pacific nw transportation consortium region 10 Pactrans

PacTrans has a steadfast devotion to the education and cultivation of the next generation of transportation professionals. We do this by offering fellowships and financial support, sending students to prominent conferences to listen to or present work, we sponsor student competitions and student chapters of professional organizations, we host seminars and workshops, and we recognize excellence with the annual Michael Kyte Outstanding Student of the Year Award.

One unique way that our consortium partner Oregon State University supports students is through their Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program. This year, the program awarded upwards of twenty fellowships (up from eleven last year) to support hands-on research. This year’s focus is on “Engineering Solutions for Resilience, Safety, and Infrastructure Renewal.” During the eight-week program, students participate in a specific project related to one of those three focus areas, learned about the engineering that goes into such work, and develops research skills to increase graduate school opportunities.

Each student is equipped with a $4,500 stipend, and a research project with a faculty mentor, and has the opportunity to participate in field trips for site-specific field work, weekly seminars from noted speakers, and informal lunch meetings to discuss graduate school. At the culmination of the program the students will present at a final symposium to highlight their work. The date for that symposium is August 11, 2017. For more information about the program and the project list for this summer, click here.

This year, PacTrans is directly supporting the program by matching support for Scott Logan-Deeter’s appointment in the OSU Driving and Bicycling Simulator. We are very excited to be involved in such a great summer opportunity that both furthers students’ education and challenges them to go on to higher education.