People
PORTAL Faculty

Robert L. Bertini, Ph.D., P.E.

Associate Professor
Civil & Environmental Engineering and Urban Studies & Planning
Director
Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC)

                       Ph.D., Civil Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, 1999
                       M.S., Civil Engineering, San Jose State University, 1991
                       B.S., Civil Engineering, California Polytechnic State University, 1988

With 18 years of experience in the transportation field, Robert L. Bertini's career has included planning, design, and construction of highway, rail and airport facilities. At Portland State, Bertini has developed a research program, laboratory, and graduate curriculum in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), attracting more than $3.2 million in external funding (www.its.pdx.edu). Bertini is the recipient of the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award, which is supporting the development of PORTAL, an online transportation data archive (portal.its.pdx.edu). As director of the statewide Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC, see www.otrec.us), his research focuses on the integration of new technologies and is benefiting from collaborations with other disciplines such as urban planning and electrical engineering/computer science. Bertini works in partnership with local, regional, state, federal, and international transportation organizations on research that integrates new technologies toward making our transportation system more efficient, effective, and equitable. Bertini's research interests include: new data sources, sensor technology, data analysis, data fusion; traffic flow theory and macroscopic modeling; performance measures and evaluation of transportation systems, programs and policies; safety data analysis and improvements for pedestrians and bicyclists; multimodal traveler information, routing and control; and sustainability through new mobility services and alternative fuels. Prior to entering academia, Bertini worked as a transportation engineer and served as a City Planning Commissioner (for more information see web.pdx.edu/~bertini)

Kristin Tufte, Ph.D.

Research Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science and Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

Ph.D., Computer Science, University of Wisconsin Madison, 2005
M.S., Computer Science, University of Wisconsin Madison, 1996
B.A., Mathematics, St. Olaf College, 1988

Dr. Kristin Tufte is a Research Assistant Professor in the departments of Computer Science and Civil & Environment Engineering. Dr. Tufte also holds an appointment with the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC). Dr. Tufte's area of specialization is data management and the application of data management technologies to Intelligent Transportation Systems. Dr. Tufte studies techniques for processing data streams such as network (Internet) traffic and traffic sensor data addressing the challenges inherent in procesins such bursty and disordered. Since July 2005, Dr. Tufte has worked with the Intelligent Transportation Systems Lab at Portland State University. At the ITS Lab Dr. Tufte has been involved in developing the PORTAL transportation data archive and in efforts to validate travel time estimation and assess the quality of the data in the PORTAL data archive. In addition, Dr. Tufte is involved in development of the latte stream-archive processing system and the Niagara Stream Query Engine.

PORTAL Staff

Spicer Matthews
Staff Researcher

B.S. Computer Science, Portland State University

Spicer would like to think of himself as an international man of mystery, a connoisseur of life, a sage of perfection, or even a conqueror of intellect. However, none of these things are true. Spicer is actually a staff researcher on the PORTAL project and is currently working on prototype Web 2.0 features for PORTAL. Along with working on PORTAL, Spicer is also a property manager and IT consultant. Yes, a rather odd combo, you will have to corner Spicer to find out more about this broad career that he has. When he is not working, Spicer loves snowboarding, mountain biking, and white water kayaking.


PORTAL Students
Rafael Fernandez-Moctezuma
Ph.D. Student, Computer Science, Portland State University
B.S. Computer Systems Engineering, Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, San Luis Pososi, Mexico, 2001
M.S. Computer Science, OGI-OHSU, Portland, Oregon, 2005
Graduate Research Assistant

Rafael was born and raised in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. He received his B.S. in Computer Systems Engineering from ITESM Campus San Luis (2001), and his M.Sc. in Computer Science from OGI-OHSU (2005). He is currently pursuing hs Ph.D. in Computer Science at Portland State University. His interests in database systems, machine learning, and knowledge discovery in databases intersect well with his curiosity in transportation systems. He is currently interested in system state estimation problems found in transportation. He enjoys photography, opera, science fiction, and politics.
 
Nevin Freeman
M.S. Student, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Portland State University
B.S, Portland State University, Portland, OR, 2009
Graduate Research Assistant

Nevin moved to Portland from his home town of Ashland, OR in 2005. He is a new member on the PORTAL team, and is happy to finally have a reason to learn R. He likes bikes, and is involved with the PSU Cycling Team, the PSU Bike Advocacy Collective, and the Community Development Student Group.
 
Sathish Kumar Periasamy
M.S. Student, Computer Science, Portland State University
B.Tech Information Technology, Sathyabama University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, 2005
Graduate Research Assistant

Sathish Kumar was born and brought up in India. He did his B.Tech there and worked for two years in Third Binary Alternatives, India. He has lots of experience developing web applications and banking applications. He has worked on projects for top companies like EMC, BankOfAmerica, Merrill Lynch. His research interest in Databases, Programming Languages made him come to the US to do Master's degree in the field of Computer Science. He enjoys working on new things in the PORTAL project (currently R Plot). He likes the scenic beauty and the climate of Portand. He loves outdoor activities (Travelling to scenic places, playing cricket, water games, riding car). He hopes to enjoy visiting lots of new places in the US.
 
Shreemoyee Sarkar
M.S. Student, Computer Science, Portland State University
B.Tech Electrical Engineering, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar,India, 2005
Graduate Research Assistant

Shreemoyee moved to Portland from India in 2009 and fell in love with its natural beauty. After her Bachelor's degree, she was working as a software engineer with Infosys Technologies Limited in Bangalore, India. She wishes to pursue her Master's degree in the field of Computer Science. Her interest lies in doing cutting-edge research in the field of algorithm development, databases and programming languages. She loves to work on the PORTAL project as well as other projects with the ITS lab. In her free time she enjoys playing violin and pencil sketching.
 
James Whiteneck
B.S. Student, Computer Science, Portland State University
B.S. Computer Science, Portland State University, Portland, OR, 2009
Graduate Research Assistant

James was born in Walnut Creek, CA and grew up in the Bay Area. He moved up to Portland in the summer of 2006 and really enjoys it up here. He's just finished his BS degree in Computer Science and is continuing on for a MS. In his free time James loves watching sports, playing dodgeball and basketball, movies, playing poker, and watching movies.
 


PORTAL Alumni
Ben Auffray
M.S. Student, Civil & Environmental Engineering, L'école nationale des travaux publics d'Etat (ENTPE)
B.S., Civil Engineering, National School of Public State Work, Marseille, France

Ben grew up in the South of France and studied in Marseille. After college, Ben spent 3 years in an intensive class dealing with math and physics then sat for a nationwide exam which gave him the opportunity to enter the ENTPE (National School of Public State Work) as a civil servant which required an internship of 6 months. Due to his interest in transport, Ben chose to come to the ITS Lab at Portland State University. Ben really enjoys sports such as basketball, soccer, volleyball, skiing, and sailing and plans to get involved in the Portland sports scene soon! Ben presented a paper at the ITE District 6 Annual Meeting in Hawaii in 2006.
 
Priya Chavan
M.S., Computer Science, Portland State University, 2008
B.E. Computer Science & Engineering, Visveswaraiah Technological University, Belgaum, India, 2004

Priya was born and raised in Bagalkot, Karnataka India. She obtained a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Visveswaraiah Technological University in 2004. She worked at Infosys's Bangalore campus for 1.5 years. She moved to San Bruno, California in March 2006 and worked there as a software engineer for 6 months. She came to Portland State University in Fall 2006 to get an opportunity to do cutting-edge research and earn her Master's degree. Her interests are in the field of databases and network security.
 
John Chee
M.S., Computer Science, Portland State University, 2009
B.S. Computer Science, Portland State University, Portland, OR, 2008

John Chee was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. Growing up in Portland he became familiar with both high technology and urban transportation. After finishing his B.S. at Portland State he decided to pursue a M.S. in Computer Science with a focus on databases and programming languages. John works on the PORTAL project and loves to work with scripts and interfaces managing and presenting the massive amount of data the project is collecting. In his free time he likes to play video games, listen to vocal trance, discuss computing and modern religion.
 
Steve Hansen
Master of Urban and Regional Planning, School of Urban Studies & Planning, Portland State University, 2005
B.S., Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, Cornell University, Cornell, New York

Steve received a B.S. in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University. His interests include traffic flow theory, transportation and land use modeling, and sustainable development. Steve is currently studying traffic features related to queued and congested flows using loop detector data from a highway in Germany. His work experience includes managing a data warehouse of nationwide sales data for a 5,000 person sales force. As an intern at 1000 Friends of Oregon, he helped coordinate a community design charrette. Before moving to Portland, Oregon, Steve spent two years as a ski instructor in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Experiencing the natural beauty of Jackson Hole while observing the transportation and land use challenges associated with rapid growth inspired him to pursue a career in urban planning. Steve was the recipient of a TransNow Fellowship for 2003-2004. Steve has worked at PB Consult in Portland. In 2004-2005, Steve also received a TransNow Fellowship. Steve also won a Poster Competition Award and a Presentation Award at the 2004 TransNow Student Conference. Steve also presented papers at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board in Washington, D.C. and at the ITE Quad Conference in Vancouver, B.C. Steve works for Metro in Portland.
 
Thareth Yin
M.S., Civil & Environmental Engineering, Portland State University, 2005
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon

Thareth won a 2004 Poster Competition Award for her poster presented at the Northwest Tranpsortation Conference. Thareth was also awarded a $1000 Fellowship by the Federal Highway Administration (2004) to attend the IEEE ITSC in Washington, D.C., and also won a $500 Scholarship (2004) from ITS Oregon. Thareth works at the Portland Office of Transportation
 
Andrew Byrd
B.S., Computer Science, Portland State University, 2004

Andrew came to Portland from Ohio because of the city's reputation in the urban planning field, and his experience in the ITS lab allowed him to take a deeper look at the joint management of cities and transportation systems. His most significant work in the lab was on the initial design and implementation of the PORTAL transportation data archiving system, and he collaborated with Metro for one of its first applications: the use of empirical data to evaluate and improve travel demand modelling functions. He also developed GIS data collection software for handheld computers, including a version customized for bicycle use surveys. Andrew finished his bachelor's degree with an exchange program in Lyon, and has remained in France to work on his Master's degree in the "City-Mobility-Transport" program at the Paris Urbanism Institute and the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées. He is primarily interested in the coordination of land use planning and transportation systems in the interest of reducing fossil fuel consumption.
 
Andy Delcambre
B.S. Student, Computer Science, Portland State University

Andy was born in Lafayette, LA and moved to Oregon when he was ten. He graduated from Sunset High School in Beaverton, OR in 2001. He is currently pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science from Portland State University. His current work in the lab is programming the Data Archive of the loop detector network throughout the Portland Metropolitan Area. Andy's other interests include snowboarding, camping, fishing and hiking. Andy is also the secretary and webmaster for the Mega Gamers club at Portland State University. Andy also won a Poster Competition Award and a Presentation Awardat the 2004 Trans Now Student Conference.
 
Jessica Potter
B.S. Student, Computer Science, Portland State University

Jessica transfered to Portland State from University of Arizona because she couldn't live with triple digit temperatures nor the lack of 4 seasons, trees, and the ocean. She is pursuing a bachelor's degree in computer science. She loves working with databases and making that data look "pretty" such as with tables and graphs, which makes her very much at home with the PORTAL project. She also loves the public transportation of Portland. She expects to graduate in December of 2006 and has not yet decided what she will do then. When not busy with campus activities, she enjoys hiking, writing, arts and crafts, visiting the beach, and gardening.
 
Andy Rodriguez
B.S., Computer Science, Portland State University, 2005

Andy is currently working on computing solutions for the PORTAL website along with other miscellaneous projects for the ITS Lab. One time he saw a moose. Andy is now working for PTV America in Corvallis, OR.
 
James Rucker
B.S. Student, Computer Science, Portland State University

James is a junior in Computer Science and a native Oregonian. His interests in databases and transportation drew him to the ITS lab's PORTAL project, where he gets to convert overwhelming amounts of loop detector data into visually digestible and colorful maps. When he's not in class or pursuing his other interests on campus, he enjoys outdoor activities like camping and hiking, and exploring the Oregon Coast.
 
Tim Welch
B.S. Student, Computer Science, Portland State University

Tim grew up in Warrenton, OR at the mouth of the Columbia River. In '99 he left the coast for Portland to study Computer Science. Tim is interested in applying his CS skills to fields like geography and geology and working with a variety of professionals and is looking at continuing his education in one of these fields in the future. Tim is currently president of the PSU chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (www.acm.pdx.edu). He has been making functional pottery since 2000, and his work is mainly wood and salt fired. Whiskey flasks and pitchers are his specialty.
 


[ Portland State University | Maseeh CECS | ITS Lab | Oregon DOT | Federal Highway Administration | National Science Foundation ]

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0236567. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.