Three transportation and logistics graduate students recently were awarded honors in a student paper competition sponsored by the Urban and Regional Information System Association.

Nimish Dharmadhikari and Zijian Zheng earned second place for a jointly written paper and Vu Dang earned fourth place. The students will receive their awards and the opportunity to present their papers at the Urban and Regional Information System Association’s GIS-Pro 2012 Conference Sept. 28 to Oct. 4 in Portland, Ore. In the competition, the students demonstrated expertise and understanding of geographic information science, spatial technologies and the application of knowledge. Papers were evaluated for the students’ ability to demonstrate an innovative approach and critical thinking to solve issues using geographic information science and spatial technology.

The paper written by Dharmadhikari and Zheng, “Study of the Public Transit System Accessibility Based on the Average Opportunity Accessibility Measure – a Case Study of Fargo, N.D.,” shows how various grocery stores are accessible to university students, using a combination of foot and bus transportation.

Dang’s paper, “Impact of Distance, Traffic and Elevation on Active Transportation to School for Children Using GIS,” demonstrated the children’s transportation modes and environments of the active transportation in San Diego. He applied geographic information systems to the model and found that the elevation of the region and the distance between school and home determine the exertion of physical activity.

Dharmadhikari is a doctoral student in the Transportation and Logistics Program. Both Zheng and Dang are master’s degree students in the Transportation and Urban Systems Program. All three serve as graduate research assistants for the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, an independent transportation research center at NDSU.

Urban and Regional Information System Association is a nonprofit association of professionals using geographic information science and other information technologies to solve challenges.

NDSU is recognized as one of the top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.