The Simpson Urban Studies Institute involves departments in all academic divisions of the College in research, to serve the larger Des Moines metropolitan area and to increase experiential learning opportunities for students under the guidance of Simpson faculty.
USI Center for Sustainable Urban Communities
Research Center. Identify critical urban problems.
Amplifies Student/Faculty Academic Experience. Students and faculty engage in one on one research or scholar activities that enhances student and faculty relationships that impact the overall undergraduate experience.
Collaborative. Collaboration between urban non-profit/faith based organizations and Simpson to enhance experiential learning for students through specific community research and technical assistance projects.
Experiential and Service Learning Gateway. SUSI staff, in collaboration with the Simpson Center for Vocational and Integrative Learning (CVIL), coordinate the Simpson community to participate in volunteer projects as a means to construct service learning components to existing courses, and undergraduate research.
Community Resource. As SUSI’s presence becomes more well known and trusted, community residents will see SUSI as a component of positive change in urban system modification.
SUSI Research Grants. SUSI grants are awarded to research projects that produce research results beneficial to the Des Moines metropolitan area. The following are examples of research projects funded by SUSI.
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Living on Hope: An Exploratory Study of Urban Migration in Des Moines, Iowa
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Big Impact of Small Medicine: Designing Nanostructures to Deliver Medicine
- The Impact of Minority Impact Legislation
- Using the TPACK Framework to Enhance Literacy Instruction
- Urban Anthropology: Cultural Sensitivity Project
- Mitchellville: A Collection of Voices from the Inside
- Water quality in the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers within the Des Moines metropolitan area
- Needs Analysis of the Des Moines River Bend neighborhood
- Judge-Jury Divergence and the Race of the Defendant
- Self Meets World: Student Identity Travels Abroad
- A Frontline View of Disproportionate Minority Youth Contact
- How Did I Get Here? A Look at the Juvenile Drug Court Experience
- Nurse Experiences in the Nurse Family Partnership Program