Krista Nordback

Krista Nordback is a recent graduate of the University of Colorado Denver's PhD program in civil engineering focusing on transportation engineering through the Center for Sustainable Infrastructure Systems. Her doctoral dissertation, "Estimating Annual Average Daily Bicyclists and Analyzing Cyclist Safety at Urban Intersections," develops a new method for estimating bicycle traffic volumes and provides the first safety performance functions for bicyclists in the U.S. Findings include evidence of fewer collisions per cyclist at intersections with higher bicycle volumes; in other words, cyclists are safer in numbers.
Dr. Nordback is currently working through the university on a project for the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to create a method to create factors for estimating annual average daily non-motorized traffic based on short term counts. In March she will start a postdoctoral position at Portland State University which will allow her to continue her research on non-motorized transportation.
She previously authored the papers “Automated Bicycle Counts: Lessons from Boulder” published in the Transportation Research Record and "Using Inductive Loops to Count Bicycles in Mixed Traffic" published in the Journal of Transportation of the Institute of Transportation Engineers.
She has been awarded the following honors and scholarships:
Dr. Nordback also holds the following memberships:
Dr. Nordback is currently working through the university on a project for the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to create a method to create factors for estimating annual average daily non-motorized traffic based on short term counts. In March she will start a postdoctoral position at Portland State University which will allow her to continue her research on non-motorized transportation.
She previously authored the papers “Automated Bicycle Counts: Lessons from Boulder” published in the Transportation Research Record and "Using Inductive Loops to Count Bicycles in Mixed Traffic" published in the Journal of Transportation of the Institute of Transportation Engineers.
She has been awarded the following honors and scholarships:
- APBP Gihon Jordan Scholarship 2012
- ITE Colorado Wyoming Section Best Annual Meeting Paper Award for Graduate Students 2012
- Recognition as a 2011 Eno Fellow
- American Association of University Women (AAUW) American Dissertation Fellowship 2011.
- WTS Colorado Chapter, Helene M. Overly Memorial Scholarship 2011.
- Association of Schools of Public Health/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (ASPH/CDC), Environmental Health Scholarship 2010.
- U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Eisenhower Graduate Fellowship 2010.
- National Science Foundation, Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) 2008.
Dr. Nordback also holds the following memberships:
- Transportation Research Board Bicycle Transportation Committee
- Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)
- Women's Transportation Seminar (WTS) Colorado
- Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP)
- American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
- Chi Epsilon