The Faculty of Applied Science is pleased to announce the establishment of the J. Armand Bombardier Sustainable Transportation Fellowship with a generous gift of $500,000 from the J. Armand Bombardier Foundation. The fellowship will be awarded to graduate students whose research is focused on one of three areas:
- The impacts of transportation investments on equity and community engagement, addressing the disparities of gender, ethnicity, and income created or mitigated through transportation infrastructure and land use;
- Relationships between travel patterns and population and public health, addressing health impacts of transportation including physical activity, air pollution, or noise control; and
- Transportation policies and their impacts on environment, addressing innovative strategies to mitigate climate, air pollution and other environmental impacts associated with transportation of people and goods within and between urban environments.
“Applied Science is honoured to have this new fellowship to support the work of our graduate students in transportation planning,” said Dean pro tem Eric Hall. “On behalf of Applied Science, I would like to thank the Bombardier Foundation for their support of these fellowships, of our students, and of the future sustainable development of our communities.”
It is anticipated that students will work closely with local municipalities, transportation agencies, provincial and federal government, non-governmental organizations and/or local consulting firms during the course of their graduate work.
“I feel fortunate to have worked closely with Bombardier for a decade as their UBC Chairholder in Sustainable Transportation and proposed this fellowship program to Bombardier as a natural extension of our highly productive and ongoing relationship,” says Professor Larry Frank, Director of the Health and Community Design Lab and Professor in Sustainable Transportation, University of British Columbia. “We know that professional transportation planning has a positive impact on sustainability and public health and we are proud to partner with Bombardier to contribute to the betterment of Canadian communities.”
Fellowships at UBC are granted on the basis of academic excellence and/or research productivity. The J. Armand Bombardier Sustainable Transportation Fellowship will be available to students from UBC’s School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), Civil Engineering and the School of Population and Public Health. The Faculty of Applied Science anticipates the first fellowship will be awarded in fall 2013.