Portland State Magazine Fall 2015

4 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE FALL 2015 Park Blocks VIKINGS GO AIRBORNE A team of engineering students launched their helmet-inspired human-powered flying machine into the Willamette River on Aug. 1 for Red Bull Flugtag. PSU’s team was one of 45 selected from several hundred applicants. Photo courtesy of Red Bull. Animal crossings WHY DID THE DEER CROSS THE ROAD instead of using a designated wildlife crossing? PSU doctoral student Leslie Bliss- Ketchum is tackling this twist on an age-old question by studying the Boeckman Road Wildlife Crossing Structures in Wilsonville. The under-road culverts and one under-bridge crossing are meant to help wildlife cross safely without encountering drivers, but everything from fencing design to artificial light can affect how animals use them. Bliss-Ketchum captures the travelers—including deer, coyotes and bitterns —with motion-sensor cameras to evaluate their behavior. Her research, she says, is “contributing to the knowledge that just because an animal can fit through a small culvert doesn’t mean that it will actually use it.”