Thien-Kim Bui is an Earth, Environment and Society PhD candidate at Portland State University and a senior fellow at PSU’s National Policy Consensus Center. Their in-progress dissertation uses legal research, interviews, and community-based participatory mapping practices to examine water governance and management in the US West.

Previously, Thien-Kim has worked for a small farm, an environmental engineering consultant, and an arts education nonprofit. 

thienkimbui.github.io

David Banis has managed the Center for Spatial Analysis and Research (CSAR) in the Geography Department at Portland State University since 2006, working with a wide variety of partners at the federal, state, and local levels on applied GIS projects. The projects themselves are equally diverse, and they range from practical database compilation and mapmaking to the study of human/environment interactions in a variety of contexts, to explorations in cultural geography. A number of CSAR’s research programs employ public participatory mapping to explore how cultural values and human perceptions of landscapes might be used to improve public land management.

CV link

Rebecca McLain has been the Research Program Director for the National Policy Consensus Center at Portland State University (PSU) since 2019, where she designs and implements research projects related to collaborative governance. She was a research associate with PSU’s Institute for Sustainable Solutions from 2013-2019, and from 1999 – 2012, co-directed the Institute for Culture and Ecology, a non-profit research organization specializing in the social aspects of natural resource management. Along with colleagues David Banis (Portland State, Geography Department) and Lee Cerveny (US Forest Service, PNW Research Station), she developed human ecology mapping, an innovative GIS-based public engagement tool for collecting data regarding human values, perceptions, and activities associated with landscapes ranging from national forests to urban neighborhoods. Her research interests also include land and forest governance in the Global South, with a specialization in West Africa and Madagascar. Participatory mapping is an important tool in her research toolkit in the US and abroad.

Sumi Wu is an artist, sculptor, and theatrical designer. She has created numerous large-scale public and private art commissions throughout the Pacific Northwest. Her sculptural media include cast and handblown glass, fabricated and cast metals: stainless steel, bronze, and aluminum. Sumi maintains parallel careers in public art and theatrical design of sets, costumes, and props for dance, opera, and theatre. Her artwork is informed by the cooperative exploration of the workings of the human mind and heart that is possible in the performing arts.

sumiwu.com

Bio coming soon!