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Our Graduate Students

The Institute on Aging employs several graduate students at any given time.  They teach, research, and learn alongside faculty mentors to help achieve educational goals.

For information on becoming a graduate assistant or teaching assistant, click here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Melissa Cannon

Interests:
Community development to create inclusive, age-friendly places universal design principles that encourage healthy, active lifestyles for people across the lifecourse; providing accessible and affordable housing, transportation, and services for people of all ages and abilities; developing innovative programs that support wellness and improve quality of care among older adults; supporting persons with dementia and their caregivers and successful models of Alzheimer's and dementia care facilities.

Projects:
While working on her dissertation proposal, Melissa is working as a graduate research assistant for the Institute on Aging, conducting qualitative and quantitative data analysis for the Institute and its programs. She is assisting with data collection, analysis, and development for the service-learning program “Global Aging and Health: Enhancing Communities in Nicaragua” led by faculty members Margaret B. Neal, Ph.D. and Keren Brown Wilson, Ph.D, and is helping prepare manuscript submissions to academic journals. She is also the project manager for federal grant proposal, “Strengthening Nicaragua’s Research Capacity in Chronic, Non-Communicable Disease across the Lifespan,” which will be submitted to the National Institutes of Health in September 2012.

Selected Publications

  • Neal, M. B., Hammer, L. B., Pines, M. A., Bodner, T. E., & Cannon, M. L. (Forthcoming).
  • Working caregivers in the “Sandwiched Generation.” In R. Burke, J. Field, & C. Cooper (Eds). Handbook on Aging, Work & Society. Newbury Park: Sage Publications.
  • Heying, Charles. (2010). Chapter 14: “Leather.” In Brew to Bikes: Portland’s Artisan Economy. Portland, OR: Ooligan Press.
  • Neal, Margaret, DeLaTorre, Alan, Nolan, Betsy, and Melissa Cannon. A study of Nicaraguan older adults living on the edge: Research from an international university-community partnership. Intended for the International Journal of Aging and Human Development. Estimated completion date: July 2012.

Sheryl Elliott

Interests:
Affordable, person-centered home and community based service options that enable older adults to age in place. Decreasing age bias and increasing understand of aging from a life-course perspective.

Projects:
Sheryl is working on her master’s thesis, and is employed as a graduate research assistant at the Institute on Aging. She is currently assisting faculty member Diana White, Ph.D. with data collection and analysis of person-centered care Options Counseling, a program designed to provide information, counseling, and assistance about long-term support services and programs to older adults and people with disabilities.

Selected Publications

  • White, D.L., Carder, P., Elliott, S., Foucek Tressider, A., Truxillo, D., Luhr, G., Jackson, S. (2011, November). Consumer Voices in Setting Standards for Options Counseling.  Poster presented at The Gerontological Society of America conference, Boston, MA.
  • Baggett, S., Carder, P.C., Elliott, S. (2010). Rose Villa Community Assessment. Portland, OR: Rose Villa Continuing Care Retirement Community.
  • Carder, P.C., Zoller, E., & Elliott, S. (2009). State Experiences with Affordable Housing Plus Services. Salem, OR: Oregon Department of Human Services, Seniors and Persons with Disabilities.

Jackie Kohon

Interests:

Affordable intergenerational housing; supportive housing and service integration for vulnerable populations; innovative models of affordable senior housing; Japan's aging society; urban health; health disparities; qualitative and visual research methods; sustainability planning; and the impacts of climate change on older adults and marginalized populations.

Projects:

Jacklyn is a doctoral student in Urban Studies and Planning and a Graduate Research Assistant at the Institute on Aging. She is currently working with Dr. Paula Carder and Jenny Weinstein on several studies focused on planning for the housing and supportive service needs of older adults living in subsidized housing. As part of the Aging Matters Initiative project team, she conducts interviews, qualitative analyses, and spatial analyses on the first-hand experiences of those who are "living on the margins," policies and programs that affect vulnerable populations, and sustainable and practical responses to population aging. Jacklyn is currently working on her dissertation proposal focusing on the social dimensions of urban sustainability planning, including social equity, public participation, social determinants of health, and planning for the health and supportive service needs of the growing population of older adults.

Selected publications:

Kohon, J., Carder, P., and Weinstein, J. (Forthcoming). Exploring identity and aging: Auto-photography and narratives of older adults living in subsidized housing.

Kohon, J., McSharry McGrath, M., and Shandas, V. (Forthcoming). Opportunities for Social Equity: Integrating social justice and climate action planning in Portland, Oregon.

Carder, P.C., Weinstein, J., & Kohon, J. (2011). Home Forward’s Aging in Place Initiative: Planning for Current and Future Residents. Report submitted to Home Forward (Housing Authority of Portland). Available, Institute on Aging, Portland State University.

Kaity Nelson

Kaity Nelson has worked at the OGEC Resource Center since September 2010. She graduated from PSU with a B.Sc degree in Psychology and a minor in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies and continues her graduate studies at PSU in the Counselor Education program. Kaity's goal is to become a counselor specializing in women's mental health issues. She has a special interest in body image issues, work-life balance, and grief counseling.