Profile

Jennifer Dill

Associate Professor of Urban Studies and Planning
Director, Oregon Transportation Research & Education Consortium (OTREC)
Director, Center for Transportation Studies

Planning, Transportation

Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley; M.A., University of California, Los Angeles; B.S., University of California, Davis 

Email: jdill@pdx.edu
Phone: (503) 725-5173
Office: Urban Center 370T 
Website: http://web.pdx.edu/~jdill/

Professional Biography

Dr. Dill is committed to educating planners and improving the analytical methods used in planning.  She joined the faculty at Portland State in 2001 and is currently affiliated with several university research centers.  She is the Assistant Director of the Center for Urban Studies and is the Director of the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC) and the Center for Transportation Studies.  Prior to her work in academia, Dr. Dill worked as an environmental planner in the San Francisco area.  She currently teaches Urban Transportation: Problems and Policies, Planning Methods II, and the Transportation Seminar.

Research

Dr. Dill’s research often is multidisciplinary and centers on questions aimed at decision-making processes and those that can inform policy and planning.  Recent projects have focused on travel behavior, bicycling, transit-oriented developments, active living policies, and environmental fees for transportation.

"Bike-GPS: Understanding and Measuring Bicycling Behavior" was a project sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that evaluated behavior and route choices of cyclists in the Portland area.  Cyclists were recruited and issued GPS tracking units to record their daily cycling routes.  The recorded routes were analyzed using such factors as distance, traffic levels, and the availability of off-street routes and bike lanes.  Results demonstrated that cyclists had a preference for routes offering bicycle-specific infrastructure and low levels of traffic, even if that meant increasing distance traveled.  Dr. Dill is now working with colleagues to integrate these findings into local transportation plans.

In another project, Dr. Dill collaborated with researchers to assess the effects of sustainable streets on active aging.  Sustainable streets make use of multiple modes of transportation, particularly walking and biking, and include landscape features like natural stormwater collection basins.  Four areas within the Lents neighborhood of Portland were selected: Two areas with sustainable streets and two without that acted as controls.  Surveys were distributed to area residents asking about their physical activity, social interactions, and perceptions of their neighborhood, before and after sustainable streets were built.  Results showed positive responses from residents about the effects of sustainable streets, though older adults pointed out problems related to parking, trash collection, and the depth of stormwater collection landscape features.  Initial findings of this study can be found here.

Teaching

A commitment to the planning profession and a balance between theory and practice characterize Dr. Dill’s teaching philosophy.  She finds that students want specific tools to enhance their skills, but also that tools often change.  As a result, she emphasizes that theory can transcend tools, which serves to help planners over their entire careers.

In addition to teaching theory, Dr. Dill also integrates real world projects and practical skills for planners.  Students in Planning Methods I & II recently worked with a community partner to assess the issue of overflow parking near transit stops.  Students conducted surveys and analyzed neighborhood demographics to evaluate the problem, then presented their findings to the partner.  These types of experiences, combined with classroom learning, promote effective quantitative analysis, negotiation, and communication skills that enable students to convey technical information in consumer-friendly language to a broad spectrum of audiences.

Community

 Beyond teaching and research, Dr. Dill finds time to serve as a member of several planning organizations, including the Mayor’s Transportation Cabinet and the City of Portland Bicycle Master Plan Update Committee.  She also actively participates in university and community forums about bicycle and transportation planning.  Dr. Dill values the partnerships between Portland State, the community, and public agencies and hopes to expand them further in the future.