The Transportation Planning Division announced the winners of this year’s Student Paper Competition at the APA Conference held in San Francisco, California in March 2005. The division congratulates our undergraduate winner: Stacy Clenney, from Florida State University for her paper titled Exploring the use of TOD. Stacy’s paper stood out for her good selection of citations that were used effectively within the text, an engaging beginning, and her astute description of the complexities involved with shifting policies and practice from automobile dominated development. Our graduate winner was Eric Sundquist, currently studying at Georgia Tech, for his paper titled, You Get What You Measure. Eric’s paper used a broad range of citations that included books, papers, and journals, with a well-developed theme and balanced suggested new approaches with the inherent problems of shifting from current paradigms. Both winners were presented with a cash award and an annual membership in the APA - Transportation Planning Division.

The division wishes to extend thanks to the division members that volunteered their time to review and rank the submittals. The review team was coordinated by Ruth L. Steiner, Associate Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Florida and included: Robert E. Bush, AICP, Senior Transit Planner at Wilbur Smith Associates in Raleigh, North Carolina; Kate Garwood, AICP, Multimodal Transportation Manager, Anoka County Highway Department in Andover, Minnesota; Mary Kihl, FAICP, Professor, School of Planning and Landscape Architecture at Arizona State University and Karen Lamberton, AICP, Senior Transportation Planner for Pima Association of Governments in Tucson, Arizona.

The Transportation Planning Division announced the winners of this year’s Student Paper Competition at the APA Conference held in Washington, DC in April, 2004. The division congratulates our first place winner: Daniel Prevost, University of Virginia, for his paper titled The Geography of Public Participation, Using GIS to Evaluate the Public Outreach Program of Highway Planning Studies and our second place winner: Jee-seong Chung, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for his paper titled Pedestrian Environment as an Urban Indicator. Both winners were presented with a cash award and an annual membership in the APA - Transportation Planning Division.

Daniel Prevost completed his graduate paper as an independent study under the guidance of David Phillips for the University of Virginia. Prevost is now working for Parsons Consulting in New York City. His winning essay stood out for his clearly stated thesis, outstanding quality of writing, relevant graphics and innovative approach to evaluating the response rates of public participation efforts. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) the author analyzed the response rates of the public to an outreach program conducted by the Virginia Department of Transportation on the Capital Beltway highway study. Proximity to the project area corresponded to the highest levels of response, as well as the highest levels of opposition. However, areas of high minority populations and lower income were less likely to participate; in fact, this study found that of the nine block groups meeting the environmental justices thresholds for this study only one achieved a inclusion rate over five percent. Daniel’s conclusion was that GIS can be a tool to not only assess, but also to redirect and improve, public outreach programs.

The second place winner is Jee-seong Chung, who completed his paper under the direction of Joseph Ferrerra at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Chung plans to continue his studies with the goal of obtaining a Ph.D. at MIT. Shifting focus from moving automobiles to a more holistic approach of moving people requires changes in the way the transportation industry assess the effectiveness of travel modes. Chung’s essay set forth an insightful methodology for measuring pedestrian environments and used a grid-based analyses model in the City of Boston as a case study. An excellent critique of the strengths and weaknesses of this method of evaluating pedestrian environment combined with strong citations impressed this year’s reviewers. Chung concludes that incorporating data sources readily available into in-depth analysis of pedestrian environments can help planners improve the pedestrian environment and enhance both a sense of place and the sustainability of urban design.

The division wishes to extend thanks to the division members that volunteered their time to review and rank the submittals. The review team was coordinated by Ruth L. Steiner, Associate Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Florida and included: Robert E. Bush, AICP, Senior Transit Planner at Wilbur Smith Associates in Raleigh, North Carolina; Kate Garwood, AICP, Multimodal Transportation Manager, Anoka County Highway Department in Andover, Minnesota; Mary Kihl, FAICP, Professor, School of Planning and Landscape Architecture at Arizona State University and Karen Lamberton, AICP, Senior Transportation Planner for Pima Association of Governments in Tucson, Arizona.