Over several weeks this fall, students passing through the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science stopped to add brushstrokes to a growing mural. Some painted for minutes, others for hours, building an image that incorporated the college's icons—the drop tower, the rocket lab—alongside symbols and colors significant to Indigenous and Hispanic communities. The collaborative process mirrored how the college approaches research itself: not isolated in laboratories but woven into partnerships with Portland's energy sector, responsive to challenges the region faces right now.
On November 12th, the college unveiled "Ideas with Impact" at the inaugural Maseeh Exchange, a quarterly series showcasing research in areas where Portland State drives regional innovation. About 100 people filled the Engineering Building for self-guided lab tours and faculty presentations, all focused on power and energy—research addressing problems Portland confronts today. As electric vehicles strain the grid during peak demand, as Oregon pushes toward renewable energy targets, as early solar installations reach end-of-life, the region needs innovation in grid technology, wave power systems, and sustainable recycling. Maseeh College researchers develop those solutions in partnership with the organizations that will deploy them.
The college organized the event with the Powerize Northwest Consortium, which brings together 61 public agencies, industry partners, higher education institutions, and community groups working to make the Pacific Northwest a global leader in energy storage and smart grid markets. Portland State anchors this network. The Exchange made that role tangible—industry partners who fund research met graduate students conducting it, faculty explained how laboratory work translates to real-world application, and conversations continued well past the scheduled end time.
In the Power Engineering Lab, graduate students demonstrated smart hot water heaters that communicate with the grid to distribute power more efficiently—technology addressing the strain that electric vehicle charging places on Portland's electrical infrastructure during peak demand. Visitors asked questions about implementation timelines and scalability. The answers mattered because people in the room work for utilities considering deployment. Down the hall, massive magnetic turbines designed to capture Oregon's wave power and a wind tunnel large enough to walk inside showed research you can see and touch, not just hear about.
Dean Joseph Bull opened the formal program by acknowledging that Portland State stands on the traditional and ancestral lands of the Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Tumwater, and Watlala bands of the Chinook, the Tualatin Kalapuya, and many other Indigenous nations of the Columbia River. Unveiling the mural during Native American Heritage Month at an event focused on power and energy connected historical responsibility to current research priorities. Fabian Quenelle performed an honor song before the curtain dropped, his voice filling the atrium. The finished mural doesn't just decorate a building—it represents the college's commitment to pursuing academic excellence while acknowledging whose land this work happens on and whose futures it aims to serve.
The faculty Ignite talks compressed complex research into five-minute windows. Bob Bass, ECE Interim Dean and Professor, explained how his lab makes the power grid smarter and more secure as the region transitions to electric vehicles. Jonathan Bird presented on applied electromagnetics, mechanics, and controls—work that has led to Navy partnerships. Ilke Celik, who won a CAREER Award for her research, discussed sustainable energy storage systems and solar panel recycling. Raúl Bayoán Cal, the Daimler Professor, covered how waves affect floating wind farms, how wind farms interact with each other, and possibilities for combining solar grids with agricultural land.
After the presentations, people lingered. Industry partners talked with faculty about collaborations. Graduate students explained their work to alumni. Prospective students asked what it takes to work in these labs. The conversations that mattered most happened in those unstructured moments—connections forming between people trying to solve the same problems from different positions.
Why This Matters
Portland sits at the center of a rapidly expanding energy sector. The region needs innovation now—in grid technology that can handle new demands, in renewable energy systems that work on Oregon's coast and in its wind corridors, in sustainable practices that account for full lifecycle impacts. Maseeh College develops that innovation in partnership with over 80 energy-related companies operating in the city, with utilities like Portland General Electric and the Bonneville Power Administration, with the Powerize consortium positioning the Northwest as a global leader.
The Exchange makes this work visible and accessible. Graduate students demonstrate expertise to future employers. Faculty explain how laboratory research translates to deployed technology. Industry partners discover solutions to problems they're trying to solve. Community members see what happens in buildings they pass every day.
The next Exchange focuses on Infrastructure and Resilience on March 4, 2026, followed by Artificial Intelligence in the spring. Each event creates space where Portland State research connects directly with the regional partners and communities it serves. The format will evolve, but the core remains: collaborative work grounded in Portland's actual needs, building toward futures that serve the communities whose land this work occupies.
The mural the students painted together captures something essential about how this college operates. Individual brushstrokes accumulate into larger patterns. Separate efforts combine toward shared goals. The work acknowledges history while building forward. Ideas alone don't create impact—collaboration does, partnership does, showing up and adding what you can contribute does. The Exchange creates space for exactly that work. Show up for the next one.