WTI is excited to announce two upcoming sessions of the Summer Transportation Camp at Montana State University – free weeklong camps for middle school students.
For: Middle School students
(entering grades 6-9 in Fall 2021)
What: Two weeklong camps at
the MSU Western Transportation Institute (9am – 3pm) to get everyone moving.
Each day camp participants will explore a variety of science, engineering, and
design topics related to promoting active, safe, and sustainable transportation
systems.
Activities will include:
– hands-on design
challenges
– local trail explorations
by bike
– field trips of
discovery
When: June 21-25 and July
12-16, 2021
Cost: Free! There
is no cost to camp participants thanks to a generous grant from the Montana
Department of Transportation (MDT) and the U.S. Federal Highway Administration
(FHWA)
In a recent feature article, Montana State University News Service detailed the contributions of MSU students to future plans for Soroptimist Park in Bozeman, Montana. The students are part of the Community-Engaged and Transformational Scholarship (CATS) program, led by WTI, which matches projects identified and prioritized by Montana communities with students and faculty in relevant disciplines at MSU to assist in making those projects reality. During the Fall 2020 semester, students in two undergraduate courses in the MSU College of Agriculture gained hands-on experience working with the city of Bozeman on research, site visits, and design workshops, which culminated in recommendations and designs for renovating the park into a multi-use urban plaza.
Montana State University senior Bryce Grame has a long-term plan for a career in transportation. With a major in Civil Engineering and a minor in statistics, he is interested in a future that will allow him to work “at the intersection of traffic engineering and transportation planning,” on issues such as emerging technologies and micromobility.
In preparation, Bryce is working as research assistant at WTI, gaining professional, hands-on experience and also providing valuable support to several projects across the mobility and safety program areas. For the Highway Safety Behavioral Strategies project, he worked with Jamie Sullivan on the development of a rural road safety countermeasure toolkit. He also served on the team led by Matt Madsen to install and evaluate the pilot “pop-up” calming and speed reduction treatments in Ennis, Montana. He is currently working with Rebecca Gleason and Andrea Hamre to evaluate the effectiveness of dynamic flashing beacons installed on rural scenic cycling routes that activate when cyclists pass over their sensors. Outside of his coursework and WTI projects Bryce has found time to lead the student ITE chapter at MSU, serve as a Resident Advisor, and squeeze in favorite activities like running, hiking, CRU community, and spending time with family.
With his upcoming graduation in May (with Summa Cum Laude Honors), the next steps in Bryce’s plans are a summer internship as a transportation analysist, followed by starting a Transportation Engineering Ph.D. program at the University of Florida. Based on his hard work and enthusiasm here at WTI, we see a bright future on the road ahead.
Congratulations to Ali Rahim-Taleqani of North Dakota State University (NDSU). Ali has been recognized as a 2020 Outstanding Student of the Year by the University Transportation Centers for his contributions to the Small Urban, Rural and Tribal Center on Mobility led by the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University. Ali has over 10 years of experience in international freight forwarding, logistics, and domestic transport. He received his PhD in Transportation and Logistics from NDSU in May 2020.
During his doctoral studies, he worked on several projects relating to micro-mobility using simulation, optimization, and machine learning. Now a master’s degree student in Computer Science, Ali is conducting research with the Small Urban and Rural Center on Mobility (SURCOM) at NDSU’s Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute. He is currently developing a web application that will help rural and small urban transit agencies identify and project their state of good repair.
In addition to receiving
his PhD in 2020, Ali published his third journal article, “Maximum Closeness
Centrality K-Clubs: A Study of Dock-Less Bike Sharing in the Journal of
Advanced Transportation.
The City of Bozeman and Montana State University (MSU) students are partnering up to strengthen stormwater outreach efforts. Dr. Sarah Church, a professor in MSU’s Department of Earth Sciences, is leading a group of undergraduate students in a Geography course in the development of an online survey. This project is in collaboration with City staff who implement the City’s Stormwater Management Program. Bozeman residents received an insert in utility bills last month to encourage participation in the survey. Survey responses will help the City understand how to best create effective messaging and tailor programs specifically for Bozeman residents.
Dr. Church said that the students have worked hard over the past two months to learn about survey design and have developed excellent survey questions. “We are all excited to see the survey responses and the students are eager to begin analyzing the data to report back to the City – the more responses we get the more robust our findings will be,” Church said.
Frank Greenhill, a Water Quality Specialist with the City’s Stormwater Division, said that he is excited for the opportunity to work with such a talented group of students at MSU. “This is a great example of how a strong relationship between the City and MSU can work to solve complex local challenges.”
Mr. Greenhill also said that he is looking forward to analyzing the results of the survey as they will help the City key in on certain program areas and introduce new opportunities. “Surveys provide a valuable opportunity to hear from the customers we serve, and to reflect on what works, what does not, and, most importantly, what we can do better.”
The West Region Transportation Workforce Center (WRTWC), which is based at WTI, will host a webinar on October 7 (11 am Mountain Time), which will focus on “Engaging Multidisciplinary Student Talent to Meet Agency Needs.” Four speakers from MSU and the City of Bozeman will highlight the Community-engaged and Transformational Scholarship Initiative (CATS), a successful 3-year partnership between MSU and the City of Bozeman that offers students the opportunity to work on community-based projects through their university courses.
Thanks to MSU News Service for highlighting the webinar with a feature article on its website! Read more about the CATS program, the upcoming series of webinars on workforce development topics, and insights from WTI’s Education Program Manager Susan Gallagher, who will be one of the featured speakers.
MSU Speakers will highlight successful program offering professional development and career exposure to university students
How do we inspire the next generation of transportation professionals and start filling growing workforce needs in the transportation sector? Join the National Network for the Transportation Workforce for a 4-part webinar series on how to achieve effective student career engagement and priority workforce development during the pandemic and over the long term.
The West Region Transportation Workforce Center (WRTWC), which is based at WTI, will host the first webinar on October 7 (11 am Mountain Time), which will focus on “Engaging Multidisciplinary Student Talent to Meet Agency Needs.” Four speakers from MSU and the City of Bozeman will highlight the Community-engaged and Transformational Scholarship Initiative (CATS), a successful 3-year partnership between MSU and the City of Bozeman that offers students the opportunity to work on community-based projects through their university courses. Speakers will include:
Susan Gallagher, Director, West Region Transportation Workforce Center
Susanne Cowan, Professor, Montana State University School of Architecture
Larissa Morales, Grad Student, Montana State University School of Architecture
Danielle Hess, City of Bozeman Neighborhoods Coordinator
Learn more and sign-up for this free event on the registration webpage. Future webinars in the series will include:
October 27: State of the Transportation and Mobility Workforce
November 18: The Role of Industry-Academia Partnerships in Preparing K-12 Students
for Transportation Careers
December 3: Providing Training and Education During the pandemic:
Challenges and Solutions at State DOTs
MSU ITE Student Chapter (Photo credit: Prof. Eric Shen, USC)
The Montana State
University (MSU) Student Chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers
(ITE) has worked hard in recent years to grow its membership and its
professional opportunities for engineering students, and the effort has paid
off! At the annual meeting of the
Western and Mountain ITE Districts, the MSU Chapter was selected for the
Momentum Award, which recognizes the student chapter that has most improved
over the last year. The MSU attendees
also took second place in the Collegiate Traffic Bowl, a team competition that
tests the knowledge of students on a variety of transportation planning and
engineering topics.
ITE is a national association for transportation professionals, offering technical resources, training, and professional development. To attract and prepare the next generation of professionals, ITE encourages student involvement through university ITE chapters, leadership summits, competitions, and awards. The student chapter at MSU currently has about 35 active members. WTI research engineer Dr.Ahmed Al-Kaisyserves as the chapter’s faculty advisor. They have been very busy over the last academic year, with activities that included attending a student leadership conference in Los Angeles, CA, leading activities for K-12 students at the annual MSU Engineer-a-Thon, hosting professional speakers and networking events, and conducting hands on technical activities like traffic data collection.
Chapter
President Bryce Grame and four other members attended the District
Meeting held in early July. Although
virtual this year, the attendees found it very rewarding. “With
some virtual sessions having upwards of 200 attendees, the access to industry
knowledge was expanded exponentially by moving the conference online,” said
Bryce. “As a student, I had the privilege of learning about new industry
findings and best practices through technical sessions, participating in
student leadership workshops to better serve our ITE@MSU student chapter,
receiving feedback from professionals on my resume, networking with my peers
through online social events, and competing in the annual Student Traffic Bowl
Competition.”
WTI is pleased to work
with the MSU ITE student chapter each year, collaborating on research project
activities, providing speakers, and sponsoring activities. For more information about the chapter,
contact ITE.montanastateuniversity@gmail.com or visit https://montanastateite.weebly.com/
The West Region Transportation Workforce Center has released the University Partnership Playbook, a step-by-step guide for creating multi-project collaborations between public agencies and universities. The collaborations offer students hands-on transportation project experience within their university courses and provide agencies with added expertise and capacity for community-based projects.
The Playbook uses the Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities (EPIC) Model, a framework for making university resources (faculty, students, laboratories, specialized and multidisciplinary expertise, etc.) available to public entities to help solve their priority challenges. At the same time, it promotes professional development and career awareness opportunities for university students.
Designed for public agencies and other potential partners who are interested in starting or expanding a partnership with a university, the playbook includes:
Tried and true implementation steps for organizing a successful university partnership
Common challenges and fixes
Adaptations to the model
Success stories from different locations around the country, which highlight potential outcomes and benefits
The University Partnership Playbook is available to read or download on the WRTWC Resources webpage.