Fourth year PAPM student Tamara Nahal has been awarded a Julius Lukasiewicz Award, worth $1,050, for her research on multi-modal transportation in Ottawa. The award goes to a student who has completed a 3000- or 4000-level course in Technology, Society and Environment Studies and is pursuing a research project germane to the relationship between technology, society and the environment. Tamara observes that “While Ottawa has a well-developed public transit system, network of bike paths, multi-use pathways and sidewalks, mobility between these systems—and independently—is structurally prohibitive due to poor linkages. I am focusing my research on how these three areas can be united to promote non-car mobility.”
She is also interested in the role of community-led change and development. As a result of her research, she co-founded a cycling group on campus, C.U. Cycling. She was also interviewed last Wednesday by CBC Radio’s “All In A Day” about the Bronson Operational and Safety Review Open House, an event organized by C.U. Cycling and the City of Ottawa, which presented the City’s proposed changes to Bronson Avenue to make the thoroughfare safer for pedestrians and cyclists. Because of the heavy snowfall that day and disruptions to OC Transpo, she was unable to make it to the CBC studio. The interview was conducted over the phone as Tamara was stranded at the Hurdman bus station.