Portland State Sustainability | Visiting Scholar Program

2009-2010 Distinguished Visiting Scholars

Center for Sustainable Processes and Practices

The Center for Sustainable Processes and Practices has named its distinguished visiting scholars for 2009-10: Yoko Nagase, an environmental and natural resource economist, and Judith Heerwagen, a psychologist focused on behavioral ecology and the human factors of sustainability.

The Center for Sustainable Processes and Practices' Distinguished Visiting Scholars program creates an opportunity for in-depth collaboration with other academic institutions to ensure the cross-pollination of ideas between campuses and geographies.

The Distinguished Visiting Scholars program of the Center for Sustainable Processes and Practices is funded in part through a ten-year, $25 million challenge grant from the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, in support of sustainability at Portland State University.

Judith Heerwagen

Judith Heerwagen is a Seattle-based psychologist whose work focuses on the psychosocial and health impacts of the designed environment. She has written widely on post-occupancy evaluation, the human factors of sustainability, and psychosocial wellbeing as it relates to the environment.

Prior to starting her own research and consulting business J.H. Heerwagen & Associates, Inc., in 2000, Heerwagen was a staff scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a research faculty member at the University of Washington, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, and a principal with the planning and design firm Space, LLC. She is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council and served as vice chair of its research committee from 2006 to 2008.

At PSU, Heerwagen plans to continue a previously initiated project with Loren Lutzenhiser, professor of urban studies and planning, and Sergio Palleroni, associate professor of architecture and a Fellow with the Center for Sustainable Processes and Practices. The project applies a behavioral ecology framework as a way of integrating human needs and experiences into sustainable design. One application of this came during a recent “Living Building” charrette, in which participants discussed ways to improve occupants’ comfort by increasing local environmental controls.

Heerwagen will also lead a seminar for both professionals and university students on the human factors of sustainability. The course will include an introduction to evolutionary psychology—specifically, new theory and research on evolved mental modules dealing with the natural environment and with decision-making about natural resources. The seminar would also include research on the human impacts of sustainable buildings and research on biophilia (human preference for nature and natural environments), biophobia (fear of the natural environment) and behavioral change.

Yoko Nagase

Yoko Nagase is an economist who has spent the past year as a visiting assistant professor at PSU’s Department of Economics. She has been developing a compliance cost calculator to study the effect of the forthcoming cap-and-trade regulation in the state of California.

Prior to joining PSU, Nagase held numerous academic appointments in the United States and Japan, including a post as assistant professor of economics at Lawrence University (Appleton, Wisc.) from 2001 to 2008. She earned her doctorate in Economics from University of Oregon.

As a Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Nagase will focus on two projects. The first is an ongoing collaboration with the Carbon Modeling Group at PSU, with Department of Mathematics and Statistics professor Steven Bleiler and doctoral candidate Tom Fielden. The team is working on tools to estimate the compliance cost of the forthcoming cap-and-trade program in California. The project has additional relevance to Oregon and other states that may use such a tool to guide adoption of the Western Climate Initiative, a regional approach to reducing green house gas emissions.

A second project, with PSU System Science professor Wayne Wakeland and doctoral candidate Takuro Uehara, will develop a model that encourages consideration of how nature, the economy, cultural and political choices impact one another.

As part of our sustainability initiative, Portland State University’s Center for Sustainable Processes and Practices awarda one or more Distinguished Visiting Scholar positions in Sustainability each academic year. Please see the following guidelines for more information: