TREKS The Transformative Scholarship Research Generator
The Transformative Scholarship Research Generator exists to enhance students’ skill development and educational outcomes in the areas of qualitative and quantitative research and data science, engagement, and scholarship—to develop engaged citizens prepared to address societal issues wherever they are. The research generator will facilitate scholars’ development and educational outcomes via classroom learning, experiential learning and fieldwork within local, regional, national, and international communities and industries, and through scholarship venues such as domestic and international conferences, the publishing process, and through applying for national and international scholarships. The research generator will work in partnership with the Office of Engagement to make undergraduate engagement an integral part of the undergraduate experience in the John Martinson Honors College and at Purdue.
Community Well-Being Projects
Affordable Housing Project
This project is focused on creating and maintaining an affordable housing profile and or map for each eighborhood in the northend of Lafayette using various secondary data such as the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) database, Census, Census Tract, and the Polk Directory. The profile and maps include: 1) types of housing 2) mean and median cost of housing per type 3) demographics of people per housing type 4) ariations in spending habits per housing type 5) assets and liabilities of each type of housing.
Livability Study Project
This project is focused on creating livability studies for northend neighborhoods in Lafayette Indiana. The livability studies include: 1) demographic information for each neighborhood — creating a neighborhood profile, 2) mapped neighborhood assets, 3) community context, 4) livability assessment that focuses on a) housing, b) transportation, and c) access to and availability of "opportunities to engage in health and wellness, economic, and social activities. Both qualitative and quantitative primary and secondary data will need to be collected from observable neighborhood data, phone interviews, and databases such as the Polk directory, Census, Census Tract, etc.
Habitat for Humanity - Well-Being Project
This project is focused on Lafayette residents who have gone through the Habitat for Humanity house building process. This project involves interviewing homeowners, inquiring about the extent to which going through the house building process has influenced their a) purpose well-being, b) social well-being (pre and post), c) community well-being (pre and post), d) physical and mental well-being, and e) financial well-being. This project could be done in conjunction with the Faith Community Development Impact Project.
Faith Community Development Corporation Impact Project
This project is focused on qualitatively measuring the extent to which the Faith Community Development Corporation (FCDC), in conjunction with the Hartford Hub, has impacted the Lincoln neighborhood. It involves interviewing residents in the neighborhood about the ways in which the FCDC has enhanced the livability of the neighborhood, and potentially subjective life-ability. This project could be done in conjunction with the Habitat for Humanity Well-Being Project.
Property Conditions Project
This project is focused on collecting primary data on the northend Lafayette neighborhood residences including: 1) structure conditions, 2) property conditions, 3) dwelling and site conditions, 4) other site characteristics, 5) adjacent properties, and 6) public right-of-way conditions. This project requires going to and walking around Lafayette neighborhoods to collect the data.
Place-Based Homelessness Project
This project is focused on homelessness in the Greater Lafayette area. More specifically, this project is focused on creating a homelessness profile for the City of Lafayette and comparing it to other communities in Indiana as well as to state-level homelessness data. This project will require collaborating with the State of Indiana.
Current State of Evictions Project
This project is focused on evictions in Lafayette. More specifically this project will determine where evictions are happening in Lafayette since Governor Eric Holcomb's state moratorium on evictions expired in August 2020. Although the Centers for Disease Control extended the moratorium through the end of the year 2020, Central Indiana expected a surge of evictions related to COVID-19. This project will use local evictions data to determine where evictions are happening in Lafayette.
Enhancing Northend Neighborhood Stability Project
This project is exploratory in nature and is designed to address stability, the "single largest problem" the City of Lafayette faces—other than keeping people housed during COVID-19. This project is focused on addressing the question, "how can the City of Lafayette attract people to the northend and make it a place where people want to live and stay, and to reinvest in their respective neighborhoods?"
Food Finders Community Impact Project
This project is focused on measuring the impact that Food Finders Food Bank has on the communities it serves. Specifically, it involves evaluating Food Finders’ Resource and Education Center, and the services it provides. This is a primarily quantitative study conducted via surveys.
Community Indicator Data Automation Project
This project is a direct response to the City of Lafayette’s expressed need—within the Good Decisions, Good Data project—for a, “…legacy system that will facilitate future data gathering and analysis.” This is an ongoing project focused on automating a neighborhood, housing, and homelessness data extraction, analysis, and visualization process that will continually provide the City of Lafayette with data to inform and guide their efforts in neighborhood revitalization, affordable housing, and homelessness intervention.
Social Well-Being (Leadership and Educational) Projects
FIRST LEGO League Project
This project is focused on launching FIRST LEGO League teams within informal learning spaces, such as after-school programs hosted by community and neighborhood centers, to engage underrepresented minority youth in STEM activities. FIRST LEGO League programs focus on STEM through engaging youth in research, problem-solving, and building and programming LEGO robots. There is a research component to the initiative which involves measuring the extent to which youth's engagement in this type of informal educational programming enhances their problem solving, research thinking, collaboration, and innovation skills.
Students in Action Project
“Students In Action (SIA) is a unique youth service, leadership and recognition program that supports, trains and empowers today's youth to be leaders, problem solvers, entrepreneurs and impactful global citizens.” This project is focused on mentoring local youth via the Students in Action (SIA) program hosted by Multiplying Good. Researchers involved in this project will serve at one of six local middle or high schools as an SIA coach, and will mentor youth as they identify important local challenges and issues. SIA coaches will mentor and support youth as they design, develop, implement, and measure the impact of programs to address the challenges and issues they identified. The research component of this project will be an ethnography-like exploration of how local youth identify and address issues that are important to them, and exploring the extent to such community engagement influences local youth’s propensity to serve.
Physical Well-Being Projects
The Health Action Plan Project
This project builds upon the work of the Current State of Evictions Project and is focused on investigating correlations that exist between homelessness, health, and healthcare access. Dr. Ware, two of his colleagues from Purdue University's College of Health and Human Sciences, and Family Promise of Greater Lafayette (the city's only organization serving homeless families), have obtained a grant to investigate the various stressors caused by homelessness that translate to adverse health outcomes.
