Meet our current 2024 - 2025 Portland State University students working as research assistants for TREC staff and researchers. See past graduate research assistants (GRAs) here, as well as our PSU transportation scholars and fellows.
Brady Hilgenberg
Advisors: John MacArthur and Nathan McNeil
LinkedIn
Brady is a Master of Urban and Regional Planning student at Portland State University with a focus on transportation equity and sustainability. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Planning, Public Policy, and Management from the University of Oregon. He is currently supporting John MacArthur's work on the Downtown Portland Zero-Emissions Delivery Zone project.
Evan Howington
Advisors: John MacArthur and Nathan McNeil
LinkedIn
Evan is a first year Masters student in Urban and Regional Planning at Portland State University. Prior to working with TREC, Evan worked at Trillium Transit and Optibus supporting transit agencies nationwide with disseminating passenger information and making it easier to take transit! When not thinking about transportation, Evan enjoys growing chili peppers and making his own hot sauce.
Allison is a graduate student in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning program. At TREC, she is assisting Nathan McNeil and John MacArthur on the Zero-Emission Delivery Zone project. As a longtime TriMet rider, she is passionate about public transit and cares deeply about promoting accessible, safe, and sustainable forms of transportation.
Julay Leatherman-Brooks
Advisor: Tammy Lee
LinkedIn
Julay Leatherman-Brooks is a masters student in computer science, with a focus on security. Julay is currently working with Tammy Lee and Basem Elazzabi on TREC’s transportation data programs, PORTAL and BikePed Portal.
Jiahui Ma
Advisors: Jennifer Dill and Nathan McNeil
LinkedIn
Jiahui is a Ph.D. student in urban planning at the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning. She is currently supporting Jennifer Dill and Nathan McNeil on the Evaluation of Road User Comprehension and Compliance with Red Colored Transit Priority Lanes as well analyzing data from the Breaking Barriers to Bike Share project.
Jules Mai Plotts
Advisors: Aaron Golub and Nathan McNeil
LinkedIn
As a Masters student in Urban Studies, with a focus on applied research in transportation, Jules has a keen interest in the role data plays in improving transportation equity. For her thesis she is modeling network accessibility to shift-work-related jobs by nighttime/off-peak transit using data from General Transit Feed Specifications (GTFS) and Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD).
Ken Yoneda
Advisor: Tammy Lee
LinkedIn
Ken Yoneda is a second year Master of Urban and Regional Planning student with a transportation and land use focus, who also earned a Master of Computer Science at Fordham University. Being brought up in Singapore and having lived extensively in New York City, Ken is passionate about good public transportation infrastructure that allows everyone to travel without access to a car.
