Portland State Magazine Fall 2016

FALL 2016 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE 7 PA R K B L O C K S $1.2 million to help the blind BLIND and visually impaired students need practical training on how to navigate around their homes, workplaces and communities, but there is a growing shortage of educators trained to teach those skills, especially in rural areas. In April, the U.S. Department of Education awarded Portland State a $1.2 million grant to develop courses on how to teach orientation and mobility. Over the next five years, PSU will certify 38 new mobility specialists, who will also receive financial aid through the grant. This builds upon an existing program in the University’s Graduate School of Education that prepares teachers of students with visual impairments. CYCLISTS GET many health benefits from riding their bikes rather than driving a car, but they can also be exposed to toxins— particularly in high-traffic areas. A Portland State study, published in Environmental Science & Technology , found that cyclists can inhale up to twice the concentration of air pollution on high- traffic streets than on low-traffic streets. The study also showed that separated bicycle paths and low-traffic routes can significantly reduce exposure concentrations, and that cyclists can reduce their pollution uptake by detouring as little as one to two blocks, from major boulevards to parallel, low-volume streets. The hidden hazards of cycling