PSU Magazine Winter 1987

IX GRANTS, CONTRACTS AND RESEARCH A n important measure of a uni versity's contribution to the society it serves is the extent of the work it undertakes in part– nership with institutions beyond its campus. In 1986-87, Portland State fac– ulty, departments and projects were awarded 101 grants and contracts total– ling $5.4 million, a 30% increase since September 1986 . What foll ows is only a sampling of the range of projects under way at the University and the broad support of corporations, foundations and government agencies. The Regional Research Institute for Human Services received a grant of S275 ,000 from the Fred Meyer Charitable Trust fo r a two-year research and demon– stration project entitled "Work and Elder Care: Supporting Family Caregivers in the Workplace;' a project designed to find ways to improve the self-esteem, morale and productivity of employees who are caring fo r elderl y famil y members. RRJ also received 5325,000 from the National Institute for Handicapped Research to fund the Research and Training Center fo r Severely Emotionally Handicapped Children and S65,000 in funding from a variety of sources for the Northwest · Indian Welfare Institute, which it co– sponsors with the Parry Center fo r Children. The American Speech, Language and Hearing Foundation, the Fred Meyer Charitable Trust and PSU are fu nding a study of delayed speech in infants to see if the condition is a predictor of later speech and language problems. If so, earl y identification may allow early treatment and prevention of future prob– lems, according to Rhea Paul , Assistant Professor of Speech Communication and director of the study. The Fred Meyer Charitable Trust also gave S295 ,000 to fund a three-year proj– ect to develop a coordi nated Pacific Rim information service for business and educational uses in the Portland and Seattle metropolitan areas. PSU , the University of Washington and Seattle, King and Multnomah counties will coop– erate in the project. In another cooperati ve project with the Multonomah County Library, the PSU Library will become a member of the nation's largest computer-based network of bibliographic information. The two libraries will share a Sl00 ,000 grant provided under the federally funded Library Services and Construction Act. The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded nearly SI million over fi ve years to fund a PSU project to develop new university-level mathematics course materials and instructional methods for teachers of middle-school mathematics. Ted Nelson, Professor of Mathematical Sciences and Education and author of the proposal to NSF, will lead the project, assisted by the Math Learning Center, a non-profit educational institution affili– ated with PSU. The Center is also involved in a S670,000 SFproject for improving the middle-school mathemat– ics curriculum . Robert O'Brien and Thomas Hard, Chemistry and Environmental Sciences and Resources, and Herman Migliore, Mechanical Engineering, received a one– year, S207 ,000 grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for development of a measurement system for use in characterizing the chemical processes that maintain the composition of the atmosphere. O'Brien and Hard , along with Cornelius Chan and Ahmad Mehrabzadeh, also of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences and Resources, were awarded Sl64 ,000 by the U.S. Envi– ronmental Agency for study of reactions which control chemical processes in polluted air The continuation grant brings EPA's total contribution to the study to S957,000. The School of Education was awarded S226,000 from the U.S. Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services for work with visually handicapped chil– dren, and Joel Arick and Ruth Falco received S252,000 from the same federal office to provide national inservice train– ing to teachers of persons with severe handicaps. Wendeli n Mueller, Professor of Civil Engineering, received a S30,000 addition to his research contract with the Bon– neville Power Administration for a scale– model study of impact loads on transmission lines. The extension brings BPA's total contribution to the study to S462 ,000 .