Achievement

As part of the CHANGE capstone course (the final course in our graduate student training program), two IGERT Trainees and one IGERT Associate developed an extensive report on bicycle tourism and commuting. The report, produced in response to a call for research by Representative Spencer Black, the chair of the Wisconsin Assembly's Natural Resources Committee, uses demographic, health, and economic data to model the impact of cycling in Wisconsin. CHANGE-IGERT students Maggie Grabow, Micah Hahn, and Melissa Whited testified to the Wisconsin State Assembly in December 2009, and were quoted extensively in print and electronic media for their report, "Valuing Bicycling's Economic and Health Impacts in Wisconsin." The report is one of the first to employ both health and economic modeling to value bicycling in Wisconsin. The findings ($1.5 billion in annual benefits) have been cited by both the American, and Wisconsin Bicycle Federations in their communications.