NDSU transportation student Brett Korporaal earned first place in the student research paper competition for the 20th National Conference for Rural and Intercity Bus. Korporaal will receive $1,000 and the opportunity to attend the conference, which is themed as "Connecting Communities through Public Transportation."
Korporaal’s paper, “Connecting Gateway Communities to Yellowstone National Park: A Proposal for a Public Transportation System Servicing the Great Yellowstone Region” addresses the lack of a public transit system to provide access to Yellowstone National Park. In the paper, he proposes a public transportation system for the Greater Yellowstone region that will provide mobility and accessibility to gateway communities for residents and visitors within the region, as well as protect Yellowstone National Park’s pristine environment. Public transit systems provide accessibility to visitors from all over the world to national parks. However, there is no such system in the Greater Yellowstone region, forcing visitors to drive to and within Yellowstone National Park, which can affect the sustainability of infrastructure and natural environments.
Korporaal is a Graduate Research Assistant with the Small Urban & Rural Transit Center (SURTC), while pursuing a Master of Science Degree in Transportation and Urban System at North Dakota State University. He also holds a B.A. in Organizational Management from Patten University (2009).
