The Role of Research and Scholarship in an Urban University

Improving Social Services
The Regional Research Institute has undertaken more than 110 projects and received awards of more than $25 million in grants and contracts. The aim of the Regional Research Institute is to improve human services through applied social research.
Pioneering Work in Geomicrobiology & Electron Microscopy
Doctor Sherry Cady and The Center for Life in Extreme Environments at PSU is doing pioneering work in the search for life in extreme conditions.
Studying Global Warming
PSU participates with a program that links environmental scientists with school children all over the world in collaborative research projects. One PSU lead project is studying ways to reduce global warming.

The Role of Research and Scholarship in an Urban University

PSU is an integral part of the community and the creation, transmission and application of knowledge is central to what we do. This interplay of knowledge and community guides our work in the state, the nation, and around the globe. Academic program design will reflect the changing world and new fields of knowledge. It will benefit from the lessons we have learned in our interdisciplinary and inter-institutional graduate programs and research activities.

Hybrid teams of faculty have sparked our sense of new possibilities and expanded our thinking. These teams of faculty, students and practicing experts across disciplines and institutions create unique learning, research, and work environments that will impact our future growth.

These teams help to shape issues in areas such as:

  • Development of public policy
  • Economic Development
  • Environmental issues
  • Education and work issues
  • Technological Innovations
  • Mental health policy
  • Juvenile justice and substance use
  • Knowledge about extreme environments
  • Many other urban and global issues

PSU Portfolio Themes