Portland State Magazine Winter 2009

AROUND THE PARK BLOCKS I Letter I Give transportation its due I am writing in regards to rhe recent cover story "Urban Visionary" in fall 2008 Portland Scare Magazine. 'Ihe notion that biking to work with Sam A<lams rei nforces che university's commitment to "sustainability" is embar– rassing, as is the photo on page one. Bicycles are nice, an<l there is a niche market for chem in Portland. Bur motor vehicles (cars, trucks and buses) <lo the heavy lifting for rhe daily movement of people and freight in Porcland and will for the foreseeable future. Leaders who want to be taken seriously should acknowledge char. Moreover, motor vehicles pay their own way for rhe infrasrrucmre needed, unlike rhe bikes, streetcars, and light rail so favored by many PSU academ– ics. If a mode of transport generates negative cash How, then it's not really sustainable. john A. Cht1rles, Jr., MPA '91 St1ndy, Oregon Portland Seate Magazine wants to hearfrom you. E-mailyour comments to psumag@pdx.edu or sent them to Portland State Magazine, Office of University Communications, PO Box 751, Portland OR 97207-0751. We reserve the right to editfor space and clarity. Counseling Portland teens BEI NG A TE EN AG ER is hard. 1hey face pressures ro fit in, do well, stay clean, and hardest of all, grow up. It's nice to have someone to talk to. Teens in five Portland high schools now have chat someone: a Portland State master's degree student in social work. "Because there are limited mental health services in our schools, the PSU students are filling a real need," says Jason Breaker with Portland Public Schools. The students are counseling teenager at Benson, Franklin, Lincoln, Marshall, and Meek ProTech (formerly Vocational Village) high schools. Breaker hopes to expand the program to 10 schools next year with the help of Monica Parmley 4 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE WINTER 2009 MSW '04, who was recently hired to run the new program. Research hows chat students who get referred to on-site counseling are far more likely to actually receive it than if they are referred our, said Breaker. For Parmley, the Portland Public Schools position was "the job I'd been waiting for." Many PSU students want to do school social work when they graduate, says Ellen Masterson, director of field placement for the chool of Social Work. "We're expanding our Bugs check in IF GROWERS arenotvigilant,little insects like the coddling moth can take a big bite out of Oregon's $84 million-a– year pear harvest. Detection has gotten easier, thanks to a group of Portland Scace engineering students. Rebeka Davidova, Rico Delapaz, Justin Lind, and Tin Nguyen upgraded a bug trap with a sensor that allows farmers remote access to key informa– tion on insect presence. Usually growers must inspect traps in their orchards and fields. The improved trap is integrated into what the student team calls a wire– less remote insect monitoring network. The low-cost system works on all kinds of bug infestations. The student team created the technol– ogy-valued at $50,000-for APTIV, a start-up company located in PSU's Busi– ness Accelerator. Ir was their Senior Cap– stone project: a real-world, communiry service project that is part of Porcland State's undergraduate curriculum. curriculum so that MSWs will be able to meet licensure standards to work in schools," she says. "I think it's a tremendous partner– ship," says Parmley. "My hope is that high school students whose mental health needs were going unmet wi ll be helped because of this program."