PDXPLORES

In this episode of PDXPLORES, Senior Fellow of PSU's Center for Public Service, Stephanie Frank Singer, discusses a community-based civics education program that addresses the need for citizens from diverse identity groups to participate in election monitoring, an activity that holds the electoral process accountable, ensures the integrity of the electoral system and builds public trust in democratic institutions. PSU's Community Engaged Research Academy supports the project co-led by PSU professor and political scientist Lindsay J. Benstead.  Project partners include the League of Women Voters of Oregon and the Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division.

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In this episode of PDXPLORES, Professor Elise Granek discusses the coastal zone- transition zones between land, sea, and atmosphere. These ecosystems provide vital ecological, cultural, and commercial benefits. Around the world, they are home to a vast number of species, support critical industries, and sustain the cultural heritage of the people who have called them home. As with all ecosystems, they are vulnerable. Given the intense human dependence on the continued viability of these coastal ecosystems, understanding the impact of human activity on the species that inhabit them is essential to identifying solutions to address the suite of impacts. What are the sources of contamination? What are the potential outcomes for the species impacted by pollutant exposure? And what can be done at the individual, community, and policy levels to mitigate the adverse effects of human activities on these ecosystems?

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In this episode of PDXPLORES, Jordan Hallmark (MA, History, '22) discusses the cultural construction of racial identity in late-18th century Saint-Domingue (Haiti). Inspired in part by a historiographic shift known as the “Global Turn,” the last two decades have given rise to a wealth of new studies on the history of Haiti. While these studies have varied in their chronological scope, the colonial and revolutionary periods of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries—when Haiti was known as Saint-Domingue—have emerged as an especially fertile ground for interdisciplinary scholarship. Despite the interdisciplinary richness of this emergent historiography, however, students of Haitian history may be surprised to learn that eighteenth-century Saint-Domingue has received comparatively little scholarly attention from art historians or historians of material culture. Using material culture as a lens through which to examine how social and racial status was conceived and negotiated in the last years of French colonial rule, Hallmark analyzes the collecting practices of two gens de couleur (free people of color) from the parish of Jérémie in Saint-Domingue’s southern province: Jacques Lafond (d. 1797) and Noel Azor (d. ca. 1798).

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In this episode of PDXPLORES, Garrett Palmer (History, '22) discusses the 1934 Portland Waterfront Strike. The strike has largely been portrayed as "static", where striking workers clashed with the establishment at the hiring halls and the docks of Portland. While that is correct, it is a bit simplistic; we can glean more from the event by considering how urban space, the relationship between metropole and hinterlands, and the role of unconventional groups played roles in the strike. That line of inquiry ultimately showcases that this event was anything but static, as groups like church parishes, the Communist Party, sex workers, cabbies, Portland's homeless, and a coalition of farmers, fishers, and hunters were crucial to the event. Additionally, spaces like public parks, churches, bars, brothels, construction sites, railroad tracks, restaurants, and grocers all played their roles as strikers utilized the entire city to make the strike a success. It challenges the pre-existing static, Portland-centric, and overly labor-focused nature of the event, and reminds us that history does not happen in a vacuum--people across Oregon were involved with and impacted by the strike.

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Lone Fir Cemetery, located in inner Southeast Portland, Oregon, was established in 1855 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Block 14 within the cemetery was a segregated section reserved for Chinese immigrants in the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In this episode of PDXPLORES, Charlie Huxley (History, '22) discusses how their research illustrates how community engagement with Block 14 in the nineteenth century was defined by discrimination, aggression, and racism toward Portland's Chinese immigrant community.

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During the pandemic, many of the region's frontline workers were, and continue to be, members of immigrant communities. Assistant Professor Pronoy Rai has partnered with members of these communities and community-serving non-profit organizations to gain a better understanding of the immigrant experience of the pandemic and pandemic recovery. A human geographer, Professor Rai's research aims to improve policy and policy outcomes. Rai's work is supported by PSU's Metropolitan Engaged Research Initiative and Community-Engaged Research Academy.

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Single-photon camera sensors have the potential to revolutionize digital camera technology.  These sensors can capture individual photons at high speeds, circumventing some of the limitations of current digital camera technologies. One challenge, however, is the sheer amount of data generated by the sensor, which is a hindrance to their widespread adoption. With the support of the National Science Foundation, Assistant Professor Atul Ingle is developing algorithms to solve this problem--algorithms that could enable the adoption of single-photon sensors in applications ranging from autonomous vehicles to medical imaging and the cameras in cellphones.

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Involving BIPOC experiences and perspectives in multi-stakeholder processes is like making Jazz. In this episode, Associate Professor Marisa Zapata, director of the Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative at PSU discusses how convening a process is like composing jazz music in which stakeholders listen closely to one another and add individual contributions that enhance the whole.

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What are the factors that influence commercial real estate pricing? Assistant Professor of Finance and Real Estate, Julia Freybote’s research considers various factors including emerging data streams, investor behaviors, and risk factors such as climate change to investigate asset pricing in the commercial real estate market.

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Green roofs provide a variety of benefits including increasing stormwater retention, lowering cooling costs and mitigating the urban heat island effect. However, the ecosystem services provided by green roofs vary by vegetation choice and environmental conditions. Assistant Professor Samantha Hartzell is an ecohydrologist whose research focuses on developing technologies to improve green roof designs, inform vegetation selection, and better understand the value of green roofs. 

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