Solar-Powered Automated Transportation: Feasibility and Visualization

A solar-powered automated transportation network (ATN) connecting the North and South campuses of San José State University with three passenger stations was designed, visualized, and analyzed in terms of its energy usage, carbon offset, and cost. The study’s methodology included the use of tools and software such as ArcGIS, SketchUp, Infraworks, Sketchup, Rhinoceros, and Autodesk 3DS Max. ATN vehicle energy usage was estimated using data from the university’s Park & Ride shuttle bus operation and by modeling with SUMOPy, the advanced simulation suite for the micro-traffic simulator SUMO. The energy study showed that an extensive solar photovoltaic (PV) canopy over the guideway and stations is sufficient for the network to run 24/7 in better-than-zero net-metered conditions—even if ridership were to increase 15% above that predicted from SJSU Park & Ride shuttle data. The resulting energy system has a PV-rated output of 6.2 MW, a battery system capacity of 9.8 MWh, and an estimated cost of $11.4 million USD. The solar ATN also produces 98% lower CO2 and PM2.5 emissions compared to the Park & Ride shuttle bus. A team of experts including urban planners, architects, and engineers designed and visualized the conceptual prototype, including a comprehensive video explaining the need for solar ATN and what a typical rider would experience while utilizing the system. This research demonstrates both benefits and challenges for solar-powered ATN, as well as its functionality within the urban built environment to serve diverse San José neighborhoods.

JAPANTOWN PREPARED AND ORGANIZATIONAL STUDIES: CAMPUS-COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS FOR DISASTER PREPAREDNESS

Universities and community-based organizations partner to provide benefits to students and to communities where universities are situated. We examine the core elements of a successful partnership in a case study of an ongoing collaboration between San José State University (SJSU) and Japantown Prepared, a community-based organization whose mission is to advance disaster preparedness at the household and community level within San José, California’s, historic Japantown. We demonstrate these core elements of success through a discussion of the development and execution of several projects designed to build capacity within Japantown Prepared and provide real-world experience for Organizational Studies students at SJSU. We conclude that the relationship between SJSU and Japantown Prepared meets the core elements of a successful partnership and provide further suggestions for its continued success.

THIS MUST BE THE PLACE: PARTNERSHIPS FOR DISASTER PREPAREDNESS IN SAN JOSÉ’S HISTORIC JAPANTOWN

Because upheavals, oppression, and disaster feature so prominently in the history and (re) making of Japantown San José, preparedness and recovery are in many ways structuring idioms of Japantown and its translocal networks. Memories of generational traumas and recoveries are passed through generations and across cultures in Japantown, as key processes in its history are memorialized in monuments, museums, artwork, plaques, benches, and everyday storytelling. We introduce a community-based disaster preparedness organization, Japantown Prepared, as an outgrowth of the structuring idioms of preparedness and recovery and how their work continues in a partnership with the Department of Anthropology at San José State University.

BUILDING COMMUNITY-LEVEL DISASTER PREPAREDNESS THROUGH SMALL BUSINESS CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND SOCIAL MARKETING

Japantown Prepared, a community-based disaster preparedness organization in San José, California’s historic Japantown, began a long-term partnership with the Department of Anthropology and the Organizational Studies Program at San José State University in 2016. This article is a study of one of their many collaborative projects, a disaster preparedness Business Certification Project meant to foster the development of disaster preparedness in the Japantown Business District. The project applied principles and methods of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social marketing by recruiting local businesses in Japantown’s popular business district to develop in-house disaster plans and then signal their preparedness with a prominently displayed certificate and a sticker with the Japantown Prepared logo in their front windows. We assess project implementation (design and recruitment) and identify opportunities for assessing the outcomes of the CSR campaign and social marketing awareness, both on other businesses in Japantown and consumers and community members. Specifically, further studies could determine whether and how businesses might build more consumer trust and social action in disaster preparedness.

Teaching U.S.–Mexico Relations to Dreamers in the Time of COVID-19

This article reflects upon the shared experience of learning and teaching among a community of Dreamers at San Jose State University in fall 2020. The triple whammy of the COVID-19 pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, and the 2020 presidential election created a semester like no other for college students. Our class acquired a deeper understanding of the historical and political events that brought us to the United States as inhabitants of the California borderlands as we watched the events of 2020 unfold.

Exploring Faculty Perspectives during Emergency Remote Teaching in Engineering at a Large Public University

In Spring 2020, the College of Engineering at San José State University (SJSU) conducted a comprehensive analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on faculty who were forced to transition to an online learning environment. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of COVID-19 on faculty teaching methods, assessment methods, and personal well-being. The study was a combination of a quantitative survey and a qualitative study using interviews of engineering faculty teaching in Spring 2020. In the first part, we surveyed all faculty teaching during Spring 2020 in the SJSU College of Engineering about their experiences after the move to 100% online instruction in March 2020. In the second part of the research, we interviewed 23 faculty members to obtain a more in-depth understanding of their experiences during the move online in Spring 2020. Overall, 98 faculty participated in the survey: lecturers (58), tenure-track (18), tenured (13), adjunct (1), and Teaching Associates (1). The faculty reported being worried about their family and their students’ well-being. In addition, 65% of faculty members reported either a moderate or a great deal of stress related to the shelter in place, and this percentage was higher for female faculty (74%) and for tenure-track faculty (83%). Overall, faculty members felt that they had their classes under control most of the time and that the transition to online teaching was positive, even if they felt they had too much work to do and felt always in a hurry and under pressure. From a teaching perspective, the interviews highlight that faculty members’ main concerns focus on testing and assessment and students’ engagement. Overall, SJSU College of Engineering faculty members felt under stress in the transition to online teaching, especially the tenure-track faculty members, but were able to transition their classes with ease.

Promise of MOOCS

This research paper presents the findings from a final survey of those who registered in The Hyperlinked Library MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) offered by the School of Library and Information Science at San Jose State University in the fall of 2013. The survey questions analyzed deal specifically with the development of a sense of community within the MOOC. Key findings include: purpose (shared interests and shared experience), people (connecting with others – participants and instructors and those outside the MOOC), participation (reading, writing, sharing, joining, responding, etc.), pedagogy (decisions about teaching and learning in the MOOC are so critical) and platforms (spaces for collaborative learning inside (BuddyPress) and outside (social media). School library organizations should look to the power of MOOCs to connect teacher-librarians with each other and provide professionaldevelopment.

Building a Framework for Transformation in Higher Education

In this chapter, the authors share their experiences leading transformation in the Connie L. Lurie College of Education at San José State University in California. They ground their work in an emancipatory education framework that recognizes the histories of inequity, racism, and white supremacy in higher education and centers the voices and experiences of those who have historically been marginalized. Arguing that emancipatory work must move from words to actions, the authors reflect on moments of decision and leadership choices that have moved the culture and norms in the college and refocused the work to consistently prioritize equity in the college's policies and practices.

Enhancing an Academic Library's Social Media Presence Using Peer-to-Peer Marketing

The San José State University Library first became involved in social media in 2011 with the formation of a social media team. The team quickly realized that maintaining an academic library's social media presence—creating original content, monitoring posts and feeds, and maximizing exposure to the library's target audience—can take a sizeable chunk of time. Additionally, it is important to understand student preferences regarding the kind of content they are interested in seeing from their university library on social media so that the time spent creating content has not been wasted. This chapter will discuss how the social media team dealt with these questions and others, such as how to adapt to the regularly changing world of social media and how to reap the benefits of hiring student assistants to help create an engaging, relevant social media presence.