In support of the first goal of Portland State’s five-year strategic plan — elevating student success — Currently now features student success each term, acknowledging achievements such as publications, scholarships, grants, presentations and more. Here are some of the resilient and creative students who made us proud during winter term. Want your students to appear in our next roundup? See the Currently website for submission guidelines.
AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS AND OTHER HONORS
Gabby Abou-Zeid, a master’s student in civil engineering, was awarded the 2020 National Institute for Transportation and Communities Outstanding Student of the Year. Working in Dr. Kelly Clifton’s Sustainable Urban Planning and Engineering Research Lab (SUPERLab), her interdisciplinary research examines multimodal travel behavior, urban freight, and intersections between transportation and land use. She is also the Dwight D. Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program’s Top Ranked Master’s Fellow for 2019/2020 and a 2020 Eno Center for Transportation Future Leaders Development Conference Fellow.
Leslie Baker Lyon and Catherine “Catie” Spivey, mechanical engineering students, were named 2021 Brooke Owens Fellows. The Brooke Owens Fellowship Program is a nationally-acclaimed nonprofit organization recognizing exceptional undergraduate women and other gender minorities with space and aviation internships, senior mentorship and a lifelong professional network. Forty-four Fellows were selected through a competitive application process involving written and creative submissions, interviews with the Fellowship’s volunteer-based leadership team and its close network, and interviews with host companies.
Natalie Chavez, a master’s student in urban and regional planning, was awarded the Gail Achterman Leadership Scholarship by the Portland Chapter of WTS, which assists exceptional women in their educational pursuits in the field of transportation.
Phoebe Cordova, applied linguistics, was named a McNair Scholar in December 2020. Cordova will perform research and participate in a research seminar through summer term.
Apy Das, a master’s student in civil and environmental engineering, won the Helene M. Overly Memorial Scholarship, from the Portland Chapter of WTS, which assists exceptional women in their educational pursuits in the field of transportation.
Nif Lindsay, master’s in book publishing, successfully launched her publishing company, Paper Playground Press, by raising funds for her first book, “Rodrigo Runs Off: An Autism Adventure,” on Kickstarter. The press is part of Lindsay’s master’s thesis.
Gavin Megson PhD ’20 was offered three summer 2020 internships with NASA. He selected a position with the Glenn Research Center with the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Intern Project. His work focused on determining the best way to transmit information over radio waves that will maximize efficiency and minimize data loss.
Nia Musiba, graphic design, was featured in a news article “Students Using Art to Fund the BLM Movement” from YR Media for her donations of artwork to Mask on PDX, Mutual Aid Alliance Portland, and Red House on Mississippi — organizations that work to support racial justice and BIPOC individuals. Musiba was also featured on OPB Oregon Art Beat’s “Episode 6: The Big Story” for a mural project she was involved in. The segment features five artists creating huge murals in Portland’s Eastside Industrial District — part of the Portland Street Art Alliance’s plan for a new world-class mural district.
Alexandra Vargas Quiñones, master’s student in environmental science and management, was awarded the 2021-21 International Fellowship from the American Association of University Women. Award recipients pursue academic work and lead innovative community projects to empower women and girls.
Kelly Zatlin, master’s student in book publishing and English, was awarded the Ooligan Student Travel Award 2021, a $600 award to travel to Scotland for the book publishing study abroad program to Edinburgh this summer.
PRESENTATIONS, PUBLICATIONS, AND EXHIBITIONS
Cole Bowman, master’s student in book publishing and English, has successfully launched Ooligan’s most recent book, “Faultland,” as the book project’s manager. “Faultland” has been chosen as a Powell’s Picks book for March, and will have a launch event in conjunction with Barnes and Noble.
Joe Eichenlaub and Essma Nasher, sociology graduate students, co-authored “Thematic Content Analysis of Newspaper Coverage of the Causes of the Opioid Crisis” in the Open Access Journal of Sociology.
Clare McClellan, master’s student in environmental management and collaborator in PSU’s interdisciplinary Oregon Water Stories (OWS) Project, presented the OWS Project’s research on a mixed-methods approach to measuring water values in Oregon micro-communities at the American Water Resource Association’s November 2020 Virtual Annual Water Resources Conference. McClellan’s research later was awarded first place in the Student Poster Competition in December, and was featured in the January 2021 issue of Water Resources IMPACT.
AnnaMarie O'Neill, doctoral candidate in applied social psychology, co-authored “Perceived Partner Responsiveness, Pain and Sleep: A Dyadic Study of Military-connected Couples,” published in Health Psychology.
Emily Slinskey, geography student, presented “An Assessment of the Contribution of Non-Orographic Lifting in Atmospheric River Precipitation,” at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in December.
SHARE SUCCESSES WITH THE COMMUNITY
We want to celebrate your students! Email submit student success items to currently@pdx.edu and include the following information:
- The student’s full name
- The student’s year and area of study (example: Jane Doe, a junior studying art history)
- The student’s job, volunteer or research position if applicable. For example, if a student won an award for their work as an employee with the PSU Residence Hall Association, their position with residence life would be necessary for the write-up
- The full name of the award, honor, scholarship or fellowship the student received
- The date the award was given
- Any other relevant information about the award, such as length of fellowship, total scholarship amount, location of award ceremony
- A horizontal image, if you have one
- Links to any other additional information you would like to be included in the write-up, such as news stories; web pages or documents for the awards/scholarships/fellowships; and accessible pages for publications (such as the Amazon listing for a student book available for purchase, or the article's journal web page for an academic publication)