In 2008-09, the Miller Foundation allocated $35,000 to students for innovative projects that focused on creating change at PSU.  Participation was so impressive, President Wiewel doubled the allocation to $70,000.  Here are the projects that were funded.  The next round of student proposals will be held during the 2009-10 year.  Check the EcoWiki or sign up for our bulletin to get the latest details as they become available.

Building An Action Plan for Reaching Food System Sustainability at PSU

This proposal provides an opportunity for innovative education around sustainable food systems, supports PSU’s interest in becoming a living laboratory of sustainability, and contributes to targeted research areas defined by the university (http://www.pdx.edu/sustainability/sustainability-research-areas).  The goal of the project is to develop a plan for integrating the Food for Thought Café into research and teaching at PSU across departments and disciplines and to develop a one year and five year plan for improving sustainable practices in PSU’s food system.  This proposal supports foundational work that will help us identify how the café can be a site for teaching and research.  This includes subjects related to education that fosters positive engagement and change, as well as methods of measuring and achieving sustainable practices.

Look Up and See Green: The Greening of an Urban Terrace

Look up and See Green is a student driven, collaborative initiative to lead the Portland Metropolitan Region in sustainability.  Our first project focuses on implementing innovative strategies to make a sustainable community gathering place on the fourth floor terrace of the Urban Center Building.  This project brings together student groups such as the Community Development Student Group, Food for Thought Café, and the Environmental Club to work on implementing ideas such as ongoing research of rainwater collection strategies, utilizing our rooftops for growing food, and creating a vibrant meeting place for the PSU and Portland community.  The Urban Center is a major hub for Portland; with the convergence of the streetcar, the new light-rail line, and expansion of the bus lines, the terrace is well located to serve as an education and demonstration site for campus sustainability initiatives that can inform initiatives throughout the region.

The Sustainability Book

Our department will sustainably publish a book. We will collaborate with other departments and local businesses to achieve our goal. The book will be used as a teaching tool for the book publishing and sustainability programs, and as potential marketing collateral for Ooligan Press and PSU. We have a group of students who are interested in, engaged with, and committed to helping Ooligan Press become the country’s first sustainable student-run teaching press. The Sustainability Book is the first step towards reaching larger goals within the publishing program—such as incorporating sustainable publishing classes into our core curriculum, and becoming leaders in the field with research and education.PSU is one of the only universities to offer a degree in book publishing and is a leader in sustainable studies. We believe this is the best time to merge our unique strengths and become leaders in sustainable publishing.

Passion for Fashion: Sustainable Design Fashion Show

We will bring together the student body around sustainability by showcasing emerging eco-friendly apparel in a fashion show and giving students in departments across campus the opportunity to gain real world experience throwing a community event. PSU:AMA is hosting "Passion for Fashion: Sustainable Design Fashion Show" on May 26 in the SMU Ballroom.In coordination with the Art Institute, the event will feature designs of dresses in four acts: Organic, Rejectamenta, Eco-Friendly/Sustainable, and Animal Friendly. The event will benefit a non-profit that provides clothing to underprivileged people, filling a need in the community for quality clothing and will raffle environmentally friendly products donated by our sponsors. The event will rally students who would otherwise be less interested in doing sustainability work to come and see how their personal purchasing choices make a difference in the lives of people around the world and environments in which they live.

PSU take back the tap

The Environmental Club is committed to reducing the ecological footprint of Portland State University by shifting students’ greater social consciousness toward water sustainability. To reduce the consumption of bottled water on the PSU campus we will purchase reusable water bottles to sell at a deeply discounted rate to students. With the revenue generated by bottle sales, two filtered water refill stations will be installed at key locations on campus, acting as centers for community education of water issues. To focus attention in a dynamic way we will host a water awareness week in April. Throughout the week we will sell discounted water bottles, show the movie Flow at 5th Ave Cinema, conduct a blind taste test (tap water vs. bottled water), display a student art installation, and host a guest speaker.   This project will energize a commitment to sustainability through an engaging, educational campaign offering considerable long-term results in proportion to the input required.

Sustainable Residential Water Consumption in Suburban Portland: Recommendations for the Future of Suburban Development

In the Portland, Oregon area, suburban growth in cities such as Hillsboro is projected to increase as people continue to seek affordable housing near a burgeoning metropolitan area.  The most significant determinants for increases in water demand are population growth, climate change and the type of urban development that occurs.  This project will  analyze water consumption patterns for the City of Hillsboro to determine the most significant determinants of residential water consumption.  The project will focus on three main aspects of demand-side sustainable water consumption management.  1) The City of Hillsboro 50 year water demand projection will be analyzed for accuracy based on the type of urban growth outlined in the city’s future growth projection and the analysis of water consumption patterns based on an urban form density index.  2) The effectiveness of City of Hillsboro funded conservation programs and changes to the water  rate billing structure will be analyzed to determine which programs most effectively decrease residential water use, especially during peak consumption months.  Recommendations will also be made regarding neighborhoods that should be targeted for sustainable conservation programs due to high water use.  3) The impact of projected climate change in the Pacific Northwest on residential water consumption and demand will evaluated by analyzing seasonal and inter-annual variations in water use.

Adapting Ceramic Water Filters for the Treatment of Arsenic Contamination

Arsenic contamination in drinking water is a major health problem in developing countries.  The efficiency of advanced treatment technologies (e.g., using ferric oxide to sequester dissolved arsenic) has been shown to be significantly affected by the competitive sequestration of dissolved phosphate.  Specific goals of the research are: (1) to test the effectiveness of ceramic filters to remove dissolved arsenic; (2) to test the effectiveness of a modified ceramic filter system to include ferric oxide; and (3) to test the competitive sequestration between dissolved total arsenic and total phosphate.  The results of these experiments will provide those organizations engaged in the treatment of arsenic-contaminated waters with information about the competitive relationship between arsenic and phosphate for ferric oxide.  This has the potential to create a simple and inexpensive system, capable of treating contaminated drinking water with a potentially significant impact, i.e., supplying the world’s poorest communities with affordable, fresh drinking water supplies.

International Student Internship with Student Leaders for Service

By supporting students through year-long internships with 25 of PSU’s partner nonprofit organizations, Student Leaders for Service (SLS) holds a sense of responsibility for a positive social environment to future generations at its core.  In an effort to broaden the scope of our program’s socially sustainable practices and to enhance PSU’s sustainability-related curriculum available to international students, SLS proposes supporting a group of international students through service-learning opportunities at our partner organizations. Each international student will be paired with an SLS mentor. They will travel from PSU to their service site together. Each pair will work to connect PSU resources to their partner organization in an effort to build their site’s capacity to better serve the community. The international students will join SLS students for a weekly class to discuss service from a cultural perspective and better understand our responsibility to future generations worldwide.

Research Experience for Undergraduate Students

REU is a National Science Foundation program that encourages undergraduates—with an emphasis on women and minorities recruited nationwide—to engage in graduate level research. This program, established in 2001 by Prof. Jiao, has successfully trained over 100 students—many of whom have gone on to graduate school or pursued careers in science or engineering. We propose establishing an REU-like program with NSF match potential at PSU. We aim to immediately recruit and involve five undergraduate students to work in research groups across campus, participating in ground-breaking solar cell research that aims to revolutionize sustainable energy techniques via nanotechnology. These students will be trained on high-tech electron microscopy equipment, have opportunities to present at conferences, and publish results. Dr. Jiao’s research efforts have garnered national and international attention as well as secured significant funding. This opportunity will greatly enhance the students’ experience and empower them to be active in their field.

Searching for our community: A methodological assessment of a Soft System Dynamics Method as a social learning tool in water resource management

This dissertation research project will contribute to a participatory action research methodology of institutional analysis and design in collaborative natural resource management.  It proposes a social sustainability inquiry process, the Soft System Dynamics Method (SSDM), and evaluates its efficacy as a learning tool to assist stakeholder groups in exploring the challenges and opportunities for building effective inter-organizational partnerships.  Specifically, the project will consist of three case-studies of stakeholder groups in Oregon who are working on water resource management.  This grant would support carrying out two of the three case-studies by Spring, 2009.  The SSDM process centers on two workshops in which the stakeholder group explores the institutional constraints on, and opportunities for, effective collaboration.  The project’s action research design carries an educational component for the participants.  In addition, at least one of the proposed case-studies, the Marmot Dam decommissioning, could be incorporated into a PSU course on ecosystem services.

PSU Sustainability & Health Awareness Survey

Processes and practices of sustainability are enacted in part because of the positive impact they have on human health.  Yet it is unknown to what degree the PSU community associates sustainable processes and practices directly with public health impacts.  This project will develop a survey of the PSU community’s awareness and understanding of the link between sustainability and public health.  Students, faculty, administration and staff will be sent an electronic survey designed to measure participants’ knowledge, awareness, attitudes and behaviors related to 1) sustainable processes and practices, and 2) their public health implications.  The survey will be based on a literature review and collaboration between PSU’s Center for Sustainable Processes and Practices, Office of Sustainability, Office of Institutional Research and Planning, and School of Community Health.  Survey results will be used to inform subsequent future efforts for promoting sustainable health awareness in the PSU community, as well as shaping the direction of further research agendas. 

Making informed green choices to reduce plant emissions: A study of isoprene emission in bamboo.

This project aims to better address urban greening and its impact on air quality through a study of isoprene emission in bamboo. The movement towards urban greening has grown in popularity in cities like Portland, with bamboos playing an ever-increasing number of roles in landscape, horticulture, and urban screening. However, bamboo is a source of isoprene, a biogenic volatile organic compound (VOC), which leads to the accumulation of tropospheric ozone. Plant emissions of carbon into the atmosphere as biogenic VOCs are a commonly overlooked aspect of air quality in urban settings. Initial survey work that I began in Spring 2008 at PSU has shown a wide range of isoprene emission in throughout ornamental bamboos. The goal of this project is to complete my survey of emission rates and compile a recommended list of low emitting bamboos that can be distributed to urban planners and horticulturalists.

VIKEBIKES: PSU Bicycle Loan Program

The VikeBikes Loaner Bikers Program is intended to make bicycle travel--the ultimate form of sustainable urban transportation--accessible and affordable for all PSU students and to integrate bicycle transportation into the values and lifestyle of college students. With donated and refurbished bikes we will create a fleet of green 'VikeBikes' which students will be able to borrow on a long term basis and use for their transportation needs, including commuting and running errands. VikeBikes will come equipped with transportation essentials: a helmet, lights, U-lock, rack, and fenders. This program also has rider education as a main goal, with learning outcomes such as how to ride safely and how to fix and maintain a bicycle. As an additional benefit, the process of creating this program will be documented in detail and packaged in a way that is accessible to students or staff at other institutions wishing to implement a similar system.

Worms + food scraps = amazing compost

This will be a workshop for 18 students and 2 faculty members at Portland State University. Participants will learn the basics of vermicomposting (composting food scraps with worms), and the benefits to the environment that come about with vermicomposting. I have presented this workshop numerous times before, so will use my same format. I present a power point and then guide the participants in setting up their own vermicompost bins. Questions and discussion are welcome throughout the workshop. I already have two instructors who would welcome integrating this workshop into their curriculum. Michelle Aldama-Shaw is teaching Global Political Ecology this term, and Professor Mckeown is teaching the advanced level of the same class. Each participant will be expected to share the knowledge that they gained with two other people who do not know about vermicomposting. John and Maria Naramore form BWCN farms will also be present to assist.