Amount of funding awarded
$930.00
Budget Report
View budget report.
How the program has supported you
PAF provided our team of three engineering undergraduate students with funding to travel to Portland for the ITE Oregon Traffic Bowl. The traffic bowl is a friendly competition between student teams with questions based on transportation engineering issues and concepts. The competition is an essential means for students to broaden their understanding of transportation analysis and design approaches beyond the theoretical concepts taught in class. Having first-hand knowledge of these standards benefits competing students, who can demonstrate to potential employers they understand and are ready to apply well-used transportation engineering standards and practices.
In addition, the trip included a bike tour of Portland led by a senior engineer at the Portland Bureau of Transportation, as well as an afternoon presentation hosted by Kittleson & Associates, a local consulting company.
Outcomes
UBC played well and placed second in the competition! Preparing for traffic bowl helped our students gain and test their knowledge of fundamental transportation concepts in a setting between the classroom and the industry. At the event, the team was able to connect and network with ~20 other students and ~40 industry professionals, including representatives from over 15 local transportation firms and agencies. This could lead to job or future opportunities for members of our team.
The UBC ITE student chapter is benefiting from increased collaboration with our counterparts in Oregon, including invitations to future joint events and conferences. This will provide more learning opportunities for transportation students, across a wider geographic scope. Finally, the experience of travelling to Portland, the technical session, and the bike tour helped our students identify new approaches and opportunities, particularly as it relates to active transportation design.
