While the generation of new knowledge is important, we believe the application of new and existing knowledge to practice is even more so.  Thus, the bulk of our work is applied in nature and often inclusive of both undergraduate and graduate students in the process:

  • Applying Research to Practice. Transportation research at the University of Oregon focuses on applied, policy-relevant, sustainability and equity-based topics.  Researchers from city planning, public administration, architecture, business, computer science, law, journalism, and other disciplines often focus  on some combination of sustainable land use, street re-design, and behavior and policy change needed to increase the share of trips made by space-efficient, low carbon, healthy, affordable, and more equitable modes of transport such as walking, biking, transit, and e-scooters. The dramatic rise of ridehailing and the development of autonomous vehicles represents enormous disruption and opportunity to all communities as to how they are able to (or not) address their important environmental, social, and economic challenges.  Our research aims to help policymakers and communities proactively address these technological disruptions with enough evidence to make the best decisions possible.
  • Opportunities for Undergraduate and Graduate Students Engage in UO Transportation Research. Cross-disciplinary research is often supported by Key Research Partners, such as the Sustainable Cities Institute (SCI), Urbanism Next Center, and the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC). Applied coursework, often through the Sustainable City Year Program (SCYP) gives students additional opportunities to apply research to practice while still in the classroom. LiveMove, the UO’s Transportation & Livability student group, regularly brings in national transportation experts to engage with researchers, students, and the broader community on emerging, national transportation issues.  And the UO’s regularly offered study abroad course in Denmark and the Netherlands focused on “Designing Cities for People on Bike” provides additional opportunity for students to link innovative practice to their own research.

Here are some of the projects we working on and interested in working on.  If you  have any interest in any of these, let us know.  And have a look at some of our Past Research Projects.

Current Research

  • Rethinking Streets During COVID – Download the 2021 Case Study Book – it’s free!
  • V2X: Integrating Micromobility into the Traffic Signal Infrastructure to Optimize User Experience
  • Can Low-Income Car Programs Take on Ridehailing Functions to Serve More People Without Increasing Car Ownership?
  • Matching the Speed of Technology with The Speed of Local Government
  • Investigating Effects of TNCs on Parking Demand and Revenues
  • Equity Outcomes of Mobility on Demand Pilot Programs
  • Equity of New Transit Fare Technologies
  • Scooter, Bike, And Car Parking Behaviors and Violations
  • The Impacts of Autonomous Vehicles On Local Government Budgeting and Finance

Examples of Possible Research

  • An Experimental Examination of the How Information and Subsidies Influence Bike Share Use
  • Influence of Bike Share Use Electrification of the fleet and managing the grid: field experiments on pricing and behavior
  • How to Accelerate Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure Change: Bottom Up or Top Down?
  • Developing new ways to measure, analyze, and re-purpose the street
  • Impacts of ride hailing on transportation, streets, curbs, parking, and cities
  • Technology, mobility as a service, and environmental psychology
  • Carbon, health, and infrastructure impact assessments of sustainable transport and new mobility
  • Modal choice and the coproduction of government services
  • E-commerce and urban freight generation across a metropolitan area
  • New Mobility and e-commerce impacts on street design
  • Understanding regional transportation-housing cost burdens
  • Transportation, community resilience, and pre- and post- disaster recovery
  • Vehicle to vehicle and vehicle to infrastructure communication
  • The Impact of Ride Hail Services on the Accessibility of Nonprofit Services
  • Ride-hailing services, air quality, and congestion
  • Understanding the environmental and psychological factors affecting the use of transit
  • Understanding how transportation knowledge gets put into practice
  • Environmental and health impact calculations for changes in travel patterns related to mode switching and new mobility (ride-hailing services/bike sharing/e-bikes/e-scooters)
  • Evaluations of transport policies (incl. pricing schemes, regulations, infrastructure) on mode choice/travel behavior?
  • Identifying and/or developing adequate methods to evaluate schemes for active transportation?
  • What is the role of objective and perceived safety in cycling: development of adequate methods to assess cycling safety and identification of measures to improve it.
  • Evaluation of traffic calming schemes: effects on speed, noise, safety, acceptance with neighbors, drivers, planners, etc.