Paper on Public Transportation in Redlined Neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, Boston, and East St Louis​:

For his African American Politics class, Jacob wrote his final paper on how transportation specifically effected Redlined Neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, Boston, and East St Louis. In this paper he focused on gathering data on On Time Performance of PRT bus routes in adjacent neighborhood routes.

Complete Streets at Pitt's Bates St Safe Crossings Advocacy

Complete Streets at Pitt (CSAP), a student organization devoted to bike/ped/transit advocacy on campus, and the Urban Planning Club (UPC) took on the project of advocating for changes along Bates St., the main east-west corridor in South (Central) Oakland, due to frequent near-misses between cars and pedestrians. Aiming to get funds allocated for Bates St. Safe Crossings in the Capital Budget, we collected data through a survey and a 24-hour watch party, recording the number of people passing through and their mode of transportation. They led a public meeting at the Oakland Planning and Development Corp. (OPDC) to share this data and collect personal stories from those who hadn’t yet shared. OPDC then sent this data to the City Council in a Capital Budget Request in May 2025, cosigned by CSAP & the West Oakland Neighborhood Group, resulting in no funds. However, CSAP continued its advocacy to Councilperson Charland, DOMI, and other decision-makers at the city, including a petition to the Office of Management and Budget.

Calf Pasture Campus Reuse Project

For an urban planning class at UMass Boston, Gerard contributed to a project to look into potential reuse for calf pasture land on campus. This proposal included details on bike/ped infrastructure changes to be made in the area.

Carnegie Mellon University’s Cost-Benefit Analysis for BikePGH

A research project at CMU that helped BikePGH make the economic case for expanding bike lanes in Pittsburgh.​

Data Collection on Mode Share on Campus​

For his class titled, Made in Italy: Style & Ingenuity, Jacob collected data on modeshare of people traveling through Posvar Passage, a critical corridor for non-drivers on the University of Pittsburgh's campus.

1. Identify Your Local Power Centers

Before starting a project, determine who is already doing the work. This ensures your labor supports existing movements rather than duplicating them.

Search for: Your city’s "MPO" (Metropolitan Planning Organization), local "Vision Zero Task Force," or get involved with student organizations and student government to see what movements already exist.

2. Match Your Skills to a Need

Depending on your major or interest, your contribution will look different. Look at these "labor categories" to see where you fit:

The Data Collector: If you are good with numbers, perform a manual bike/pedestrian count at a dangerous intersection. Cities often lack this granular "real-time" data.

The Storyteller: If you are a writer or artist, document the "lived experience" of transit users. A photo essay or a series of interviews can humanize raw data for policymakers, who are constantly looking to see how their constituents feel about a variety of issues, including transportation.

The Map Maker: Use GIS or design tools to visualize "transit deserts" or gaps in the bike lane network in your college town.

3. Don't Do Double Work

Don't be afraid to reuse the work you do in class, or align a paper you write for a class toward an advocacy effort. 

4. Join the Network

You don't have to build the wheels from scratch. Connect with other students who are turning their coursework into community action.