Coastal Studio Penn State earns Community Engagement and Scholarship Award

Peter Stempel Credit: SuppliedAll Rights Reserved.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Coastal Studio Penn State (CSPSU) – Portsmouth Rhode Island Resilience Planning project has received the 2022 Penn State Award for Community Engagement and Scholarship. The effort is led by Peter Stempel, associate professor of landscape architecture in the College of Arts and Architecture. 

The award recognizes a project that best exemplifies Penn State as an “engaged institution,” which the Kellogg Commission defines as an institution that has redesigned teaching, research, and extension and service functions to become even more sympathetically and productively involved with its communities. 

The project pairs experts at Penn State who are tasked with promoting coastal resilience of communities such as Portsmouth Rhode Island, which are facing existential challenges of sea level rise and coastal storms. Penn State design students apply scientific research to address community identified problems in these communities such as flooding and septic system failures. The studio is able to illustrate future scenarios depending on the severity of climate change while offering solutions for community planners. 

“CSPSU brings to life the Kellogg Commission’s definition of engagement as going beyond outreach to aligning education, research and extension in a sympathetic way that serves communities and the nation more broadly,” a nominator said.  

Nominators said low-lying areas of Portsmouth face an imminent threat from sea level rise. Rising water tables and high tides are beginning to flood the community on sunny days and community planners are in need of expertise, information and solutions. 

“Working with the Coastal Studio at Penn State has filled real-world gaps in information and provided the town of Portsmouth with useful visualizations, analyses and conceptual designs that are assisting us with real-world decision-making,” a nominator said. “The students in the Coastal Studio have raised unimaginable possibilities that will shape planning for sea-level adaptation. 

Nominators said the project mutually benefits community needs, laying the groundwork for solutions to problems facing many coastal communities, while training the next generation of leaders at Penn State whose careers will no doubt play a vital role in creating global resilience to problems posed by sea-level rise and climate change. The partnership, which is ingrained in Stempel’s research, also follows a cohesive path that extends beyond academic semesters. 

Coastal Studio Penn State is becoming a tool in a larger toolbox of efforts conducted by the University of Rhode Island Coastal Resilience Center in coordination with other government agencies and nonprofits,” a nominator said. “It exposes students to the practice of coastal resilience, while giving them a meaningful way to contribute to the process. It is an honor to mentor and observe these future practitioners who will gain a realistic view of the challenges, opportunities and partnerships needed to be successful in their careers.” 

Last Updated April 11, 2022