Research

MPP students and faculty engage in interdisciplinary research teams that include scientists from a full range of relevant disciplines on pressing policy issues to address the most pressing concerns of the 21st century such as water conflict in a globalized economy, educational reform in the face of shrinking public resources, and the implementation of increasingly contentious technologies such as genetically modified crops, nanotechnology, sustainable rural communities, and renewable energy. 

There are many research opportunities for MPP students at OSU through our Sun Grant, Sea Grant and Land Grant programs and through various research institutes including the Institute for Natural Resources, the Institute for Water and Watersheds, the Rural Studies Program, the Hatfield Marine Science Center, and many other opportunities.

Many MPP students have participated in joint interdisciplinary research projects funded by grants. Recent examples include:

• Sarah Kopp, Kristin Chatfield, Kirsten Winters, and Andres Vaughan worked with students and faculty in Water Resources Policy, Geosciences and Political Science on "Blue Revolution Initiative: Regional Water Management Benchmarking in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) Region, USAID/Egypt (2008-2010).
• Yao Yin worked with students and faculty from Sea Grant, Anthropology, Marine Resources Management, Environmental Science and Political Science on “Human Dimensions of Wave Energy,” Oregon Wave Energy Trust (2008-2009).
• Dawn Marie Gaid, Vince Adams and Yao Yin worked with faculty from Agricultural and Resource Economicsand Political Science on “Changing Federal County Payments Policy and Rural Oregon Counties: Impacts and Options,” The Ford Family Foundation, (2007-2009).

Some additional research projects are listed below as well as final MPP Research Essays.

 Student and Faculty Research Reports

• Vince Adams, Local Government Responses to Fiscal Stress: How Do Oregon Counties Compare?: RSP 0902
• Corvallis Wastewater Survey-2009 (Oregon): Wastewater Survey Results
• Vince Adams and Dawn Marie Gaid, Federal Land Management and County Government, 1908-2008: RSP 0804
• Southern Willamette Valley Groundwater Survey-2008 (Oregon): Groundwater Results
• Oregon Policy Issues Survey-2008 (Energy Policy): Energy-Results08
• Oregon County Timber Payments Study-2008: SRS Report.pdf
• Oregon Policy Issues Survey-2007 (Education Policy): RESULTS07.pdf
• Catherine Clark and Yao Yin, The Sustainability of Biomass in the Pacific Northwest-2007: biomass.pdf
• The Role of Science in the Environmental Policy Process:  A Survey of Bulgarian and American Environmental Organizations--2006: bulgaria.pdf
• Professor Robert Sahr's Inflation Conversion Website: http://oregonstate.edu/cla/polisci/faculty-research/sahr/sahr.htm
• Survey of Oregon Local Governments-2005: loc05.pdf
• Oregon Policy Issues Survey-2004: policy04.pdf
• Oregon Coastal and Ocean Policy Survey-2002: oregon sea grant.pdf
• Melissa Torgerson's "Economic Impacts of Oregon's Low Income Weatherization Program: An Input-Output Analysis:" http://www.oregon.gov/OHCS/CRD/SOS/docs/Wx_Economic_Impact_Analysis.pdf
• Professor Mark Edwards and MPP students Melissa Torgerson and Jennifer Sattem publish a new report on Homeless Youth Services in Douglas County. Read the report at: http://ruralstudies.oregonstate.edu/Publications/RSP06-03.pdf

MPP Student Essays

2009

• Gaid, Dawn Marie. "Changing Federal County Payments and Rural Oregon Counties:  Analysis of Policy Impacts and Responses in Selected Oregon Counties" http://hdl.handle.net/1957/13139
• Gagnier, Cliff. “Retirement Age Migration to and from Oregon: Who is still on the Oregon Trail?” http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/11749
• Goschke, Lauren. "The Federal Trust Responsibility and Treaty Protected Resources on Ceded Public Lands: A Huckleberry Case Study" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/12007
• Hammond, D'Anne. "Low Income Weatherization in Rural Oregon: Practical and Policy Limitations in Providing More Low Income Households" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/12369
• Kelleher, Bridget.  "Analysis of the Effects of Head Start on the Long Term Educational Achievements of Participants: Elements of Agreement, Conflict, and Gaps" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/12504
• Myers, Sarah. "The Well-Being of Oregonians: Measuring Social Well-Being through Oregon's Benchmarks" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/11823
• Ogden, Steph. "The Poetics of Water Governance : Differential Language Use About Water in El Salvador" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/12249
• Stauffer, Scott. "Keeping State Policy Public: Meeting Accountability in Commission Governance" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/11466
• Yin, Yao. "Is Wave Energy Comparatively Sustainable in Oregon?" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/12116

2008

• Braybrooks, Melanie. "Entrepreneurial Policy in South Eastern Europe: The Role of Culture, Economics and Regulation in Augmenting MSME Development" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/8706 
• Chrostek, Garrett. "The Influence of Measure 37 Claims on the Shift in Vote Between Measure 37 and Measure 49" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/8704 
• Clark, Catherine. "Environmental Justice and Energy Production: Coal-Fired Power Plants in Illinois" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/9770
• Fuller, Justin. "A Statistical Analysis of Oregon's Land-Use Ballot Measures" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/8703
• Johnson, Samuel. "Oregon's Changing Rural Population: Age, Migration and Policy Response"  http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/9407
• Kearney, Emily. "Balancing Impact and Efficiency in Microfinance Administration: The Importance of Attention to Program Design" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/10098
• O'Neill, Elizabeth. "Muscle and Money: Determining the Relationship Between Occupational Physical Demands and Individual Earning Power" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/9150
• Stansfield, Richard. "Unsubstantiated Fears: Assessing the Effects of Recent Immigration on Part I Index Crimes" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/8879
• Whitehead, Katie. "Assessing the Feasibility of Policy Prescriptions in the Salmon 2100 Project" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/7971

2007

• Buerger, Chris. MPP Essay: "Finding Safe Homes: A Quantitative Analysis of Child Well-Being Across Placement"  http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/dspace/handle/1957/9230
• Curiel, Sara. "Strengthening Oregon's Communities: Latino Community Leadership Training" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/6191
• Grussing, Jay. "Predicting County-Level Food Insecurity and Hunger in Oregon" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/6195
• Ham, Cliff. "Diesel Fuel Emissions and Truck Idling: The Oregon Interstate 5 Idle-Free Corridor Project" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/dspace/handle/1957/7569
• Sattem, Jennifer. "Publicly Funded, Privately Assisted: The Role of Giving in Oregon K-12 Education" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/6193
• Torgerson, Melissa. "Barriers to Community Involvement across Rural and Urban Communities" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/6194

2006

• Crawford, Seth. "The Energy Policy Act of 2003 and the Social Network of the Power Industry" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/dspace/handle/1957/6301

2005

• Johnson, Alex. "The Oregon State University Diversity Action Plan: A Window of Opportunity" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/6319
• Wirth, Julie. "Oregon's Wetland Regulatory Framework: A Synthesis of Approaches" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/6297

2004

• Kleiner, Erica. "Health Insurance Coverage Differentials in Oregon" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/6320
• Opsommer, Laura. "Oregon's Coastal Marine Recreational Fishing Community: The State of Communication with the Fisheries Management Community" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/6345

2003

• Nelson, Jessica. "The Sociology of Public Policy at Work: Moral and Economic Arguments in Public Policy Discourse" http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/handle/1957/6344