Get to know Matthew
Please describe the UPP-funded or affiliated project(s) you are currently working on or have worked on in the past?
Urban Beavers at the Crossroads: How Ecological Knowledge, Sociodemographic, and Spatial Context Shape Public Perception and Coexistence Preferences.
This is a project of TREE (Tualatin River Environmental Enhancement Grant Program) and is a collaboration between Heejun Chang (PSU) and Erin Leahy (USGS).
Who was your PSU advisor?
Heejun Chang
Provide a link to your project website, publication, or presentation (if applicable).
Visit the website here!
What were your primary responsibilities/roles of your research position?
I worked as a graduate research assistant at Portland State University in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey. My field responsibilities included helping colleagues monitor remote water temperature stations, setting up solar arrays, and calculating power requirements for long-term deployments. This work involved hands-on troubleshooting, equipment installation, and data collection in diverse field conditions. Complementing this technical fieldwork, I also led the design, distribution, and analysis of a large-scale social survey examining public perceptions of urban beavers in the Tualatin River watershed.
My roles encompassed data curation, statistical modeling, and visualization using R Studio, where I employed logistic regressions and composite Likert-scale analyses to evaluate how ecological knowledge, sociodemographic factors, and spatial context shape management preferences. I also integrated qualitative responses to highlight differences in community experiences across urban and peri-urban sites. Together, these responsibilities demonstrate a blend of technical field experience, ecological monitoring, and advanced social science analysis, aimed at informing evidence-based strategies for human–wildlife coexistence.
What skills did you gain from your research experience?
My research experience has given me a solid foundation in project management and data analysis, especially under the constraints of complex deadlines and multiple outputs. Through this project, I’ve learned to structure and prioritize my work effectively, balancing technical data analysis with public communication needs. Additionally, I've become adept at building websites—a skill I taught myself specifically for this project to better share our results with the public. Collaboration & Communication!
What aspects of your project did you enjoy the most?
I really enjoyed the interdisciplinary nature of this work. Bringing together data from fieldwork, using cutting-edge techniques like fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing, and analyzing how this translates to ecosystem resilience has been fascinating. Presenting this research, especially at conferences like BeaverCon 2024, has also been very rewarding. It’s an incredible experience to connect with others in the field and see the impact of our work beyond the lab. I have enjoyed the social science much more than I anticipated! This year alone I will be presenting this work a total of 7 times. Public speaking and sharing the results have been the most rewarding!
What did you learn from this experience?
This experience taught me that working in water science is a lot like working with beavers you have to be persistent, adaptable, and comfortable getting wet. From lugging solar panels into the field and calculating power needs for remote monitoring stations, I learned that I can engineer solutions in ways that would make a beaver proud. Partnering with USGS colleagues showed me how federal science gets done: with collaboration, patience, and the occasional duct-tape fix. On the social side, running surveys about urban beavers taught me that people have just as many dam strong opinions as the animals themselves. Some see them as furry ecosystem engineers, others as furry homewreckers. Personally, I discovered I enjoy bridging those perspectives, whether through data analysis, violin plots, or simply listening, because it’s where science meets society. Most of all, I learned I thrive when my work connects people, rivers, and beavers, reminding me that coexistence isn’t just a research topic, it’s a practice.
What are you doing now?
Right now, I’m gnawing my way through the job market. Since March I’ve been hard at work sending out applications, networking, and trying to build my next dam in the professional world. It’s been tough, like swimming upstream in flood season, but I’m keeping at it. I’m focusing on roles where I can use my beaver blend of fieldwork, data analysis, and human–wildlife coexistence expertise. The goal is to land in a position that lets me keep connecting people, water, and ecology, whether that’s with a conservation agency, a city, or a research organization.
Which PSU courses have been the most useful to you in your job(s) since graduation? Why?
Even though I haven’t landed a job yet, several PSU courses have been foundational in preparing me for the roles I’m pursuing. Urban Ecology gave me the theoretical grounding to understand how species like beavers adapt to cities and how human perceptions shape management. Advanced GIS and Spatial Analysis sharpened my technical skills with ArcGIS Pro and R, which I now use to link ecological data with social survey results. Water Science and Management was invaluable for understanding hydrology and stream processes, which I applied directly while working with USGS to monitor remote temperature stations and design solar power systems. Research Methods and Statistics equipped me to design surveys, run logistic regressions, and interpret complex datasets, the backbone of my thesis.
Are there any courses you now wish you had taken at PSU, based on your job requirements? Why?
That said, I wish I had taken more courses focused on NEPA and permitting. Those skills are in high demand for the environmental and conservation jobs I’m applying to, and they would have complemented my research experience by giving me a stronger foundation in regulatory processes and applied project implementation.