been a university professor since 1983 (Dijon, France). He recently co-authored a book on conceptual modeling that sums up his findings, including spatio-temporal data modeling (MADS) and multiple representation modeling. His latest research addresses ontological support with database techniques, context-awareness in location-based systems, and hypothesis modeling. His visit was sponsored by the Department of Computer Science, OTREC and OGI. | ||||
  ITS Lab Featured on KOIN-TV • July 2008 The ITS Lab was featured in a brief story on KOIN-TV, "Is traffic easing up around town?" Prof. Bertini was interviewed by Carly Kennelly, and several lab products (PORTAL and the Portland Performance Report) were used to discuss recent changes in traffic patterns. Special thanks to Rafael Fernandez for help with PORTAL and Alex Bigazzi for preparing the PPR. | ||||
  ITS Lab Hosts workshop on developing a WIM data archive • July 2008 The ITS Lab hosted Dr. Andrew Nichols (Marshall University) (pictured left in center) and Dr. Chris Higgins (Oregon State University) for a two-day workshop focused on developing a WIM data archive. The archive is part of an OTREC sponsored research project (involving 2 national UTCs - Nichols is a PI Marshall University's Appalachian Transportation Institute ) to collect, sort, filter, and archive WIM data to permit development of long-term continuous records of high-quality WIM data and use the WIM data archive to monitor WIM sensor health, develop loads for asphalt design, load models for bridge rating and deck design, and monitor freight movement on the highway system, specifically the volume, weight, safety, and time demands. The workshop included a tour of the Woodburn POE by David McKane, ODOT Motor Carrier Investigations, Safety and Federal Programs manager. | ||||
  Bertini Participates in Symposium on the Fundamental Diagram (Greenshields 75), Woods Hole, Massachusetts • July 2008 Prof. Bertini participated in the Symposium on the Fundamental Diagram: 75 Years (Greenshields 75 Symposium) and the TRB Traffic Flow Theory and Characteristics Committee Summer Meeting, held at the J. Erik Jonsson Woods Hole Center in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, July 8-10, 2008. Bruce D. Greenshields was a traffic theory pioneer who developed the first empirical "fundamental diagram" in 1933. This symposium, a brainchild of Symposium Chair Professor Reinhart Kuehne of the University of Stuttgart and the German Aerospace Center, and Co-Chair Professor Nathan Gartner of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, celebrated the 75th Anniversary of Greenshields' accomplishment. Bertini moderated a session entitled "The Fundamental Diagram: From Theory to Practice," and also participated in the committee's summer meeting as its Secretary. Bertini also participated in a panel discussion, "Perspectives on Traffic Flow Theory: Beyond Greenshields." Further details about the symposium will be available via the Committee website. Bertini also collected some empirical data on the bicycle paths of Martha's Vineyard. | ||||
 ITS Lab Welcomes Visiting Scholar Qin Ou from Delft University of Technology • July 2008 ITS Lab faculty and students welcomed visiting scholar Qin Ou (we call him "Ocean") to the ITS Lab on Thursday July 3, 2008. Also attending was Prof. Randy Guensler, Georgia Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. student Ann Xu. Ocean will be spending the summer in Portland working on an OTREC project with Prof. Bertini as well as advancing his own ITS data fusion research. We're pleased to welcome Ocean to Portland! | ||||
  Bertini Testifies for Congressional Committee • June 2008 The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology's Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation invited Prof. Bertini to provide testimony before the subcommittee on June 24, 2008. Subcommittee Chairman David Wu (D-OR) called the hearing to review ongoing research and development related to surface transportation infrastructure. Other panelists included RITA Administrator Paul Brubaker, Caltrans Chief Deputy Director Randell Iwasaki, American Concrete Pavement Association President Gerald Voigt, and Dr. Christopher Poe from the Texas Transportation Institute. Detailed testimony and other information can be found on the committee website. Bertini's written testimony can be found here and the archived video of the entire hearing can be found here (Bertini's portion begins at 25:48). Additional photos: one two three | ||||
  Bertini Presents at 2008 Freeway and Tollway Operations Conference, Fort Lauderdale, Florida • June 2008 Prof. Bertini presented "Empirical Evaluation of Oregon's System-wide Adaptive Ramp Metering System" at the 2008 2008 Freeway and Tollway Operations Conference, held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, June 15-18, 2008. The paper was co-authored with graduate student Oren Eshel and Prof. Christopher Monsere. Bertini also had a chance to meet with many other colleagues working on freeway operations, including Prof. Yinhai Wang, University of Washington, and Prof. Mohammed Hadi, Florida International University (shown at right). | ||||
 ITS Lab Students and Faculty Participate in PSU Commencement • June 2008 Portland State University's Commencement awarded 4,738 degrees for the 2007-08 academic year, including 3,200 bachelor's degrees, 1,485 master's degrees and 53 doctoral degrees. The ceremonies took place on Saturday, June 14, at 10 a.m. in Portland's Rose Garden Arena. Nearly 1,700 grads were on hand to receive degrees, with 12,000 friends and family in attendance. ITS Lab students Chengyu Dai (shown here with Prof. Monsere and Bertini) and Zachary Horowitz received B.S. and M.S. degrees respectively. This year's graduates represented 136 towns and cities in Oregon, 41 states and 47 countries from around the world. The youngest graduate was 17, and the oldest was 65. Women represented 59 percent of this year's grads. The top undergraduate majors are business administration, arts and letters, psychology, social science, speech communication and English. | ||||
 ITS Lab Students Initiated into Chi Epsilon Oregon Alpha Chapter • June 2008 ITS Lab Students Heba Alwakiel, Alex Bigazzi, Josh Crain, and Lisa Dierksen and were initiated into the founding class of the newly installed Oregon Alpha chapter of the Chi Epsilon National Civil Engineering Honor Society at Portland State University. The PSU chapter is the first chapter of the Chi Epsilon to be established in Oregon. Chi Epsilon was organized to recognize the characteristics of the individual civil engineer deemed to be fundamental to the successful pursuit of an engineering career, and to aid in the development of those characteristics in the civil engineering student. Currently and there are 123 active chapters at major engineering universities throughout the United States. Congratulations to all and special thanks to chapter advisor Prof. Chris Monsere! | ||||
  ITS Lab Releases 2007 Portland Performance Report • June 2008 The PSU ITS Lab and colleagues recently released the latest annual Portland Performance Report. To view the report, click here. This report summarizes various measures of how the metropolitan transportation system is performing, both individually and in comparison to other similar-sized cities. On regional and state-wide scales, the report shows trends and comparisons of congestion, gas prices, vehicle travel, alternative transport modes, freight, safety, and more. | ||||
 Figliozzi Wins Best Paper Award at International Conference on Applications of Advanced Technologies in Transportation • May 2008 Prof. Figliozzi participated in the 10th International Conference on Applications of Advanced Technologies in Transportation (AATT), held in Athens, Greece, May 28-30, 2008. Figliozzi presented a peer reviewed paper: "An Iterative Route Construction and Improvement Algorithm for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Soft and Hard Time Windows," which was selected for the conference Best Paper Award in the transportation planning category. The paper appears in the conference proceedings. Figliozzi also chaired session "INTER-4" during the conference. Congratulations to Prof. Figliozzi for this great honor (pictured with conference chairs Prof. Matthew Karlaftis and Prof. Samer Madanat). | ||||
  Bertini Participates in International Conference on Applications of Advanced Technologies in Transportation • May 2008 Prof. Bertini participated in the 10th International Conference on Applications of Advanced Technologies in Transportation (AATT), held in Athens, Greece, May 28-30, 2008. Bertini presented two peer reviewed papers: "Toward an Automated Incident Analysis Process Using Archived Data on the Portland Oregon Freeway System," co-authored with Suman Tasnim and Christopher Monsere; and "Using Archived Data to Systematically Identify and Prioritize Freeway Bottlenecks," co-authored with Huan Li, Jerzy Wieczorek and Rafael Fernandez. Both papers appear in the conference proceedings. Bertini also chaired session "TRAF-4" during the conference, and had a chance to travel by bicycle on some Greek roadways. | ||||
 Visiting Scholar Heiko Jentsch Gives Seminar in ITS Lab • May 2008 Visiting scholar Heiko Jentsch from the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, gave a seminar for ITS lab faculty and students on Friday May 23, 2008. Heiko spent three weeks with us and is heading to Seattle next before he returns to Germany. We wish him well and hope we can stay in touch and find additional ways to collaborate with him and his advisor, Professor Manfred Boltze, in the future! | ||||
 Professor Laurent Sass of the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador Visits ITS Lab • May 2008 Professor Laurent Sass, Director of the Mechanical Engineering Department in the Polytechnic College of the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador Visited the ITS Lab on May 22 to discuss an ongoing partnership with the Oregon University System. We will explore ways to encourage student exchange in the transportation area and look forward to finding ways to work together in the future! | ||||
  ITS Lab Welcomes Prospective Students at First Annual Engineering Discovery Showcase • May 2008 The Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science held the first annual Engineering Discovery Showcase on Friday May 19, 2008, and ITS lab students and faculty were active participants! Students staffed a STEP table and Dr. Monsere led tours of the ITS lab. The Discovery Showcase is designed to be a fun, hands-on, interactive event for prospective freshman and transfer students. This was a great opportunity to meet PSU's engineering and computer science faculty and students, learn about the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science Degree Programs, engage in interactive lab tours and learn about innovative research opportunities, and discover student life and the many project opportunities for hands-on design and research. Thanks to all who participated! | ||||
 ITS Lab Welcomes Visiting Scholar Heiko Jentsch from Darmstadt, Germany • May 2008 The ITS Lab faculty and students welcomed Heiko Jentsch, a Ph.D. student at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, to Portland as a visiting scholar. Heiko (shown third from right in photo) is spending time in Portland and Seattle as a part of his Ph.D. dissertation project, "Design of an Integrated Quality Management System for Urban Transportation." Heiko works under Prof. Manfred Boltze, who is the Chair of Transport Planning and Traffic Engineering at TU Darmstadt. His project is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, the German Research Foundation). We hope this will be the beginning of a strong collaboration between PSU and TU Darmstadt! | ||||
  USDOT Research and Innovative Technology Administation Leadership Visits ITS Lab • May 2008 On May 1, 2008, Paul Brubaker, Administrator of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) visited the ITS Lab as part of a site visit to the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC). Accompanying Administrator Brubaker was Tom Marchessault, UTC Liaison for RITA. Students and faculty had the opportunity to present their ongoing research, and graduate student Lisa Diercksen introduced Matthew Garrett, Director of the Oregon Department of Transportation, who in turn introduced Administrator Brubaker to an audience of faculty, students and external partners. | ||||
  ITS Lab Students Participate in 2008 CITE District and Quad Regional Conference • April 2008 ITS Lab students and faculty were active participants in the 2008 Canadian Institute of Transportation Engineers (CITE) District and Quad Regional Conference, held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, April 27-30, 2008. The "Quad Conference" is an annual regional conference jointly sponsored by the Vancouver Island, Greater Vancouver, Washington and Oregon Sections of ITE, and the ITS Lab has a strong tradition in participating in this great regional event. This year, the combined conference with the CITE event made it even more worthwhile. Graduate students Michael Wolfe presented "Using Automatic Vehicle Location Data to Determine Detector Placement," Priya Chavan presented "Use of Archived ITS Data As a Potential Management Tool to Evaluate Traveler Information on Dynamic Message Signs," and Jerzy Wieczorek presented "Bottleneck Identification and Forecasting in Traveler Information Systems." Other students Huan Li, Lisa Diercksen, and Leah Tomlinson, and Prof. Bertini also attended. Bertini joined 40 other attendees for an afternoon bicycle tour of Victoria's impressive cycling infrastructure. | ||||
 ITS Lab Hosts Computer Science Faculty • April 2008 Professors Bertini (CEE and USP) and Black (CS) co-hosted a collaboration meeting between ITS Lab researchers and Computer Science faculty. A brief introduction of the existing strong ties between CS and the ITS Lab was followed by an update on the research efforts of ITS Lab faculty. Thanks to all who participated and we look forward to future joint work together! | ||||
 Monsere Visits University of Washington • April 2008 Professor Monsere presented "Safety Effects of Lighting Reductions for Energy Conservation" to the University of Washington's CEE 500 Transportation and Construction Seminar. Monsere was invited by Professor Yinhai Wang who also hosted Monsere for a tour of the STAR Lab. Professor Wang's lab is doing impressive work! | ||||
| Figliozzi Appointed to National Academies' Freight Cooperative Research Program Panel • April 2008 Professor Miguel Figliozzi was appointed to a National Academies' Freight Cooperative Research Program panel that focuses on urban freight and logistics problems. Figliozzi was appointed by the Transportation Research Board, and as a panel member, he will help provide technical guidance and counsel throughout the life of the project. The panel will prepare project statements and select the project contractor based on evaluation of the proposals received. Project review and guidance is anticipated to continue until 2011. | ||||
 Sirisha Kothuri and Lisa Diercksen Win Eisenhower Graduate Fellowships • April 2008 ITS Lab graduate students Sirisha Kothuri (Ph.D. student) and Lisa Diercksen (M.S. student) were recently notified that they have been selected to receive 2008 Dwight D. Eisenhower Graduate Fellowships from the U.S. Department of Transportation! Congratulations to Sirisha and Lisa! | ||||
 Bertini Quoted in Daily Journal of Commerce • April 2008 Prof. Bertini was quoted in the Daily Journal of Commerce (see article), which discussed the ITS Lab's travel time related research and and described the value of improving travel time estimation capabilities for reducing congestion and improving freight mobility. | ||||
 Bertini Delivers Center for Transportation Studies' 200th Transportation Seminar • April 2008 Prof. Bertini was the speaker at the Center for Transportation Studies 200th Transportation Seminar on Friday, April 4, 2008. With the title "Travel Time Estimation for Traffic Management and Traveler Information," Bertini discussed advances in travel time measurement and estimation, with a review of previous work done by PSU's ITS lab over the last several years. Regarding the Seminar series, Bertini commented on the fact that he had given the first seminar in this series back in October 2000, and that now there are 145 archived seminars available for free download or streaming, plus 30 podcasts available through Itunes from the most recent seminars. We look forward to the next 200 seminars! | ||||
 Julie Tippens from Congressman Wu's Staff Visits ITS Lab • March 2008 Julie Tippens, Congressman David Wu's chief of staff, visited the ITS Lab on March 26, 2008. Julie met with Prof. Bertini to discuss ongoing research projects and for an update on the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium. Despite the fact that it was spring break, Julie also met with graduate students Oren Eshel, Huan Li, Michael Wolfe and Jerzy Wieczorek to discuss their research projects. We appreciated Julie's visit! | ||||
 Bertini Appointed to National Academies' Transit Cooperative Research Program Panel • March 2008 Prof. Bertini has been appointed to the National Academies' Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Panel H-39, which focuses on "Methodology for Determining the Economic Development Impacts of Transit Investments." Bertini was appointed by the Transportation Research Board, and as a panel member, he will help provide technical guidance and counsel throughout the life of the project. The panel will prepare project statements and select the project contractor based on evaluation of the proposals received. It is anticipated that this exciting project will continue through 2010. | ||||
 ITS Lab Winter Snowshoe • March 2008 In preparation for the end of the winter quarter, ITS Lab faculty and students snowshoed 2.5 miles to Lower Twin Lake, just off the PCT in the Mt. Hood National forest. After a wet start, the day turned gorgeous. More pictures of the hike can be found here | ||||
 Monsere Appointed to Oregon Highway Cost Allocation Study Review Team • March 2008 Professor Monsere was appointed to the Oregon Highway Cost Allocation Study Review Team by State Economist Tom Potiowsky. Conducted every two years (the first in 1937), the Highway Cost Allocation Study reviews cost responsibilities for highway construction and maintenance to determine changes in weight-mile and fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees. More information and past studies can be found at the the Office of Economic Analysis web page. | ||||
  Bertini Participates in Traffic and Transport 2030 Workshop, Darmstadt, Germany • February 2008 Prof. Bertini participated in the Traffic and Transport 2030 International Workshop and Congress held at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, February 27-29, 2008. Invited by Prof. Manfred Boltze, Bertini served as a member of several working groups, including one on Traffic Management and Traffic Engineering, which aimed to articulate important developments in the field between now and the year 2030. The international participants included representatives from China, India, Tanzania, Vietnam, many European countries and the U.S. It is hoped that this represents a potentially growing cooperation between Portland State and TU Darmstadt. The event also included a day-long Congress, and technical tours to the Verkehrszentrale Hessen (the Traffic Control Centre of the State of Hessen seen here), the Integrierte Gesamtverkehrs-Leitzentrale der Stadt Frankfurt/Main (Integrated Traffic Control Centre of the City of Frankfurt/Main) and the Deutsche Flugsicherung Langen (German Air Traffic Control Centre). | ||||
  Bertini Visits BMW Group, Munich, Germany • February 2008 Prof. Bertini visited the BMW Group in Munich, Germany, as part of the partnership between the ITS Lab and BMW. Bertini presented "The BMW Group and Portland State University Partnership: History and Outlook." Special thanks to Dr. Heidrun Belzner for hosting the visit. Bertini also had a chance to visit the new BMW Welt and travel by bicycle through the city, using its extensive bike lane network and also riding through the Englischer Garten, one of the world's largest urban parks. | ||||
 ITS Lab Students Participate in MCECS Design Competition • February 2008 ITS lab students, Chengyu Dai, Enas Fayed and Leah Tomlinson participated in the PSU 2008 Design Competition to help kids see what Engineering is all about. The interactive showcase involved middle and high school students designing vehicles, bridges, mouse traps, edible cars, egg drops and trebuchets. | ||||
 ITS Lab Students Receive ITS Oregon Scholarships • February 2008 ITS Oregon, the Oregon chapter of ITS America, recently awarded $500 scholarships to three ITS lab students: Huan Li, Lisa Diercksen, and Rafael Fernandez. The scholarships were also co-sponsored by Athey Creek Consultants. You can read more about the scholarship and our great recipients by viewing the ITS Oregon website. Congratulations to the winners! | ||||
 ITS Lab Participates in the Northwest Transportation Conference • February 2008 Faculty from the ITS Lab participated in the 2008 Northwest Transportation Conference (NWTC) held at the Oregon State University. The conference, hosted by ODOT, had the theme "Making the Most of What We Have." Professor Tufte presented about her work in travel time reliability. Dr. Figliozzi participated in a round table discussion on how all modes of the freight system are working together. Lastly, Dr. Monsere presented "Taking the City of Portland's High Crash Intersection Identification to the Next Level". | ||||
  Congressman David Wu's Staff Members Visit ITS Lab • February 2008 The ITS Lab and OTREC were pleased to welcome staff members from Congressman David Wu's office this morning for a lab tour and research update. Staffers visiting included Ramona Perrault (Portland), Joan Whiting (DC), Randy Broz (DC), and Rachel Jagoda-Brunette (DC-Science Committee Staff). Prof. Bertini, Monsere and Figliozzi, along with many students, discussed ongoing projects, progress and prospects for the future with the staff members who were spending part of the morning visiting the PSU campus. We all thank Ramona, Joan, Randy and Rachel for their visit! | ||||
 Monsere Publishes Article in Transportation Research Record • January 2008 Prof. Monsere published "Online Tool for Delivering Research Results: Update to Oregon Department of Transportation Database of Crash Reduction Factors" in the Transportation Research Record, Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2009, pp. 113-120. Co-authors include Aaron Breakstone of Metro, Robert L. Bertini, and Douglas W. Bish of the Oregon Department of Transportation. | ||||
  Active Participation in the Transportation Research Board's 87th Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C. • January 2008 Students and faculty from the Intelligent Transportation Systems Lab were very active at the Transportation Research Board's 87th Annual Meeting, held January 13-17, 2008 in Washington, D.C. Students and faculty presented a total of 15 peer-reviewed papers, and participated in committee meetings and other activities. Student travel was supported by OTREC. A full summary of our involvement can be found below:
In addition, a group of students representing the Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning (STEP) chapter attended, including:
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 Oren Eshel Named OTREC Student of the Year • January 2008 Oren Eshel, a second year Master of Urban and Regional Planning student, and graduate research assistant in the ITS Lab, was named OTREC Student of the Year for 2007-08. Oren received this award (including $1,000 plus his trip to TRB) at the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC) Banquet prior to the 87th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board on January 12, 2008 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. Oren was selected based on his high academic qualifications, for his work as a research assistant on the evaluation of ODOT's SWARM ramp metering system, and for being a student leader. Oren is serving as President of the PSU transportation student group and ITE chapter (STEP) and also coordinated the Fifth Annual TransNow Student Conference, which attracted over 70 students from across the region during the fall of 2007. Congratulations Oren!! | ||||
 Monsere Appointed to Journal of Comprehensive Transportation Safety Editorial Board • January 2008 Prof. Monsere was recently appointed to the Editorial Board for the newly launched Journal of Comprehensive Transportation Safety. The journal is sponsored by the Southeastern Transportation Center (STC) and is a peer-reviewed, academic-based journal. The Southeastern Transportation Center (STC), a consortium of 10 universities from five states in DOT region IV, is chartered under the theme of "Transportation Safety." | ||||
 Bertini Appointed to Journal of Transportation Systems Engineering and Information Technology Editorial Board • December 2007 Prof. Bertini has been appointed to the international editorial advisory board of the Journal of Transportation Systems Engineering and Information Technology. Originated in 2001, the journal is sponsored by the Systems Engineering Society of China and published bimonthly by Science Press in Beijing, China. The scope of the journal includes decision-making and policy analysis in transport systems, planning, design and construction of integrated transport systems, intelligent transportation systems and information technology, applications of systems engineering theory and methodology in transportation, and case studies of transport modeling and simulation technologies. | ||||
 Josh Crain Receives Coral Sales Scholarship • December 2007 Josh Crain, undergraduate research assistant, received the Coral Sales scholarship during the fall of 2007. Congratulations Josh! | ||||
 Figliozzi Presents at National Urban Freight Conference • December 2007 Prof. Figliozzi presented two reviewed papers at the technical sessions of the 2nd Annual National Urban Freight Conference 2007 in Long Beach, California: "The Impacts of Congestion on Commercial Vehicle Tours Characteristics and Costs," and "Analysis of Freight Tours in a Congested Urban Area Using Disaggregated Data: Characteristics and Data Collection Challenges" (with L. Kingdon, and A. Wilkitzki). These two papers appear in the conference proceedings. For full pdf go to Prof. Figliozzi's website. | ||||
  ITS Lab Students Organize and Participate in Fifth Annual TransNow Student Conference at PSU • November 2007 Over 60 students from eight universities around the northwest visited PSU on November 16 to participate in the Fifth Annual TransNow Student Conference, a transportation research conference organized by and for students. Following a welcome breakfast, a panel consisting of representatives from TriMet, CH2M Hill, Port of Portland and Kittelson and Associates discussed "big picture" transportation issues with students. Ten students gave presentations about research or practice, and many of the students presented posters. The conference concluded with a keynote address from Professor Brian Taylor from UCLA on the topic of "Rethinking Congestion." Special thanks to graduate student Oren Eshel, who led the conference organization and did an outstanding job. | ||||
 ITS Lab Students Participate in Oregon ITE's Traffic Bowl • November 2007 ITS Lab students participated in the social event of the year for the Oregon Section of ITE - the Traffic Bowl. PSU's team tussled with University of Portland and the University of Washington in the jeopardy-style game but came up on the short end, finishing with 800 points and losing to the eventually winner -- the Pilots of UP. The team didn't get a ruling on a traffic flow theory question to go their way but did correctly answer a question about Orchard Field (the predecessor to Chicago O'Hare). Students from the University of Idaho, Oregon State University, and Oregon Institute of Technology also participated. | ||||
 OSU ITS Students Visit ITS Lab • November 2007 Graduate students in Dr. Kate Hunter-Zaworski's ITS class visited the ITS Lab as part of their tour of Portland's ITS infrastructure. Students shared lunch with PSU's transportation in the ITS Lab then listened to a presentation from Dr. Monsere on the lab research projects. OSU students also visited ODOT's Region 1 TMOC and the City of Portland's operations center. | ||||
 Majid Sarvi Visits ITS Lab • November 2007 Dr. Majid Sarvi from the Department of Civil Engineering and Institute of Transport Studies, Monash University, Australia visited the ITS Lab and presented a special seminar titled "Development of a Framework for Roadspace Reallocation in Relation to Transit Priority". Students and faculty appreciated Dr. Sarvi making time to visit us while on other business in Portland. | ||||
 Figliozzi Presents at INFORMS Meeting in Seattle • November 2007 Prof. Figliozzi presented his research on "Planning Approximations to the Average Length of Vehicle Routing Problems" at one of the sessions sponsored by the Transportation and Logistics Society of the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences (INFORMS). The 2007 INFORMS annual meeting took place in Seattle from November 4-8. | ||||
  RITA Staff Visit ITS Lab as Part of OTREC Site Visit • November 2007 Robin Kline, Amy Stearns and Lydia Mercado from the USDOT Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) visited the ITS Lab and met with students on November 5 during their OTREC site visit. Also shown is Satvinder Sandhu, Federal Highway Administration, who is a member of the OTREC Executive Committee. | ||||
 FHWA Oregon Division Administrator Visits ITS Lab • November 2007 The new Federal Highway Administration Oregon Division Administrator Phillip Ditzler visited the ITS Lab on November 1, 2007. Along with Nathaniel Price and Satvinder Sandhu of the Oregon Division and Amit Armstrong of the FHWA Federal Lands office in Vancouver, Mr. Ditzler discussed the status and activities of the ITS Lab as they relate to FHWA initiatives. We appreciate the support of the Oregon Division and look forward to continuing our strong relationship. | ||||
  Nissan Officials Visit Lab • October 2007 Three officials from Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. visited the ITS Lab on October 31, 2007. Mr. Nobuo Okubo, Senior Advisor to the Board (Technology), Ryogo Takagi, Manager of Technology Planning and Assistant to Mr. Okubo, and Hayato Akizuki, Director, Technology Planning, visited the lab and met with Jon Makler of Metro and Dennis Mitchell of ODOT to discuss technology applications in Portland and Oregon. The guests were welcomed to PSU by Interim President Michael Reardon and Vice Provost for Research William Feyerherm. They had an opportunity to ride light rail, TriMet's bus system, and ended the day with a ride on the Portland Streetcar and Portland Aerial Tram. | ||||
 Figliozzi Participates in RITA/TRB • October 2007 Prof. Figliozzi has participated in the workshops of the "Research Issues in Freight Transportation: Congestion and System Performance" meeting. The meeting was organized by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and supported by Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) as one of the annual spotlight conferences. | ||||
 Monsere Presents to ASCE Capital Branch • October 2007 Prof. Monsere was invited to present about the ITS Lab's current research activities to the ASCE Capital Branch in Salem, Oregon. Following lunch at Kwan's, Monsere highlighted four lab projects "Evaluation of SWARM Ramp Metering Algorithm", "Arterial Performance Measurement", "Update on Crash Reduction Factors Database" and "Using Existing ITS Commercial Vehicle Operation (ITS/CVO) Data to Develop Truck Travel Time Estimates and Other Freight Measures". | ||||
  Bertini Participates in Fourteenth World Congress on ITS, Beijing, China • October 2007 Prof. Bertini was an active participant in the Fourteenth World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, in Beijing, China, October 9-13, 2007. Bertini presented two reviewed papers at technical sessions: "Regional Collaboration: A Model for Successful ITS Implementation in Portland, Oregon," (co-authored with Jon Makler and Max Coffman), and "Building Planning and Operations Analysis Tools on an Archived ITS Data Platform: Who Are the Users?" These two papers appear in the conference proceedings. Bertini also chaired a technical session on ITS Interoperability and Integration. Further, Bertini participated in a Special Session on ITS in Cities (Benchmarking) organized by Transport for London, where he presented "State of ITS Benchmarking in Portland, Oregon and the U.S." He also had the opportunity to travel by bicycle several times in Beijing, which were very interesting experiences! There were many streets with very wide and smooth bike lanes, numerous special bike signals (with left turn waiting areas marked in the intersection), and it is believed that Bertini was the only person using a helmet on that particular day in Beijing. "TEST" | ||||
  Bertini Delivers Invited Lecture at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China • October 2007 Prof. Bertini recently visited the Institute of Systems Engineering, Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, in Beijing, China on October 12, 2007. Tsinghua is the top engineering university in China. Thanks to the generous hospitality of Prof. Jianming Hu, Bertini presented an invited lecture "Unlocking the Mysteries of Freeway Sensor Data to Diagnose Detailed Bottleneck Dynamics." He also had the chance to meet with several students (Yudong Chen and Ye Tian), along with Prof. Wen-Long Jin of the University of Science and Technology of China and Dr. Lianyu Chu of the U.C. Berkeley California Center for Innovative Transportation. | ||||
 Acknowledgment of Support for ITS Lab Development • October 2007 A new public acknowledgment of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration ITS Integration Program, the Oregon Department of Transportation, and the TransPort ITS Coordinating Committee will be posted outside the PSU transportation laboratories in the new Northwest Center for Engineering Science and Technology (NWCEST). We are very pleased to acknowledge the strong support of our colleagues and collaborators at FHWA, ODOT, and the many partners who comprise the TransPort Committee. Thank you all!! | ||||
  Costantinos Antoniou Visits ITS Lab • October 2007 Constantinos Antoniou, from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, visited the ITS Lab on October 5, 2007, and also presented a seminar On-line Calibration for Dynamic Traffic Assignment at the Center for Transportation Studies (CTS) Friday Seminar. We appreciated Dr. Antoniou's visit and enjoyed the chance to learn more about his research. | ||||
  ITS Lab Team Active at IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference • October 2007 ITS Lab students and faculty were very active at the 10th International IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference (ITSC) held in Seattle, Washington, September 30-October 3, 2007. Rafael Fernandez-Moctezuma presented "Toward Management and Imputation of Unavailable Data in Online Advanced Traveler Information Systems," (co-authors Kristin Tufte, David Maier and Robert Bertini) and Michael Wolfe presented "Improving Arterial Performance Measurement Using Traffic Signal System Data" (co-authors Christopher Monsere, Peter Koonce and Robert Bertini). Prof. Bertini presented "Toward Optimal Sensor Density for Improved Freeway Travel Time Estimation and Traveler Information" and "Lessons from Developing an Archived Data User Service in Portland, Oregon: Who Is Using It?" (co-authors Sirisha Kothuri and Jonathan Makler). The four peer-reviewed papers appear in the conference proceedings. Prof. Bertini had also served on the International Program Committee and chaired the session "Traffic Information and Guidance--Sensors." | ||||
 Fall 2007 ITS Lab Team Meets • September 2007 The fall 2007 ITS Lab team met for the first organizational meeting on Thursday, September 27, 2007. We look forward to a great, productive and fun fall term! Welcome to all new and continuing members! | ||||
 Prof. Miguel Figliozzi Joins ITS Lab and CEE as Assistant Professor • September 2007 After a rigorous international search, Dr. Miguel Figliozzi has joined the PSU Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the ITS Lab as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Figliozzi specializes in freight and logistics, and holds a Ph.D. in transportation engineering from the University of Maryland, and before joining us at PSU served as a Senior Lecturer in Logistics Management at the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Sydney, Australia. We are very excited to have Prof. Figliozzi join us and expand our work in the area of freight transportation. Welcome, Dr. Figliozzi! | ||||
 Prof. John Gliebe Joins ITS Lab as Affiliated Faculty Member • September 2007 Prof. John Gliebe, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University has joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the ITS Lab as an affiliated faculty member. We are very pleased to have Dr. Gliebe take this step toward deeper collaboration with our students and faculty. Congratulations and welcome, Dr. Gliebe! | ||||
 ITS Lab Summer Hike • September 2007 Members of the ITS Lab celebrated a successful summer by taking a great hike along the Salmon River (see detailed description. The weather was beautiful and everyone had a great day. | ||||
 Bertini Testifies at Portland City Council • September 2007 Prof. Bertini testified at the Portland City Council meeting today in support of a resolution celebrating the life of Debbie Murdock and her impact on the City of Portland and Portland State University. Bertini joined student Hannah Fish, alum John Wykoff, State Senator Kate Brown, and Gretchen Kafouri in testifying in support of the resolution. | ||||
  University of Washington Colleagues Visit ITS Lab • September 2007 Our great colleagues Prof. Yinhai Wang and graduate student Patikhom Cheevarunothai from the STAR Lab at the University of Washington (see www.uwstarlab.org visited the ITS Lab and also worked with Prof. Bertini and Dr. Tufte to identify and improve several Oregon Department of Transportation loop detector controller stations on northbound I-5. The PSU ITS Lab team really appreciates the chance to work with our colleagues at the University of Washington! | ||||
 ITS Lab Faculty Present to Oregon Transportation Commission • September 2007 ITS Lab faculty member Prof. Bertini was honored to have the opportunity to participate in a workshop with the Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC) discussing the status of statewide system operations projects and programs. Bertini, with the input and participation of Prof. Monsere and students Oren Eshel and Li Huan, updated the OTC on the Systemwide Adaptive Ramp Metering (SWARM) Evaluation funded by ODOT Research, and the evaluation of the City of Gresham's Adaptive Signal Control System, funded by the FHWA ITS Evaluation Program. The Gresham project is being done in partnership with DKS Associates (Jim Peters and Steven Boice) and the City of Gresham (Jay McCoy). Galen McGill of ODOT's ITS Unit invited the lab staff to participate. | ||||
 Monsere Participates in TRB Highway Safety Manual Mid-Year Meeting in Irvine, CA • August 2007 Prof. Monsere participated in the mid-year meeting for the TRB Task Force for the Highway Safety Manual, ANB25T, on August 20-22, 2007. The meeting included presentations, working sessions, sub-committee work, and social events at the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering's Beckman Center on the University of California Irvine campus. Prof. Monsere is a member of the committee. | ||||
 ITS Lab Mourns Passing of Debbie Murdock • August 2007 The ITS Lab faculty and students were saddened to learn of the death of the PSU Special Assistant to the President for Strategic Planning, Public Policy and Government Relations Debbie Murdock, at age 52 (shown at left while completing the 2006 Bridge Pedal with Debbie Kirkland and Robert Bertini). Debbie was passionate about students, PSU, public service, politics, and transportation (even ITS!) and was instrumental in the development of the ITS Lab through several Congressional earmarks, and for the creation of the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC). We will miss her energy, enthusiasm, passion, optimism, support, and friendship deeply. As Chancellor Pernsteiner said, "she made us believe in ourselves much more than we did ourselves." In recognition of Debbie's passion for students and their success, the PSU Foundation has established a Debbie Murdock Scholarship (see foundation website and be sure to denote the Debbie Murdock Scholarship for your gift). There will be a campus memorial service at 3 pm in the SMSU Ballroom on Sunday, September 23 to celebrate Debbie's life and her impact on PSU and the broader community. | ||||
 Allison Dane from Congressman DeFazio's Office Visits ITS Lab and OTREC • August 2007 Allison Dane, staff member from Congressman Peter DeFazio's office, and specializing in work with the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, visited Portland State University on August 13, 2007 for an update on transportation research conducted in the ITS Lab, at PSU and within the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC). PSU faculty, including Professors Bertini, Dusicka, Smith, Tufte and Maier discussed their ongoing research efforts. Prof. Higgins from OSU, and Betsy Boyd from UO, plus OTREC staff (Hau Hagedorn, Jenny Kincaid and Rie Anderson) also participated in the meeting. | ||||
  Coral Sales Visits the ITS Lab • August 2007 Carolyn Vail, President of Coral Sales Company, and Mitch Moffett, ITS Regional Manager at Coral Sales Company, visited the ITS Lab to learn about existing projects and activities. Coral Sales and founder Doug Daniels are strong supporters of PSU and the ITS Lab. Coral Sales is the sponsor of the Transportation and GIS Lab space. Coral Sales is based in Milwaukie, Oregon, and supplies highway safety hardware and intelligent transportation system equipment to the transportation industry throughout the Pacific Northwest. | ||||
 High School Students from FUSE Project Visit ITS Lab • August 2007 A team of high school students from the PSU Feedbacks Between Urban Systems and the Environment (FUSE) project summer institute visited the ITS Lab on Friday August 3, 2007. The institute participants are visiting PSU's various labs as they learn various aspects of meteorological and air quality measurements and contribute meaningful measurements to the overall FUSE research endeavor. They also learn how to use important analysis tools including Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and remotely-sensed satellite data. Prof. Bertini and ITS Lab students were pleased to host this tour. | ||||
  Bertini Visits Dublin, Ireland • July 2007 Prof. Bertini visited Dublin, Ireland recently including the city center with its new exclusive bus lanes, the Dublin Bus (1,125 of their fleet of 1,199 buses are double decker), and their Luas tram (light rail) system. Visits to Trinity College (at left), University College Dublin (UCD) and Killiney (photo at right at Killiney Bay) were highlights. Interestingly, UCD has a bike shop where one can rent bikes for single or multiple day touring around Ireland. It was great to see the university linked to bicycle transport in that way. Also a highlight was the two hour bike tour of central Dublin's sights (something that Portland should have!). One other thing was that cars can park facing either direction on both sides of the street--this was very confusing for my "right side of the road" brain when trying to stick to the left side of the road! | ||||
  Bertini Participates in International Symposium on Traffic and Transportation Theory in London • July 2007 Prof. Bertini participated in the 17th International Symposium on Traffic and Transportation Theory (ISTTT) held in London, and organized by Imperial College London and University College London. Led by convenor Prof. Carlos Daganzo (shown at left with Bertini and Prof. Michael Cassidy in the British Parliament at the New Palace of Westminster), the ISTTT is the main gathering for the world's transportation and traffic theorists, and those who are interested in contributing to or gaining a deeper understanding of the field. London is also a fascinating place to observe transportation phenomena--with its congestion charging scheme, underground and extensive bus system. It is interesting to note that the average commute for a Londoner is 60 minutes (almost three times the Portland average). There is also a great Thames river path that connects London with Greenwich (see photo at Tower Bridge at right). | ||||
 Bertini Joins Tour of Tomorrow 40 Mile Regional Bike Ride • July 2007 Prof. Bertini participated in the "Tour of Tomorrow, a Bi-State Bicycle Ride" on July 20, 2007. This year's 40-mile route attracted over 100 riders (including new PSU IBPI director Lynn Weigandt and adjunct faculty Mia Birk, pictured with Bertini at left) and traveled from the Sellwood Bridge and north well into Vancouver, including crossings of the Interstate and Steel Bridges. According to ride organizers, the goal this year was to, "explore ways to connect the bi-state metropolitan region with the emerging network of state-sponsored trails in Oregon and Washington. The ride is about creating a shared vision for a regional bicycle route network that is a part of the Portland-Vancouver parks and trails system." Lunch was held at the Pearson Airfield museum in Washington and other highlights included the Burnt Creek Bridge, the Peninsula Crossing Trail, and the South Waterfront. Just to be safe, the organizers even arranged for a full police escort over the Sellwood Bridge! | ||||
  Active Participation in the ITE District 6 Annual Meeting in Portland • July 2007 Students and faculty from Portland State University, OTREC, and the Intelligent Transportation Systems Laboratory were very active at the recent Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) District 6 Annual Meeting, covering 13 western states, and held in Portland from July 15-18, 2007. An inventory of our involvement includes: Local Arrangements Committee: Dr. Chris Monsere led the development of the Website, Publicity and Technical Paper Review as part of the local arrangements committee. Technical Tour: The ITS Lab hosted more than 40 conference attendees at a technical tour of the ITS Lab on Monday, July 16, 2007. Speakers:
Posters:
Moderators: Four faculty and staff served as session moderators.
Booths: Jenny Kincaid of OTREC and the Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning had booths in the vendor display area, and actively publicized PSU education opportunities and OTREC research, education and technology transfer activities. Awards: students, faculty and partners received four awards!
Special thanks to Peter Koonce, LAC Chair, of Kittelson and Associates, Inc., for making the conference so accessible to students. The next District 6 Annual Meeting will be held in Anaheim, California in 2008. | ||||
 Ian Edmiston Visits ITS Lab • July 2007 Ian Edmiston, visiting from near Chicago, Illinois, visited the ITS lab with his grandmother on July 17, 2007. Ian is very interested in public transportation and buses in particular, so Dr. Bertini demonstrated several new technologies related to bus transit. The PSU lab wishes Ian the best and hopes that he will stay in touch and consider the transportation field as a future career! Thanks to Mary Coniglio of the PSU alumni association for arranging this visit! | ||||
 ITS Lab Hosts Oregon Urban Leadership Program Students from Catlin Gabel School • July 2007 Prof. Monsere and Prof. Bertini hosted seven students and their instructor from the Oregon Urban Leadership Program, an innovative summer course in experiential urban studies for high school students. Students in the program meet with Portland city leaders and experts on essential urban issues, visit core infrastructure projects, and conduct interviews with key government and non-profit personnel to form the core of the curriculum. The combination of experiential and analytical inquiry sets the stage to evaluate various strategies, including school closings/reconfigurations, the Big Pipe stormwater runoff project, the newly completed Portland Tram, the South Waterfront development, and the reconfiguration of the Transportation Mall. Students walk away with a passion for and rich understanding of urban phenomena through immersion in the city experience. | ||||
 ITS Lab Hosts British Official • July 2007 Prof. Bertini, the ITS Lab, plus Nathaniel Price of the Federal Highway Administration, Bill Kloos of the City of Portland, and Jonathan Makler of Metro hosted Alex Plant, Deputy Regional Director for Development and Infrastructure of the Government Office for the East of England (GO-East) on July 10, 2007. Mr. Plant was participating in the World Affairs Council of Oregon's International Visitor Program. The discussion centered around regional transportation collaboration and intelligent transportation system solutions for reducing congestion and managing growth. Each year, 4,500 foreign visitors identified by United States Embassies as the future leaders in their countries, participate in U.S. Department of State-sponsored study tours to the United States. The visitors, representing over 100 countries and a wide range of professional interests, meet Americans of different ages and backgrounds, and learn about the traditions and ideas which characterize the United States and make it unique. Each visitor spends approximately 30 days in the country and visits 4-5 different states. Nearly five hundred visitors come to Oregon each year. The World Affairs Council of Oregon arranges personalized itineraries for each visitor including professional meetings, sightseeing tours and home hospitality. This person-to-person program builds international friendships and promotes international understanding. | ||||
 ITS Lab Research Helps Change Oregon Laws • July 2007 According to an article in the Oregonian research conducted by ITS Lab faculty Professors Bertini and Monsere and students Max Coffman and Maisha Mahmud was used to support two important changes to Oregon law that will improve safety and reduce delay on Oregon freeways. House Bill 2936 will allow a $180 fine for failing to move cars to the shoulder after a minor accident. The ITS Lab's "Autopsy of a Crash" report highlighted the significant delay caused by just one incident (nearly $150,000 in economic impact). Motorists should move vehicles to the shoulder as soon as possible after minor accidents. Senate Bill 567 allows the Oregon Department of Transportation to tow vehicles left on the freeway shoulder at any time. An ITS Lab analysis found that from 1995 to 2005 a total of 268 crashes involved parked vehicles over the ten year period, including 6 fatalities and 102 injuries. Removing vehicles as soon as possible will likely improve safety. | ||||
 City of Beaverton Donates Traffic Signal Cabinet to ITS Lab • June 2007 ITS Lab Alumni Tu Ho coordinated a donation from the City of Beaverton to the ITS Lab of a traffic signal cabinet. The cabinet is part of long-term plans to outfit the Traffic Signal Lab with teaching and research equipment. Thank you City of Beaverton! | ||||
  Bertini Presents at ITS Europe Conference in Aalborg, Denmark • June 2007 Prof. Bertini presented "Developing Improved Travel Time Reliability Measures For Real-Time and Archived ITS Data Applications," co-authored with student Kate Lyman, at the 6th European Congress on Intelligent Transportation Systems and Services in Aalborg, Denmark on June 20, 2007. The paper also appears in the conference proceedings. Bertini also visited Copenhagen (Denmark) and Stockholm, Sweden (see photo at right) to experience their multimodal transportation systems first-hand (Two Wheel Tours). | ||||
 ITS Lab Students Graduate • June 2007 Several ITS Lab students received their degrees at Portland State University's spring commencement ceremony on June 16, 2007 at the Rose Garden Arena. Suman Tasmin and Jaspreet Anand received their M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Delia Chi, Max Coffman, Kate Lyman, Laurie Miskimins and Amber Springberg received the Master's of Urban and Regional Planning. Nick Carey received his B.S. in Civil Engineering. Good luck to all graduates! | ||||
 Bertini Presents Paper at ITS America Annual Meeting • June 2007 Prof. Bertini presented "Leveraging Archived Freeway Sensor Data for Regional Transportation Performance Measurement" at the Intelligent Transportation Society of America 2007 Annual Meeting and Exhibition in Palm Springs, California, June 6, 2007. The paper will also appear in the conference proceedings. | ||||
  ITS Lab Team Celebrates End of Academic Year • June 2007 The ITS lab students, faculty and friends gathered at Prof. Bertini's home to celebrate the end of the spring term and academic year, and to congratulate graduates. Bicycle travel was encouraged and beautiful spring weather made the evening enjoyable for all! Thanks to Rafael Fernandez for the great photos! | ||||
 Bertini Speaks at Professional Engineers of Oregon Joint Engineering Conference in Bend • May 2007 Prof. Bertini was a featured speaker at the Joint Engineering Conference sponsored by the Professional Engineers of Oregon, and held in Bend, Oregon on May 17, 2007. Bertini presented "Multimodal Transportation Planning and Engineering Challenges," and discussed ongoing research and education initiatives at Portland State University and with the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC). | ||||
  Bertini Receives Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award at PSU Salutes • May 2007 Professor Robert L. Bertini received the Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award at PSU Salutes on May 10, 2007. PSU Salutes, the university's annual awards recognition event, celebrates the outstanding achievements of alumni, faculty, and friends of Portland State University. Held each year in May, the event recognizes the contributions of our alumni, faculty, and friends to the university, to their professions, and to the greater community. PSU Salutes is sponsored by the PSU Alumni Association, with additional support from the office of University Relations. Prof. Bertini was honored to have several ITS Lab alumni and students in attendance, including Monica Leal, Edward Anderson, Aaron Myton, Michael Rose, Steve Hansen, Shazia Malik, Sirisha Kothuri and Lynn Peterson. The award states "The PSU Alumni Association's Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award recognizes your excellence in teaching and research and your dedication to the University and community." Dr. Bertini dedicated the award to his students and thanked the members of his family who attended. | ||||
  PSU Students and Alumni Win Awards from WTS • May 2007 The Portland Chapter of the Women's Transportation Seminar (WTS) is honored to announce that PSU student Jen Segal (BSCE) is the 2007 Portland Undergraduate Scholarship ($2,000) winner and Sirisha Kothuri (Ph.D.) is one of the 2007 Portland Graduate Scholarship ($2,000) winners. PSU Alumna Sumi Malik was also honored with the chapter's "New Voice" award. Congratulations to all winners!!! | ||||
 ITS Lab Bids Farewell to Ben Zielke • May 2007 The ITS Lab and STEP students gathered at Rock Bottom Brewery to bid Auf Wiedersehen to Benjamin Zielke, who has been a visiting master's student from the Technical University of Dresden since the fall of 2006. Ben contributed a lot to the lab and to his fellow lab mates, and we all enjoyed getting to know and work with him. Ben you will be missed, please stay in touch! | ||||
 ITS Lab and OTREC Host Northwest Academic Forum • April 2007 Dr. Bertini and Dr. Monsere hosted members of the Northwest Academic Forum as part of their annual meeting on Friday April 27, 2007. University academic leaders from around the west visited the Northwest Center for Engineering Science and Technology and were briefed on the status and activities of the ITS Lab and OTREC. | ||||
 Bertini Speaks to Road Ecology Class and ESR Seminar • April 2007 Dr. Bertini was a guest speaker for the new Road Ecology Class in PSU's ESR department (April 5, 2007) and also for the weekly ESR Seminar on April 27, 2007. | ||||
 ITS Lab Students and STEP Tour Portland Aerial Tram • April 2007 The Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning (STEP), including ITS Lab students toured the new Portland Aerial Tram on Thursday April 26. Wonderful views and the examination of this unique transport technology were enjoyed by all. | ||||
 Monsere Featured in Portland Tribune Article • April 2007 Dr. Monsere and his research on parked vehicle crashes was featured in today's Portland Tribune (see article). | ||||
 Max Coffman Receives ITS Oregon Scholarship • April 2007 ITS Lab graduate research assistant (GRA) Max Coffman was awarded the annual ITS Oregon Scholarship on April 20, 2007. Pictured with Max is ITS OR Scholarship chair Dean Deeter. ITS Oregon (see website) is the state chapter of the ITS America organization, and this is the third year of their scholarship program. The ITS Lab was pleased to host the regular ITS Oregon meeting and congratulates Max on his achievements! | ||||
 ITS Lab Bike Ride • April 2007 Michael Wolfe led an ITS Lab bike ride on April 15, which included the East Bank Esplanade, the Springwater Corridor (including three new bridges), the I-205 corridor (light rail construction) and then along the Columbia River. Joining Michael were Matt Berkow, Oren Eshel, Ben Zielke, and Dr. Bertini. The route can be found by clicking here. Thanks to Michael for leading the beautiful ride! | ||||
 ITS Lab Featured in ITE Westernite • March 2007 The ITS Lab was featured in a recent issue of ITE's Westernite Newsletter. The article can be found here: http://www.its.pdx.edu/pdf/its_lab_westernite.pdf | ||||
  Dr. Joesph Sussman Visits Portland State University and ITS Lab • March 2007 Professor Joesph Sussman, JR East Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Systems at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, engaged the Portland transportation community on March 9, 2007 with his perspectives. Dr. Sussman first met with engineering faculty to discuss MIT's open courseware and trends in civil engineering education. The Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning (STEP) hosted an interactive discussion which was followed by his seminar "Where Transportation in Going: Transportation in the CLIOS System Era" as part of the transportation seminar series. Finally, ITS Oregon hosted a lunch in the ITS Lab. Dr. Sussman's visit was sponsored by Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium Visiting Scholar Program. | ||||
 Portland State University Students Attend Fourth Annual TransNow Student Conference in Boise, Idaho • March 2007 On March 2, 2007, six PSU students in the Master's of Urban and Regional Planning and Master's of Civil and Environmental Engineering programs from Portland State University attended the 4th Annual TransNow Student Conference in Boise, Idaho. This year's conference was hosted by students at the University of Idaho. Students gave presentations of completed or current work, listened to three presentations by the Idaho Department of Transportation, Washington Department of Transportation, and ITS America. Highlights from these professional presentations included learning about a transportation planning project in Spokane, WA, what the transportation profession entailed and life after graduation, and the future of intelligent transportation in the United States. While students spent much of the day learning about transportation, there was a lot of time spent getting to know the approximately 20 other students through a fun icebreaker event and an intense battle of "Family Feud" transportation style. Portland State University students would like to thank TransNow and commend the University of Idaho on a fabulous job in the planning of the conference. | ||||
  ITS Lab Hosts Oregon ITE Section Meeting • February 2007 Nearly 50 Oregon ITE members attended a tour and lunch of the ITS Lab at Portland State University. ITE Western Section President Dalene Whitlock was in attendance and proclaimed February 27, 2007 to "Ed Fischer Day" for service to the profession and section. ITS Lab students Matt Berkow and Michael Wolfe gave a presentation on their work towards measuring arterial performance with TriMet's bus dispatch data and the City of Portland's central signal system loop data. Following their presentation, members met with students to discuss current projects. | ||||
 ITS Lab Project Google Traffic Featured in Westernite • January 2007 A recent ITS lab project, Google Traffic, part of PORTAL, was featured in the latest edition of Westernite, the newsletter for the Institute of Transportation Engineers' District 6 (thirteen western states). The Google Traffic project was performed by Tim Welch, who worked closely with Randy McCourt of DKS Associates to implement a web based system for managing traffic data files via a Google map interface. The article can be read here: http://www.its.pdx.edu/pdf/google_westernite.pdf. | ||||
 Monsere Presents at Oregon ITE Technical Workshop • January 2007 Professor Monsere presented a module on "Estimating Safety Performance: Current and Future Tools" at the Oregon Chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers Technical Workshop on Context Sensitive Design on January 30, 2007. The workshop was attended by nearly 60 professionals. Other presenters shown include Brian Ray (Kittelson), Marcy Schwartz (Ch2MHill), and John Mason (Penn State). | ||||
 Prof. Bertini Inducted Into Omega Rho International Honor Society • January 2007 Prof. Bertini was inducted into the Omega Rho International Honor Society for Operations Research and Management Science. The Portland State University Omega Rho Student Chapter conducted the induction ceremony on January 26, 2007. Omega Rho, founded in 1976, is the honor society for the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) and focuses on maintaining high standards in the recognition and promotion of academic excellence in higher education. The objectives of the Omega Rho International Honor Society are to encourage the study of Operations Research and Management Science related disciplines and to recognize academic excellence and leadership potential in these areas. | ||||
  ITS Lab Activities at 86th Annual Meeting of Transportation Research Board • January 2007 The ITS Lab was very busy at the 86th Annual Meeting of the National Academy of Sciences' Transportation Research Board in Washington, D.C., January 21-25, 2007. Students and faculty presented 9 peer-reviewed papers. Student Oren Eshel presented "Incorporating Incident Data into a Freeway Data Archive for Improved Performance Measurement" (Paper 07-0414, co-authored by Jessica Potter, Suman Tasnim, Dr. Kristin A. Tufte, and Prof. Bertini). Student Sirisha Kothuri presented "Using Archived ITS Data to Generate Improved Freeway Travel Time Estimates" (Paper 07-0401 co-authored with Dr. Kristin A. Tufte, Prof. Soyoung Ahn, Arizona State University, and Prof. Bertini. Prof. Soyoung Ahn, Arizona State University, presented "Evaluating Benefits of Systemwide Adaptive Ramp-Metering Strategy in Portland, Oregon" (Paper 07-2016, co-authored with Prof. Bertini, Benjamin Auffray, Ecole Nationale des Travaux publics de l'Etat, France, and June Ross, Oregon Department of Transportation. Student Ben Zielke presented "Toward Systematic Improvement of Data Quality in Portland, Oregon, Regional Transportation Archive Listing" (Paper 07-1561, co-authored by Dr. Kristin A. Tufte, Prof. Soyoung Ahn, Arizona State University, Prof. Bertini, Benjamin Auffray, and James Rucker. Student Delia Chi presented "Implementing a User-Oriented Web-Based Traffic Data Management and Archive System" (Paper 07-0452, co-authored by Timothy J. Welch, Dr. Kristin A. Tufte, Prof. Bertini and Ransford S. McCourt and Alan Snook of DKS Associates. Student Zachary Horowitz presented "Using Portland Archival Listing Data to Empirically Diagnose Freeway Bottlenecks Located on Oregon Highway 217" (Paper 07-1656, co-authored with Prof. Bertini. Student Max T. Coffman presented "State of ITS: Telling Intelligent Transportation Systems Success Story for Portland, Oregon" (paper 07-2902, co-authored with Jonathan Makler). Prof. Monsere presented "Developing Online Tool for Delivering Research Results: Update to Oregon Department of Transportation's Crash Reduction Factor Database" (Paper 07-0456, co-authored with student Aaron Breakstone, Prof. Bertini, and Douglas Bish, Oregon Department of Transportation. Prof. Monsere also presented "Exploring Methods for Ranking Speed and Winter-Weather-Related Crash Locations in Oregon by Combining Climate, Crash, and Highway Data" (Paper 07-1030, co-authored with student Peter Bosa and Prof. Bertini. Prof. Bertini chaired a session on Combined Lane-Changing and Merging Behavior, served as secretary for the meeting of the Committee on Traffic Flow Theory and Characteristics, presented "Lessons from Developing an Archived Data User Service in Portland, Oregon," at a workshop entitled "Linking Archived Data User Service, Performance Measures and Freeway Operations to Improve Mobility," and presented "Improving Collaboration in the Northwest," at the annual meeting of the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC). | ||||
 Max Coffman of ITS Lab Selected as first OTREC Student of the Year • January 2007 The Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC) is pleased to announce the selection of its first Student of the Year, Max Coffman, who is a graduate research assistant in the ITS Lab. This national award was presented as part of the annual Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC) Banquet at the Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) on January 20, 2007. For the past 15 years, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has honored an outstanding student from each University Transportation Center (UTC) at this special ceremony. Each student receives $1,000 plus the cost of attendance at TRB from his/her Center, and a certificate from USDOT. Criteria for this graduate student award include technical merit and research accomplishments, academic performance, professionalism and leadership. Shown (left to right) are OTREC Director Robert Bertini, Max Coffman, and former Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta. Congratulations Max! | ||||
 Bertini Joins TransNow Advisory Committee • January 2007 Prof. Robert Bertini has joined the Transportation Northwest (TransNow) Advisory Committee, effective January 2007. TransNow is the Region X University Transportation Center, established in 1988 as one of the original 10 regional UTCs administered by the USDOT. Bertini has served as a PI on several past TransNow projects, has provided peer reviews on previous TransNow proposals and final reports, and also works with TransNow as a partner in the Northwest University Transportation Consortium. | ||||
 ITS Lab and Bertini Featured in Portland Business Journal • December 2006 The Portland Business Journal (December 15, 2006) featured an article describing the developments in the ITS lab since we moved into the new Engineering Building. See the article, entitled "Calming the Traffic Beast." | ||||
 ITS Lab Alumni and Current Students Celebrate End of Winter Term • December 2006 ITS Lab alumni, current students and faculty gathered at Harbor Place to celebrate the end of Winter 2006 Term and catch up. Happy Holidays! | ||||
 Dr. Christine Johnson of FHWA Visits ITS Lab • December 2006 Dr. Christine Johnson, Director of Field Services - West, of the Federal Highway Administration, based in Salt Lake City, visited the ITS Lab on December 7, 2006. Accompanying Dr. Johnson was David Cox, the FHWA Administrator of the Oregon Division, as well as other FHWA staff. In addition to PSU faculty and students, Dennis Mitchell of ODOT and Jon Makler of Metro also participated in the meeting. | ||||
 ITS Lab and Bertini Featured in Portland Tribune Feature on Rethinking Portland • November 2006 The ITS Lab and Director Bertini were featured in an article in the Portland Tribune on November 28, 2006 as part of their Rethinking Portland series. To read the article please follow this link. | ||||
  Portland State Takes Second Place in 16th Annual Traffic Bowl • November 2006 The defending champion Portland State University Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Student Chapter (also known as Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning, STEP) took Second Place in the ITE Oregon Section's 16th Annual Traffic Bowl, held at McMenamins Edgefield on November 16, 2006. Six universities competed this year: Portland State, Oregon State University, University of Portland, University of Washington, University of Idaho and Boise State University. More than 60 students attended. The PSU team consisted of: Erin Qureshi, Ben Zielke, Nick Carey, Matt Dorado and Michael Wolfe. Six other PSU students and two faculty members (including advisor Dr. Chris Monsere) also attended. Our congratulations to the PSU team and to our colleagues at the University of Idaho who took First Place this year. | ||||
 Monsere Visits University of Idaho for Simulation Research Workshop • November 2006 Prof. Monsere met with other researchers at the University of Idaho on November 9-10, 2006 to discuss ways the region's university transportation centers can advance FHWA's research agenda for the Next Generation Simulation project. The meeting was organized by Prof. Michael Kyte (UI) and attended by Profs. Michael Dixon (UI), Lei Xhang (OSU), Mark Hallenbeck (UW), Ahmed Abdel-Rahim (UI). James Colyar (FHWA) and Kiel Ova (PTV) also attended. Monsere was also given a tour of NIATT's transportation signal labs. Thanks to UI for hosting the event! | ||||
 Alan Pisarski, Author of "Commuting in America," Visits ITS Lab • October 2006 Alan Pisarski, well-known transportation expert and author of "Commuting in America" visit Portland, and spoke at a breakfast meeting co-sponsored by WTS and OTREC, was PSU's CTS Seminar speaker, and also visited the ITS lab. | ||||
 Jeff Paniati, Associate FHWA Administrator Visits ITS Lab • October 2006 ITS Lab faculty, students and community partners hosted Jeff Paniati, Associate FHWA Administrator for Operations and Acting ITS Joint Program Office Program Manager in the ITS Lab Thursday morning. Paniati was given a tour of the lab, introduced to current projects, and was shown the PORTAL archive. | ||||
  Bertini Speaks at "State of ITS" Event in Portland • October 2006 Professor Bertini was a featured speaker at the "State of ITS" event at the Oregon Convention Center on October 26, 2006. Also featured was Rich Capka, Administrator of the Federal Highway Administrator; Gail Achterman, Oregon Transportation Commission; Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams; Metro Councilor Rex Burkholder; and TriMet General Manager Fred Hansen. The "State of ITS" meeting focused on the recently released Metropolitan Mobility the Smart Way, in which the Portland State University Intelligent Transportation Systems Lab is featured (see ITS Lab Brochure). | ||||
 ITS Lab Students Attend Streetcar Opening • October 2006 Continuing a tradition of riding on new light rail line openings, several ITS Lab students toured the new Portland Streetcar extension to South Warterfront on October 20, 2006. The new extension from River Place to South Waterfront connects with new development and the aerial tram to OHSU. | ||||
 ITS Lab Featured in PSU Magazine • October 2006 The research of the ITS Lab was featured in Portland State University's magazine "Portland State". The article will appear online soon | ||||
 Bertini Featured in Flexcar Ad • October 2006 Professor Bertini, who participated in the Low Car Diet earlier this summer, was featured in a recent Flexcar ad in Willamette Week. | ||||
 Monsere Presents at APWA Fall Conference • October 2006 Prof. Monsere was invited to present an update on Oregon's new national university transportation center - OTREC (Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium) - at the annual fall APWA meeting in Pendleton, Oregon. At the conference, PSU Civil Engineering senior Niki Stephanson, was presented with the APWA scholarship. | ||||
 Bertini Presents at ITS World Congress in London • October 2006 Professor Bertini participated in the 13th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems held in London, October 8-12, 2006. Bertini presented: "Estimating Truck Flows on a Freeway Network to Improve Freight Operations and Planning," co-authors Kristin Tufte and Zachary Horowitz (student); "Improving the Accuracy of Freeway Travel Time Estimates Using Archived ITS Data," co-authors Sirisha Kothuri (student), Sue Ahn and Kristin Tufte; and "Influence of Variable Speed Limit and Driver Information System on Key Traffic Flow Parameters on a German Autobahn," co-authors Steven Boice (student), Sue Ahn and Klaus Bogenboger. | ||||
 Bertini Presents at IEEE ITSC in Toronto • September 2006 Professor Bertini participated in the Ninth IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference held in Toronto, Canada, September 17-21, 2006. Bertini presented: "Development of an ITS Data Archive Application for Improving Freeway Travel Time Estimation," | ||||
 Monsere Accepts Tenure Track Position at Portland State University • September 2006 Dr. Chris Monsere, Research Assistant Professor, has accepted a tenure track Assistant Professor position in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Portland State University! We are very pleased that Chris will be stepping up to this next level in his career and wish him the very best in this new role. | ||||
 ITS Lab Students and Faculty Gather to Wish Auffray Well • September 2006 ITS lab students, faculty and alumni gathered at Henry's Tavern to thank intern Ben Auffray for his work in the ITS Lab. Ben returns to France where he is a student at ENTPE (National School of Public State Work). Ben presented a paper at the ITE District 6 meeting in June and worked a number of projects in the lab. Good Luck Ben! | ||||
 ITS Lab Featured in Portland Tribune Article • September 2006 The Intelligent Transportation Systems Laboratory at Portland State University was featured in several articles in the Portland Tribune on September 12, 2006. See "Which Commute is the Worst," [speed map] "Traffic Jams Don't Stop the Data Flows," [jpg] and "Suburban Traffic Presents a Few Twists." Special thanks to Kristin Tufte for her data analysis efforts! | ||||
 ITS Lab Students Visit PDOT and ODOT Traffic Management Centers • August 2006 ITS lab students visited the PDOT and ODOT Traffic Management Centers on August 24, 2006. | ||||
  Bertini Presents at Fifth International Conference on Traffic and Transportation Studies, Xi'an, China • August 2006 Robert L. Bertini presented "Developing Comparative Congestion Measures to Improve Transportation SystemPerformance" and "Unlocking the Mysteries of FreewaySensor Data to Diagnose Detailed Bottleneck Dynamics," and chaired a sessionon "Applications of New Technologies" at the Fifth International Conference on Traffic and Transportation Studies (ICTTS) in Xian, China on August 2-3, 2006. Bertini and colleague Prof. Zong Tian (University of Nevada Reno) also met with a group of graduate students from Beijing Jiaotong University (see left), sponsors of the conference. More photos from the Japan and China trip are available. | ||||
 Sue Ahn Accepts Faculty Position at Arizona State University • August 2006 Dr. Soyoung (Sue) Ahn, post-doctoral research associate in the ITS lab has accepted a tenure track Assistant Professor position in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Arizona State University. We will miss her and wish her the very best of luck in her new position! | ||||
 Monsere Presents at International Forum on Traffic Records and Highway Information System, Palm Desert, California • August 2006 Professor Monsere, ITS Lab and Civil and Environmental Engineering faculty, presented "A Methodology for Evaluating the Feasibility of Enhancing Traffic Records Processing in Oregon with Electronic Automation" at the 32nd International Forum on Traffic Records and Highway Safety Systems, Palm Desert, California, July 30 - August 3, 2006. Co-authors include Kate Lyman, Erin Wilson, and Amber Springberg, graduate research assistants in the Intelligent Transportation Systems Lab. | ||||
 Bertini Presents at 5th International Symposium on Highway Capacity and Quality of Service, Yokohama, Japan • July 2006 Prof. Bertini presented "Comparison of Key Freeway Capacity Parameters on North American Freeways with German Autobahns Equipped With a Variable Speed Limit System," co-authored with Steven Boice and Klaus Bogenberger, at the 5th International Symposium on Highway Capacity and Quality of Service, Yokohama, Japan, July 26, 2006. | ||||
 ITS Lab Featured in Oregonian Article • July 2006 The ITS Lab was featured in an article in the Oregonian on July 26, 2006, describing the process used in the evaluation of transit signal priority with the City of Portland, TriMet and Kittelson and Associates. You can see the article here as an image or as a PDF. | ||||
 ITS Lab Hosts Intern Jamboree • July 2006 Prof. Monsere and Prof. Bertini hosted 30 engineering interns as part of the Portland Intern Jamboree organized by Kittelson and Associates. Interns from KAI, PDOT, OTAK, PSU, and other firms and agencies participated in the two day event that included a visit to the ITS lab for a tour and a field data collection exercise. Kittelson has posted other photos here. | ||||
 Sirisha Kothuri Wins Awards • July 2006 Doctoral student Sirisha Kothuri has won the "Oregon Sports Lottery Graduate Scholarship" ($2500 from the PSU Office of Graduate Studies) and was also selected as the "Outstanding Graduate Research Assistant" from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering for 2005-06. Congratulations Sirisha! | ||||
 Tufte, Maier and Bertini Receive NSF Grant • July 2006 Dr. Kristin Tufte (CS and CEE), Prof. David Maier (Computer Science) and Prof. Robert L. Bertini (CEE) have received a collaborative grant from the National Science Foundation entitled "Exploiting Live Plus Archive Data for Intelligent Transportation Systems." This is a two year project (2006-2008) with a total budget of $410,670, and will support continuing collaboration between PSU's CS and CEE departments. | ||||
 Bertini Takes Flexcar Low Car Diet Challenge • July 2006 See Portland Low Car Diet and http://www.flexcar.com | ||||
  Students Present at ITE District 6 Annual Meeting in Honolulu • June 2006 Five ITS Lab students and Prof. Bertini traveled to Honolulu, Hawaii in June 2006 to participate in the Institute of Transportation Engineers District 6 Annual Meeting. Max Coffman presented "Enhancing Targeted Traffic Enforcement Efforts in Portland, Oregon" (co-author Christopher Monsere). Benjamin Auffray presented, "Evaluation of Single-loop Detector Vehicle-Classification Algorithms using an Archived Data User Service System" (co-authors Kristin Tufte, Zachary Horowitz, Spicer Matthews, and Robert L. Bertini). Jessica Potter presented "Incorporating Incident Data into a Freeway Data Archive for Improved Performance Measurement" (co-authors Suman Tasnim, Kristin Tufte, and Robert L. Bertini). Steven Boice presented "Parking Demand for Multiplex Theaters" and "Implementing a Web-based Transportation Data Management System." Robert L. Bertini presented "Using Real Time Transportation System Performance Measures to Fuel a Regional Congestion Management System" (co-author Jonathan Makler). All papers appear in the meeting's Compendium of Technical Papers. | ||||
 Boice Receives ITE Award • June 2006 Steven Boice received the Outstanding Graduate Student Award for 2005-2006 from the Institute of Transportation Engineers District 6 (13 western states), at the ITE District 6 Annual Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii on June 27, 2006. | ||||
 Bertini Receives ITE Award • June 2006 Prof. Robert L. Bertini received the Outstanding Transportation Educator Award from the Institute of Transportation Engineers District 6 (13 western states) at the ITE District 6 Annual Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii on June 27, 2006. | ||||
| Monsere Presents ITS Lab Research at NATMEC • June 2006 Professor Monsere presented "Incorporating Freight Performance Measures in an Archived Data User Service" and "Comparative Analysis of Various Travel Time Estimation Algorithms to Ground Truth Data Using Archived Data" at the North American Travel Monitoring Exhibition and Conference (NATMEC) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 4-7, 2006. Co-authors include Professor Robert L. Bertini, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Urban Studies and Planning faculty, Kristin Tufte, post-doctoral research assistant in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Sirisha Kothuri, graduate research assistant. | ||||
  Bertini Travels to Athens • June 2006 Prof. Bertini presented "Measuring the Impacts of a Variable Speed Limit System on a German Motorway" (with student Steven Boice) and "Improving Travel Time Estimation for Freeway Traffic Management and Traveler Information Systems" (with student Sirisha Kothuri), and served on a panel entitled "Speeding and Speed Limits: Are Drivers Out of Control?" at the First International Symposium on Freeway and Tollway Operations, Athens, Greece, June 4-7, 2006. | ||||
  Monsere and Bertini Receive Excellence in Community-Based Research Civic Engagement Award • May 2006 The Portland State University Center for Academic Excellence has honored Drs. Monsere and Bertini with the 2006 Excellence in Community-Based Research Civic Engagement Award on May 18, 2006. | ||||
 Bertini Receives Diversity Leadership Award from Women's Transportation Seminar • May 2006 Dr. Bertini received the 2006 Diversity Leadership Award from Women's Transportation Seminar (WTS) on May 10, 2006. The award recognizes Dr. Bertini's efforts to support women and minority students in transportation by employing, mentoring, and teaching students at PSU. | ||||
  Women's Transportation Seminar (WTS) Members Tour New ITS Lab • April 2006 On April 27th, about 30 WTS members toured the new ITS Lab and Engineering Building. Tara Weidner, on behalf of WTS, presented Professor Robert Bertini with a framed certificate congratulating him on the university's new designation as a national University Transportation Center (UTC). The remainder of the evening was devoted to discussions with students about their research work. Students shared posters or computer presentations of their research work with smaller groups at various locations around the lab | ||||
  Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams visits ITS Lab • April 2006 Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams visited the ITS Lab on April 24, 2006, along with Bill Kloos and Rob Burchfield of the Portland Office of Transportation. Commissioner Adams discussed his priorities for Portland's transportation system as well as opportunities to partner with PSU on future transportation research projects. | ||||
 ITS Lab Students Travel to Bellevue, Washington for ITE Quad Conference • April 2006 Professor Monsere and 3 ITS lab students traveled to Bellevue, Washington to attend the annual ITE Quad Conference. PSU students and faculty made 4 presentations: Zach Horowitz presented the lab's work on the Portland performance report, Sirisha Kothuri presented her work on advancing real-time travel time estimates, Kartik Srinvas co-presented his work with Dr. Monsere on illumination safety and finally, Dr. Monsere presented the results of the research project "Developing New Identification and Ranking Methods for Speed-Related Crashes in Oregon" Student travel to the conference was funded by PSU's SALP. | ||||
 STEP Student Group Hosts "Women in Transportation" Panel in new ITS Lab • April 2006 Nearly 25 students attended a panel presentation hosted by the Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning. The panel included a distinguished group of local leader in transportation including Eileen Argentina (PDOT), Cathy Nelson (ODOT), Tara Weidner (Parsons Brinckerhoff), Beth Wemple (Kittelson And Associates) and Bridget Weighart (METRO). The panel discussed challenges and opportunities for women in transportation. The students modeled the discussion after a panel meeting they attended at the Transportation Research Board meeting in January. | ||||
  Congressman Wu Visits ITS Lab • March 2006 Congressman Wu became the first member of Congress to visit the Intelligent Transportation Systems Lab during a tour of the Portland State University campus. The Congresswan was briefed on the lab's activities, met a number of the students, and was very interested in the lab's key research effort - the PORTAL transportation data archive. Congressman Wu's efforts have been critical to the designation of Portland State University (in partnership with UO, OSU, and OIT) as a National University Transportation Center. | ||||
 ITS Lab Students Organize and Participate in Third Annual TransNow Student Conference at OSU • February 2006 ITS Lab graduate student Steven Boice organized the Third Annual TransNow Student Conference held at Oregon State University on February 9, 2006. More than 22 students from Portland State University, Oregon State University, University of Oregon, University of Washington, and the University of British Columbia participated in the day-long event, which featured student posters, presentations, a lunchtime panel of transportation professionals and a keynote speech by Professor Robert Cervero of the University of California at Berkeley. The Fourth Annual TransNow Student Conference will be held at the University of Idaho in 2007. | ||||
 ITS Lab Student River Hwang Wins Scholarship • February 2006 The Portland Chapter of the Women's Transportation Seminar (WTS) is honored to announce that River Hwang, 2005 Portland Undergraduate Scholarship ($2,000) winner, is the Winner of Sharon D. Banks WTS International Scholarship ($3000). She will receive the award at the WTS Annual Conference in May. River is pursuing a BS in Civil Engineering with a Traffic Engineering emphasis at Portland State University. Her expected graduation date is June 2006. River is an outstanding engineering student, according to Professor Robert Bertini, who wrote: "River has distinguished herself in our undergraduate civil engineering program by self-identifying as being interested in transportation and becoming active in our student organizations...River is dedicated, not afraid to tackle difficult problems, resourceful and thoughtful." River also serves as a PSU Undergraduate Research Assistant in the ITS lab (developing VISSIM hardware in the loop simulation for transit signal priority evaluation). She's held many leadership roles and is a volunteer PSU Ambassador, belongs to the ITE Student Chapter, ASCE Student Chapter, and has volunteered for the PSU Alumni Association. | ||||
 Boice and Bertini Visit BMW in Munich • January 2006 Steve Boice and Professor Bertini visited BMW and the Technical University of Munich (TUM), in Germany, as part of a collaboration with BMW, TUM, PSU and Imperial College, London. | ||||
 ITS Lab Activities at Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C. • January 2006 The Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting is the largest gathering of transportation researchers and practitioners, with 10,000 attendees and 2,500 presentations in 500 sessions. ITS Lab faculty, students and partners had a strong presence at the 2006 TRB meeting: presenting papers, serving on panels, and performing important committee work. Prof. Robert L. Bertini presented "You Are the Traffic Jam: Examination of Congestion Measures" (06-1419) and chaired a session on "Empirical Analysis of Car-Following Behavior." He was also a panelist at an AASHTO Research Advisory Committee Town Hall Meeting on University Transportation Centers, and at a Workshop on Sharing Data on Transportation System Operations – Benefits and Barriers. He serves as the Secretary of the Committee on Traffic Flow Theory and Characteristics. Prof. Monsere chaired a session on Safety Applications and Analysis Issues, and serves as a Member of the Safety Data, Analysis, and Evaluation Committee, and of the Highway Safety Manual Task Force. Roger Lindgren, Oregon Institute of Technology, presented "Toward Demonstrating Predictability of Bottleneck Activation on German Autobahn" (06-1792). Graduate students Aaron Breakstone presented "Validating Dynamic Message Sign Freeway Travel Time Messages Using Ground Truth Geospatial Data," (06-0622) and Steven Boice presented "Dynamics of a Variable Speed Limit System Surrounding Bottleneck on German Autobahn" (06-2965). | ||||
 Special Lab Assistants Visit ITS Lab • January 2006 In order to assist with wiring the new ITS lab and Civil and Environmental Engineering office suite, Special Lab Assistants Erin and Robert Lovell visited us in January 2006. As shown in the photo to the left, the twins were great help in stringing the new network cable and were dressed for the cool temperatures. | ||||
 Bertini Publishes Chapter in "Access to Destinations" • December 2005 Robert L. Bertini, civil and environmental engineering and urban studies and planning faculty has published a peer reviewed book chapter, "Congestion and Its Extent." In: Access to Destinations: Rethinking the Transportation Future of our Region, Edited by David Levinson and Kevin Krizek, Elsevier, 2005. | ||||
 ITS Lab Moves Into New Building! • December 2005 The ITS lab students and faculty are excited to report that the move to the new lab in the Northwest Center for Engineering Science and Technology (NWCEST) is complete! Please come visit us in our new amazing space! | ||||
 ITS Lab releases Second Annual Portland Performance Report • December 2005 The PSU ITS Lab and colleagues recently released their second annual Portland Performance Report. For further details and to view the report, click here. This report summarizes various measures of how the metropolitan transportation system is performing, both individually and in comparison to other similar-sized cities. | ||||
  Traffic Bowl Victory! • November 2005 Portland State Unversity's Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Student Chapter won the coveted Traffic Bowl, as a result of a Jeopardy-like traffic quiz bowl competition held at McMenamin's Edgefield on November 10, 2005. PSU took first place in the 2005 Traffic Bowl, besting Oregon State University, the University of Portland, University of Idaho and the Univerity of Washington in a resounding victory! This year's Traffic Bowl teams members were: Rodger Gutierrez, Jamen Giffen, Jonathan Horowitz and Zachary Horowitz. In addition to holding the coveted "Bowl" for the next year, the PSU Student Chapter received a financial donation. Congratulations to the team! | ||||
 Bertini, Boice and Horowitz Present Papers at ITS World Congress • November 2005 Robert Bertini, civil and environmental engineering and urban studies and planning faculty presented "Validating an Automated License Plate Recognition System for Predicting Rural Corridor Travel Times." (coauthored with Christopher Monsere and student Matthew Lasky) at the 12th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, San Francisco, November 10, 2005. Bertini's student Zachary Horowitz presented "PORTAL: Implementing a New Generation Archived Data User Service in Portland, Oregon," (coauthors were Bertini plus students Steven Hansen, Spicer Matthews and Andy Delcambre) and student Steven Boice presented "Impact of Variable Speed Limit and Driver Information System on Traffic Dynamics on a German Autobahn: Lessons for U.S. Applications" (coauthors Bertini and Klaus Bogenberger of BMW). All three papers also appear in the congress proceedings. | ||||
 Portland Office of Transportation Director Visits ITS Lab • October 2005 New Portland Office of Transportation Director Sue Keil visited the PSU ITS Lab on Wednesday October 26, 2005 for a briefing on our research activities. Director Keil was accompanied by Eileen Argentina, Bureau Director for Transportation System Management, and Signals/Street Lighting/ITS Principal Engineer, Bill Kloos | ||||
 Dr. Soyoung (Sue) Ahn Joins ITS Lab Faculty • October 2005 We are excited to announce that Dr. Sue Ahn has joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate in the Intelligent Transportation Systems Laboratory, effective October 1, 2005. Dr. Ahn received her Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley in 2005. She also received her MSCE there in 2001, and graduated from The Ohio State University with a BSCE summa cum laude in 2000. She brings an impressive record of publications, research and teaching experience in the areas of traffic flow theory, operations and incident management. As a graduate research assistant, she evaluated the latest freeway incident management systems in California, investigated the effects of vehicle lane-changing on stop-and-go driving, studied driver turn-taking behavior at congested freeway merges, and verified an existing car-following model via statistical analysis and testing. Welcome Dr. Ahn! | ||||
 Bertini Presents at IEEE Conference in Vienna • September 2005 Robert L. Bertini, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Urban Studies and Planning faculty presented "Using ITS Data Fusion to Examine Traffic Dynamics on a Freeway with Variable Speed Limits" and "ITS Archived Data User Service in Portland, Oregon: Now and Into the Future" at the 8th International IEEE Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Vienna, Austria, September 13-16, 2005. Bertini was also co-author on two papers presented by recent Ph.D. graduate Roger Lindgren: "The German Autobahn: An ITS Test Bed for Examining Dynamic Traffic Flow Phenomena" and "Validating Predicted Rural Corridor Travel Times from an Automated License Plate Recognition System: Oregon's Frontier Project." All papers appear in the conference proceedings. Bertini also served on the International Program Committee for the conference. | ||||
 Monsere and Bertini Recognized for Teaching Excellence • September 2005 Professor Chris Monsere and Professor Robert Bertini were recognized by the Portland State University Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering for teaching excellence during the 2004-2005 academic year. Bertini received the highest student evaluation scores for Fall 2004 for CE454 (undergraduate with enrollment >20) and for CE455/555 (senior/graduate with enrollment<10), and Monsere received the highest evaluation scores for senior/graduate courses with enrollment <10 for Winter 2005 (Freight) and Spring 2006 (Benefit/Cost Seminar). Congratulations to both | ||||
 Students and Faculty at ITE District 6 Annual Meeting in Montana • July 2005 Prof. Chris Monsere accompanied seven Portland State University students to the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) District 6 Annual Meeting in Kalispell, Montana, July 10-13, 2005. Students raised external funds to completely support their travel. The following students presented 8 papers in conference technical sessions (note that PSU students accounted for more than 7% of all technical presentations given at this 4 day event!):
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 Monsere Receives Two ITE Awards • July 2005 Professor Chris Monsere recently received two important awards from the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), the premier international transportation engineering professional society. President Massoud Saberian recently announced that the ITE Oregon Section awarded Dr. Monsere the 2005 Outstanding Individual Achievement Award. Chris was recognized for his outstanding contributions to transportation education, research and practice in the state of Oregon. Dr. Monsere's work was also recognized at a higher level this summer. ITE's District 6, covering the thirteen western states (Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Alaska and Hawaii), recently presented Dr. Monsere with the 2005 ITE District 6 Young Professional Achievement Award. This award recognizes young professionals who have shown exceptional dedication to the transportation profession through ITE service, have significant accomplishments that benefit the profession of transportation engineering/planning, and/or have participated in mentoring transportation professionals. According to Jennifer Rosales, current ITE District 6 Secretary-Treasurer, "Chris was selected as the recipient of this award because he has shown exceptional dedication to the transportation profession. Chris has volunteered his time serving ITE as the Oregon Section webmaster, Publicity Chair for the 2007 District 6 local arrangements committee, and the PSU student chapter advisor. In addition, Chris has mentored both students and young professional throughout his career and has significant professional accomplishments benefiting the transportation industry." The award was presented in Kalispell, Montana in July 2005 (see photo, left to right, Dalene Whitlock (ITE VP), Randy McCourt (ITE Past President), Monsere, Ken Ackeret (ITE President) and Zaki Mustafa (ITE Past President). Congratulations Chris! | ||||
 Nolan and Bertini Present at CUPUM 2005 London • June 2005 Recent MURP graduate Casey Nolan presented Dr. Bertini presented Deriving Metropolitan Planning Performance Measures from a Real-Time Regional Transportation Data Archive (co authored with R.L. Bertini, S. Hansen, P. Bosa and A. El-Geneidy) at the 9th International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management Conference (CUPUM) in London on June 29, 2005. Also at CUPUM 2005, Dr. Bertini presented Exploring Spatial And Temporal Performance Measurement In Metropolitan Transportation Safety Improvement Programs, co-authored with Dr. Monsere, T. Kimpel, A. El-Geneidy and T. Moes. CUPUM 2007 is being planned in Sao Carlos, Brazil. Lab student Steven Boice also attended the conference. | ||||
 Monsere and Bertini Present at ASEE Annual Meeting • June 2005 Dr. Monsere presented "Using Custom Transportation Data Collection Software with Handheld Computers for Education, Research, and Practice" and Dr. Bertini presented "Educational Applications of the Portland, Oregon Regional Archived Data User Service (ADUS)" at the American Society for Engineering Education Annual Meeting, Portland, Oregon, June 14, 2005. Students Steve Hansen and Andrew Byrd co-authored the associated papers. | ||||
  First Ph.D. Graduate in Civil and Environmental Engineering Comes From ITS Lab • June 2005 Roger V.F. Lindgren has received the first Doctor of Philosophy in the history of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering's program, and we are proud to announce that Roger is a member of the PSU ITS Lab! Roger's dissertation, "Analysis of Flow Features in Queued Traffic on a German Freeway" focuses on the identification and analysis of dynamice freeway traffic flow phenomena and will help improve freeway operations. Roger is now an Associate Professor at the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls and is working on a new ITS research collaboration between Oregon Tech and PSU. See MCECS News Item. Roger received a lot of support from his family (left), including his wife Cheri, and children Nelson and Audrey. | ||||
  Oregon Department of Transportation Director Visits ITS Lab • June 2005 Oregon Department of Transportation Director Bruce Warner visited the PSU ITS Lab on Friday June 3, 2005 for a briefing on our research activities. Director Warner was accompanied by his Chief of Staff Lori Sundstrom, Region 1 Manager Matthew Garrett, ITS Manager Galen McGill and Region 1 TMOC Manager Dennis Mitchell. | ||||
 ITS Lab Students Win MCECS Civil and Environmental Engineering Awards • June 2005 PSU ITS Lab students won two of the four CEE awards at the MCECS Excellence3 awards ceremony. River Hwang won the Undergraduate Service Award for her involvement in ITE, ASCE and PSU Ambassadors. Steve Boice won the Outstanding Graduate Student Award for his leadership in the ITS Lab and coursework. Congratulations! | ||||
 Boice and Bertini Meet with BMW at Imperial College London • June 2005 Lab student Steven Boice and Dr. Bertini met with international research collaborators from BMW, the Technical University Munich and Imperial College London (hosts) on June 27-29, 2005. Boice presented a paper entitled "Empirical Comparison of German and U.S. Traffic Sensor Data and Impact on Driver Assistance Systems: Analysis of Variable Speed Limit System," while Bertini presented "What is Traffic Congestion." | ||||
 Dr. Kristin Tufte Joins ITS Lab Faculty • June 2005 We are excited to announce that Dr. Kristin Tufte has joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate in the Intelligent Transportation Systems Laboratory, effective June 1, 2005. Dr. Tufte also works in the same capacity in the Department of Computer Science with Prof. David Meier. Dr. Tufte received her Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin Madison in 2005. She also received her MS there in 1996, and graduated from St. Olaf College with a BS in Mathematics in 1988. Dr. Tufte's area of specialization is database systems. In particular, she studies techniques for processing data streams such as network (Internet) traffic, environmental sensor readings, traffic sensor data, and telephone call records. Dr. Tufte is currently involved in the PORTAL project which is archiving ITS data for the purpose of improved traffic assesment and modeling. In her previous research, Dr. Tufte has been involved in the development of two large database systems: most recently, the Niagara Stream Query Engine and previously the Paradise GIS Database. Welcome Dr.Tufte! | ||||
 Bertini Travels to Germany and France • May 2005 Robert Bertini presented "An International Comparison of Macroscopic and Microscopic Measures of Congestion" at the BMW Research and Innovation Center in Munich, Germany on May 18, 2005 and presented an invited lecture "Using Basic Traffic Flow Principles to Diagnose Bottlenecks on German Autobahns" at the Technische Universität München, Department of Traffic Engineering and Control, on May 19, 2005. | ||||
 ITS Lab Student Wins WTS Award • May 2005 PSU ITS Lab student River Hwang won the Womens Transportation Seminar Portland Undergraduate Student Award. PSU MURP student Sumi Malik won the Graduate Student Award. Attending the awards banquet were (left to right): Lance ?, Erin Wilson, Dr. Jennifer Dill, River Hwang, Sumi Malik, Thareth Yin, Nivedita Doijoide, and Dr. Chris Monsere.... Congratulations River and Sumi! | ||||
  Bertini Participates in FHWA/AASHTO Scan on Safety Applications of Intelligent Transportation Systems • May 2005 Prof. Bertini participated in an International Scanning Tour sponsored by the FHWA and AASHTO on Safety Applications of Intelligent Transportation Systems. The scan team visited Germany and France during May 2005. In Germany the team visited DaimlerChrysler in Stuttgart; the BMW Group, the Autobahndirektion Sudbayern traffic control center and Siemens in Munich; and the Bundesanstalt für Strassenwesn (BASt), the Federal Highway Research Institute in Bergisch Gladbach. In France, the team visited the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Interior, Roads and Highways Technical Studies Service (Service d'Etudes Techniques des Routes et Autoroutes--SETRA), Networks, Transport, Urban Affairs and Public Construction Studies Centre (Centre d'Etudes sur les Réseaux de Transport et l'Urbanisme--CERTU), ASFA, Autoroutes Trafic, and Citilog, all in Paris. | ||||
 CEE Students Travel to Orlando for 2005 National Student Steel Bridge Competition • May 2005 Dr. Bertini accompanied 8 PSU civil engineering students to the 2005 National Student Steel Bridge Competition (see http://www.nssbc2005.org/). The PSU team performed strongly in all categories and was ranked 23rd in the nation. Congratulations to Jon Ayers, Jacob Baglien, Gita Dombrowski, Britt Killian, Mike Pyszka, Jason Rea, Robert Wahrgren and Jake Wiser. | ||||
 ITS Lab and CEE Students Host Spring BBQ • May 2005 PSU ITS Lab and CEE students gathered at Irving Park for a barbeque and softball game. The planned CEE vs MURP softball game didn't happen but the food was tasty! | ||||
 Oregon Department of Transportation Officials Visit ITS Lab • April 2005 Ed Fischer, State Traffic Engineer, and Massoud Saberian, Senior Traffic Engineer, Oregon Department of Transportation, visited the ITS Lab on April 29, 2005 for a demonstration of the new Portal archived transportation data system, plus a tour of the lab and review of all ongoing projects. Pictured at left is the Portal team: Andy Rodriguez, Andy Delcambre, Spicer Matthews, Steve Hansen, Zac Cottam, Dr. Robert Bertini, Ed Fischer and Massoud Saberian. | ||||
 ITS Lab Students Travel to Vancouver, B.C. for ITE Quad Conference • April 2005 Professor Monsere and 9 ITS lab students traveled to Vancouver B.C to attend the annual Quad Conference. PSU students and faculty made 4 presentations: Steve Hanson presented his work with Professor Robert Bertini, "Using Archived ITS Data to Improve Regional Performance Measurement and Travel Demand Forecasting and PORTAL: An On-Line Regional Transportation Data Archive with Transportation System Management Applications. Dr. Monsere and Tom Moes presented "Community and School Traffic Safety Partnership - Measuring Traffic Safety Performance in Portland, Oregon" and Matt Dorado presented his work with Dr. Bertini "Measuring the Effects of Traffic Congestion On Transit Signal Priority Call Distance" | ||||
 CEE Students Travel to Butte and Helena, Montana for ASCE Pacific Northwest Regional Conference • April 2005 Professor Bertini and 20 Civil and Environmental Engineering students traveled to Butte and Helena, Montana for the American Society of Civil Engineers Pacific Northwest Regional Conference, April 7-9, 2005. The PSU ASCE Student Chapter team brought back a first place award for the Surveying competition, a first place award for Bridge Stiffness, and a third place award for the AISC Steel Bridge Competition. The third place award qualifies the Bridge Team for the National Steel Bridge Competition, to be held at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, May 27-28, 2005. The Concrete Canoe Team also performed admirably, bringing home a third place award for the Women's Sprint and a third place award for the Co-Ed Sprint. Congratulations to all team members! | ||||
 ITS Lab Students Celebrate End of Winter Term • March 2005 ITS Lab students and faculty gathered at the Lucky Lab Multnomah Village to celebrate the end of Winter Term. | ||||
 ITS Lab Students and Faculty Preview New Streetcar Extenstion • March 2005 Several ITS Lab students and faculty toured the new Portland Streetcar extension to River Place on March 2, 2005. The new extension from the PSU Urban Center Plaza to River Place will open on March 11, 2005. | ||||
 ITS Lab Students and Faculty Attend the Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board • January 2005 The ITS lab faculty and students had an active week at the 84th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, January 9-13, 2005. Click here to see our papers and presentations. | ||||
 ITS Lab Students and Faculty Tour New Engineering Building • January 2005 The ITS lab faculty and students toured the new engineering building to see our future lab space under construction! On February 3rd, the "topping" off party was held to indicate that the structural steel work for the the Northwest Center for Engineering, Science and Technology (Northwest Center) is essentially complete. See more pictures of the tour by clicking here | ||||
 PSU Transportation Students Organize and Host Second Annual TransNow Student Conference • November 2004 ITS lab student Casey Nolan and his team of PSU transportation students organized and hosted the Second Annual TransNow Student Conference, with events sponsored by both TransNow and the PSU Center for Transportation Studies. More than 50 students from PSU, the University of Washington, the University of British Columbia, the University of Idaho and Boise State University attended the day-long event. | ||||
 ITS Lab Featured in Daily Journal of Commerce • November 2004 The ITS Lab is mentioned in the Daily Journal of Commerce, see brief article entitled Federal funding will keep research moving at PSU transportation lab. | ||||
 ITS Lab Exhibits "PORTAL" at Innovation Celebration, OMSI • November 2004 The ITS lab faculty Rob Bertini and Chris Monsere (not in photo) and students Steve Hansen, Andy Delcambre, and Andy Byrd prepared and hosted an exhibit on one of the key research efforts at the ITS Lab, the Portland Transportation Archive Listing (PORTAL). The event, featuring various companies using sensor technology in the Pacific Northwest, was hosted by the Portland Business Alliance and was attended by over 200 participants. | ||||
 Bertini Presents Plenary Talk at "Access to Destinations" Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota • November 2004 Robert Bertini presented a plenary paper and presentation, entitled Congestion and its Extent, at the Access to Destinations Conference, sponsored by the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota. Pictured are David Levinson (University of Minnesota), Bertini, Rachel Weinberger (University of Pennsylvania) and Harvey J. Miller (University of Utah). | ||||
 Bertini Travels to Japan • October 2004 Robert Bertini presented a paper "Empirical Techniques for Improving the Performance of Ramp Control Systems Using Archived ITS Data" (co-authored with graduate student Ahmed El-Geneidy) at the Eleventh World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems in Nagoya, Japan on October 21, 2004. Bertini travelled to Japan as a member of an official U.S. delegation on a Scan Tour focusing on ITS safety applications, accompanied by Bruce Warner, director of the Oregon Department of Transportation and directors of the Utah, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Texas and California DOTs. As part of the trip, Bertini also performed weather research during typhoon Tokage, Japan's worst storm in 22 years. | ||||
 Bertini, El-Geneidy and Yin Travel to Washington, D.C. • October 2004 Along with co-author students Michael Rose and Andrew Byrd, Robert Bertini (Civil and Environmental Engineering faculty) Ahmed El-Geneidy and Thareth Yin (students) presented three papers at the IEEE 7th Annual Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Washington, D.C., October 4-6, 2004: "Using Archived ATMS Data for the Performance Evaluation of a Freeway Incident Response Program," "Toward Validation of Freeway Loop Detector Speed Measurements Using Transit Probe Data" and "Implementing the ITS Archived Data User Service in Portland, Oregon." The papers appear in the peer-reviewed conference proceedings. | ||||
 ITS Lab Releases First Annual Portland Performance Measures Report • September 2004 The PSU ITS Lab and colleagues recently released their first annual Portland Performance Measures Report. The media covered some aspects of this occasion, and the coverage is summarized here. | ||||
 ITS Lab Featured in Oregon Business Magazine • September 2004 The ITS is featured in the recent issue of Oregon Business Magazine, which is a special issue entitled Research Oregon. The story about PSU appears beginning on page 19. Congratulations to the ITS Lab team! | ||||
 ITS Lab Researchers Featured in Oregonian Editiorial • August 2004 Portland State University professors Chris Monsere, Robert Bertini, Jennifer Dill, Anthony Rufolo,OHSU professor Craig Newgard, and Kittelson and Associates' Beth Wemple recently completed a study on the impacts and issues of changing interstate speeds in Oregon. Results cited in the Oregonian (here) or read the full report (here) | ||||
 ITS Lab Gathers at Portland City Grill • August 2004 The ITS Lab faculty and students gathered recently to thank and bid farewell to two lab graduates: Mike Rose, who is now working at Alta Planning + Design and Chris Pangilinan who is now an student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to obtain his M.S. in transportation engineering. Gathered (left to right) were Steve Hansen, Dr. Chris Monsere, Dr. Robert Bertini, Mike Rose, Casey Nolan, Erin Qureshi, Chris Pangilinan, Matt Dorado, Abram VanElswyck and Jacob Baglien. We thank Mike and Chris for their efforts and wish them the very best in their new adventures. | ||||
 ITS Lab Featured in Best of Portland Issue of Willamette Week • August 2004 Best traffic overlord -- Portland State University professor Robert Bertini (bertini.org) has got his eye on you--or at least your car. Operating over 60 cameras in conjunction with the Oregon Department of Transportation, TriMet and the City of Portland, the transportation aficionado heads PSU's Intelligent Transportation Systems Laboratory. It's a budding research center dedicated to improving transportation efficiency and safety by using road sensors and video surveillance to analyze traffic patterns. One of the lab's main projects is to develop a data archive cataloguing the number and speed of vehicles traveling on freeways, information that can be used to determine how heavy traffic is at any given moment. In the future, you could use this info to avoid gridlock and shorten your commute. So, the next time you're stuck in traffic, be consoled with the thought that Bertini and his lab are watching--and looking for a way to get you out of it." | ||||
 Bertini and Rufolo Publish Book Chapter • August 2004 Robert L. Bertini and Anthony M. Rufolo recently published a peer-reviewed book chapter entitled, "Technology Considerations for the Implementation of a Statewide Road User Fee System" in Economic Impacts of Intelligent Transportation Systems: Innovations and Case Studies , Elsevier, Research in Transportation Economics, August 2004. | ||||
 ITS Lab Student Presents Paper at ITE District 6 Annual Meeting • June 2004 ITS Lab student Casey Nolan presented a paper "Examination of the Impact of Speed Upon Highway Safety: An Oregon Perspective" at the Institute of Transportation Engineers District 6 Annual Meeting in Sacramento, California on June 21, 2004. The paper was co-authored with other lab students Tarek El-Seoud and Carolyn Bonner as well as lab director Bertini. | ||||
 Bertini Presents Research Results at the North American Travel Monitoring Exhibition and Conference (NATMEC), San Diego • June 2004 Bertini Presents Research Results at the North American Travel Monitoring Exhibition and Conference (NATMEC), San Diego, June 2004.Session 21, Session 24, Session 42 | ||||
 PSU Students Visit UW STAR Lab • May 2004 PSU's ITS Lab students were hosted by Dr. Yinhai Wang, Ryan Avery and other students in the new Smart Transportation Applications and Research (STAR) laboratory. Dr. Nancy Nihan also joined us for a barbecue, then Dr. Wang, Dr. Monsere, Dr. Bertini and a group of PSU and UW students attended a Mariners game. A great day of research and fun for all involved! See PSU photos and UW Photos | ||||
 ITS Lab Student Wins WTS Award • May 2004 PSU ITS Lab student Carolyn Bonner won the Womens Transportation Seminar Portland Graduate Student Award. Attending the awards banquet were (left to right): Thareth Yin, Dr. Chris Monsere, Carolyn Bonner, Lynn Peterson, Dr. Robert Bertini, ITS Lab Alumna Shazia Malik, Violet Gordon and Nivedita Doijode. Congratulations Carolyn! | ||||
| Dr. Chris Monsere Joins Lab Faculty • April 2004 We are pleased to announce that Dr. Chris Monsere has joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering as a Research Assistant Professor, and also joins the ITS Lab as Assistant Director. Chris earned his Ph.D. from Iowa State University in 2001, and worked for three years as the Oregon DOT Highway Safety Engineer. Chris will be leading our new traffic safety initiative with the City of Portland among other new, exciting projects. Learn more by visiting Dr. Monsere's Home Page. | ||||
 Bertini and El-Geneidy Publish Book Chapter • April 2004 Robert L. Bertini and Ahmed El-Geneidy recently published a peer-reviewed book chapter entitled "Using Archived Advanced Traffic Management System Data to Evaluate ITS Investments" in Assessing the Benefits and Costs of Intelligent Transportation Systems, Kluwer Academic Publishers , Transportation Research, Economics and Policy, Volume 10, April 2004. | ||||
| ITS Lab Project Featured in The Portland Daily Journal of Commerce • March 2004 The ITS Lab was featured in an article discussing transportation and technology. See article | ||||
 Hansen and Bertini visit BMW • March 2004 Graduate research assistant Steve Hansen and lab director Bertini visited the BMW Group's research and innovation center in Munich, Germany in March 2004. The visit included a presentation to the traffic technology research department, a workshop with other researchers from Great Britain and Germany, and a presentation and work session with representatiives from BMW of North America. The photo shows from left to right, Dr. Klaus Bogenberger, Dr. Georg Lerner, Bertini and Hansen. | ||||
 ITS Lab Project Featured in The Columbian, Clark County, Washington • March 2004 Story features discussion of freeway incident response programs in Washington and Oregon and discusses our recently completed evaluation of the Oregon DOT Region 1 COMET Program. | ||||
  Students Accompany Commissioner Francesconi and Senator Wyden on TriMet Tour • March 2004 PSU students Chris Pangilinan (at left) and Erin Quereshi (at right) accompanied City of Portland Commissioner Jim Francesconi (shown with both students) on a tour of TriMet's proposed new light rail corridors. Also on the trip was U.S. Senator Ron Wyden. | ||||
 ITS Lab Project Featured in The Portland Daily Journal of Commerce • February 2004 The ITS Lab was featured in an article in PDJC. See article | ||||
 Bertini Attends CUTC Dinner • January 2004 Lab Director Bertini was honored to be asked to attend the Council of University Transportation Centers dinner at the Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board in Washington, D.C., as a guest of Ryan Avery, graduate student at the University of Washington. Ryan received the Region 10 Student of the Year Award. Pictured above from left to right, Bertini, Avery, and Dr. Nancy Nihan, Director of TransNow, and Professor at the University of Washington. | ||||
 IEEE 6th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC2003), Shanghai, China • October 2003 Lab director Dr. Robert Bertini visited China in October 2003 to participate in the IEEE 6th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC2003) in Shanghai, China. In addition to serving on the international program committee, Bertini presented two peer-reviewed papers at the conference: "Toward the Systematic Diagnosis of Freeway Bottleneck Activation," and "Arterial Performance Measurement Using Transit Buses as Probe Vehicles," co-authored with graduate student Sutti Tantiyanugulchai. Bertini also moderated a session on Freeway Incident Management. | ||||
 Intelligent Transportation Systems Laboratory Open House Held! • October 2003 On Friday October 10, 3-5 pm, Dean Robert Dryden and lab director Robert Bertini hosted a lab open house attended by more than 100 regional transportation professionals, alumni and PSU supporters. Representatives of the Oregon Department of Transportation included John Rosenberger (Deputy Director), Matt Garrett (Region 1 Director) and Dennis Mitchell, Region 1 traffic manager. From the City of Portland, we were honored to have Brant Williams, PDOT Director and Bill Kloos, Signals and Lighting Manager. | ||||
 ITS Lab Student Wins Best Paper Award • August 2003 Sutti Tantiyanugulchai, graduate research assistant, received the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) District 6 Annual Meeting Best Paper Award in Seattle, Washington on August 27 2003 for his paper "Analysis of a Transit Bus as a Probe Vehicle for Arterial Performance Measurement." Sutti also presented the paper, and it appears in the Annual Meeting proceedings. Sutti co-authored the paper with Prof. Robert L. Bertini. Several other ITS Lab papers were presented at the ITE Annual Meeting. Students Roger Lindgren and Sutti Tantiyanugulchai presented "Microscopic Simulation of Traffic at a Suburban Interchange." Robert L. Bertini presented a paper, "Crash Data Reporting And Analysis - An Oregon Pilot Study," co-authored with graduate research assistant Shazia Malik and Christopher Monsere of the Oregon Department of Transportation. Bertini and Monica Leal of DKS Associates (an ITS Lab alumna) also presented their paper, "Bus Rapid Transit: An Alternative for Developing Countries." These papers also appear in the Annual Meeting proceedings. | ||||
 House Subcommitte Earmarks $750,000 For PSU Transportation Research • June 2003 The Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives has designated $750,000 in federal funds for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) research and laboratory at PSU. The federal earmarked funds will go toward matching the $26.5 million in XI-G bonds issued by the state of Oregon for the new engineering building, and will move the University closer to construction of the Northwest Center for Engineering, Science and Technology. The new building is expected to open in 2005, with an entire floor dedicated to intelligent transportation systems research. Full coverage on this story: Portland State University Press Release The Oregonian Portland Business Journal | ||||
 Eighth International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management (CUPUM), Sendai, Japan, • May 2003 Prof. Robert Bertini spent the last week of May 2003 in Sendai, Japan, in order to give a presentation developed together with Ph.D. student and Graduate Research Assistant Ahmed El-Geneidy. The presentation discussed the topic of "Integrating Geographic Information Systems and Intelligent Transportation Systems to Improve Incident Management and Life Safety". Take a look at the CUPUM '03 website to learn more about the conference. | ||||
