UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS BOSTON Institute News FALL 2014 T he Institute for Asian American Studies (IAAS) has received a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to lead a study along with researchers at UMass Lowell and Tufts University, on health literacy promotion in Boston Chinatown. e $450,000 grant will fund a two year study of computer visualization in teaching youth and immigrant adults about the toxic effects of highway pollution. IAAS Research Associate and Principal Investigator, Carolyn Wong and her study colleagues will develop map-based, bilingual (Chinese and English) computer visualizations of traffic pollution in Chinatown. Teenagers familiar with computer technology will learn to use the visu- alization tool and then teach adult immigrants. Highway pollution is a growing health concern in Boston Chinatown. Car and truck exhaust is emitted from traffic on two major highways, routes I-90 and I-93, near Chinatown. Studies have shown that living near IAAS Awarded NIH Grant to Study Education about Pollution in Chinatown Continued on page 3 INSTITUTE A S I A N AMERICAN STUDIES for T he Public Policy Institute of California was the location of the ird Annual Asian American Pacific Islander Policy Research Consortium (AAPIPRC) Policy Convening. e event was held in April and its theme was “Expanding the Horizons of Policy Research.” IAAS along with the Asian American Studies Center at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of California’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Policy Multi-campus Policy Research Program, and the City University of New York’s (CUNY) Asian American/ Asian Research Institute comprise the AAPIPRC. National AAPI Consortium Holds Third Conference Continued on page 2 Boston’s Chinatown experiences high levels of air pollution due to congested traffic and nearby highways.
Transcript
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS BOSTON
Institute NewsFALL 2014
The Institute for Asian American Studies (IAAS) has received a
grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to lead a study along with
researchers at UMass Lowell and Tufts University, on health literacy promotion
in Boston Chinatown. The $450,000 grant will fund a two year study of computer visualization in teaching youth and immigrant adults about the toxic effects of highway pollution. IAAS Research Associate and Principal Investigator, Carolyn Wong and her study colleagues will develop map-based, bilingual (Chinese and English) computer visualizations of traffic pollution in Chinatown. Teenagers familiar with computer technology will learn to use the visu-alization tool and then teach adult immigrants. Highway pollution is a growing health concern in Boston Chinatown. Car and truck exhaust is emitted from traffic on two major highways, routes I-90 and I-93, near Chinatown. Studies have shown that living near
IAAS Awarded NIH Grant to Study Education about Pollution in Chinatown
Continued on page 3
I N S T I T U T E
A S I A N
A M E R I C A N
S T U D I E S
for
The Public Policy Institute of California was the location of the
Third Annual Asian American Pacific Islander Policy Research Consortium (AAPIPRC) Policy Convening. The event was held in April and its theme was “Expanding the Horizons of Policy Research.” IAAS along with the Asian American Studies Center at the
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of California’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Policy Multi-campus Policy Research Program, and the City University of New York’s (CUNY) Asian American/Asian Research Institute comprise the AAPIPRC.
National AAPI Consortium Holds Third Conference
Continued on page 2
Boston’s Chinatown experiences high levels of air pollution due to congested traffic and
highways is linked with higher rates of heart disease, asthma, and lung cancer. People who live adjacent to highways breathe in this pollution over a long period of time. It is known that partic-ulate matter in ambient air is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. In the core of the community and surrounding streets, pollution is also released into the air by highly congested traffic. In this study the visu-alization tool will display how one type of pollution, ultra-fine particulate matter, is dispersed across Chinatown. The particles are so small that they are invisible to the naked eye unlike some other forms of pollution consisting of larger particles, such as fumes and dust emitted from coal burning plants. Studies show that as ultra-fine particu-late levels rise and fall at central monitors in a city, markers of cardiovascular disease also rise and fall. Research has also shown that proximity to the highway is associated with cardiovascular risk in populations studied by the Community Assessment of Freeway Exposure and Health (CAFEH), which is collaborating in this study (Brugge et al , 2013). Chinatown was selected as the study site because many of its residents face known obstacles to health literacy, such as poverty, lack of high school degrees, and limited English proficiency, which make it extraordinarily difficult
to access and comprehend health information now available on the internet. While a growing number of health data reposito-ries are available to the public, not everyone can access or use the information. The inequity of access to this information is known as the “digital divide,” which excludes many people of immigrant and low-income back-grounds from the benefits of the information revolution. Wong and her colleagues have formed a community partnership with the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center to engage teenagers and adults from the community in research on how visualization technology can aid learning about highway pollution and its health conse-quences. The partnership will enable community-based experts to give advice on how to tailor visualizations and animations to cultural and linguistic character-istics of Chinatown. “We want to make the invisible particles visible to ordinary people in Chinatown. So we will create map-based depictions of pollution. The user will be able to point to any Chinatown location. An indicator will show the levels of pollution at different times of day,” explains Wong. “Interactive animations will also show lowered pollution exposure when people close windows in homes, walk at times and locations with lowered exposure, or install filtration or
Highway pollution, Continued from page 1
Continued on page 7
3
Recent Activities
The conference commenced with opening remarks by Frank Wu, Chancellor and Dean of the University of California’s Hastings College of Law. The first panel included repre-sentatives from the four consortium partner organizations who addressed the issue of how to do policy-relevant research sustainably. The presentations outlined the varied chal-lenges of first creating and then sustaining the research centers, institutes, and programs at UMass Boston, UCLA, CUNY, and the University of California system. Professor Karthick Ramakrishnan of the University of California, Riverside moderated an examination of university and community collaborations to promote civic engage-ment. Amado Uno, who represented the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Janelle Wong of the University of Maryland, and Kim Geron of California State University, East Bay provided university-based perspectives. The final two sessions explored specific policy arenas. Community health was the focus of a discussion led by IAAS Director, Paul Watanabe. The critical need for research on a wide range of health related matters was expertly argued by UCLA’s Lois Takahashi, University of California, San Francisco’s Gordon Fung, and Winston Tseng of the University of California, Berkeley and the Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum. The session on health issues was followed by a panel on economic inequality and urban planning. Tarry Hum of CUNY’s Queens College moderated a wide-ranging discus-sion of economic challenges confronting Asian American communities. Aujean Lee of the University of Illinois, Urban-Champaign, Josh Ishimatsu of National CAPACD (National
Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development), and Paul Ong of UCLA rounded out this informative panel and lent their expertise to the discussion. After the research gathering, the partic-ipants, including scholars and community activists, headed to the Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus offices for a reception and strategic discussion. The lively exchange and networking opportu-nity involved identifying the pressing needs for community-engaged research and ways for community and college based partners to cooperate effectively and sustainably.
National AAPI Consortium Holds Conference on Policy-Related Research
Continued from page 1
Top: Karthick Ramakrishnan, Kim Geron, Janelle Wong, and Amado Uno after their panel on civic engagement initiatives. Bottom: Winston Tseng, Gordon Fung, and Lois Takahashi discuss issues related to community-based health research. Photos courtesy of Karthick Ramakrishnan.
4
IAAS is a partner with the Health Equity Scholars Program (HESP), a project of
the Center for Health Equity Intervention Research (CHEIR) formed by a collaboration between UMass Boston and UMass Medical School. This year, IAAS has been working with an intern from the program. Yen Phan, a UMass Boston junior majoring in biochemistry and HESP fellow, contrib-uted to IAAS’ gambling research project this past summer. Her research project focused on problem gambling in the Vietnamese American community of Dorchester. Mental health professionals use the term “problem gambling” to describe an urge to gamble continuously in spite of harmful negative consequences or a desire to stop. In the first phase of the summer project, Yen reviewed and summarized a portion of the published health sciences literature on problem gambling,
focusing on its prevalence in racial-ethnic and low-income communities. The goal of the second phase of the project is to compile a list of social service and mental health providers who may counsel people with gambling problems or their families in the Vietnamese community of Dorchester. This work will be completed in January 2015. The HESP program supports and mentors undergraduates interested in health dispar-ities. The fellows are students from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds that are underrepresented in medicine, nursing, and graduate programs in the health sciences. Phan has worked for two summers in the Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences Program at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. She has also worked for UMass Boston’s Admission Guaranteed Program, Girls’ Leap, and Fantastic 4 Kids.
IAAS Partners with Health Scholars Program
Higher Education Research Grants Announced
An integral part of UMass Boston’s Asian American Student Success Program
(AASSP) is expanding research on Asian American students in higher education. AASSP is funded through a U.S. Department of Education Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI) Grant. IAAS is coordinating the research activ-ities related to the program, including the awarding of research grants. The latest group of scholars to receive research grants includes:
• DaisyBall,AssistantProfessorofSociology,Framingham State University, “Asian American Undergraduates at Non-Selective Universities: Experiences, Needs, and Identity Formation”
• JeannetteEberhardy,MassachusettsCollegeof Art and Design, “The Cultural Weave: Five Asian Art Students Tell Their Stories”
• DeliaCheungHom,Director,AsianAmericanCenter, Northeastern University, “Exploring the Experiences of Asian American and Pacific Islander-Serving Administrators: Challenge, Support, Challenge”
• Sue Kim, Associate Professor of English,and Phitsamay S. Uy, Assistant Professor of Education, UMass Lowell, “Southeast Asian American College Readiness”
• JoannMulready-Shick,ProfessorofNursingand Health Sciences, UMass Boston, “The Impact of Linguistic Modification of Multiple Choice Exam-type Test Items on Nursing Student Test Performance”
Continued on page 6
Yen Phan is a 2014 Health Equity Scholars Program fellow. Photo courtesy of Yen Phan.
Project Activities
5
Research Project on Student Civic Engagement Initiated
IAAS has begun a new research project to examine how civic engagement affects
low-income and underrepresented Asian American students’ development. Varsha Ghosh and Mai See Yang, doctoral students in education and gerontology at UMass Boston, respectively, are carrying out the research. Civic engage-ment includes service learning, o n - c a m p u s activism, off-campus activism and volunteerism around social needs and issues in the larger c o m m u n i t y . The project will explore how an Asian American college student’s engagement in civic activities and issues affects him or her. Some topics to research include attitudes toward education, retention and grad-uation rates, career choices, percep-tions on citizenship and sense of self and identity. The project will consist primarily of interviews with recent students (those who graduated or left college within the past five years) who were civically engaged in the Boston area. It will focus on students at UMass Boston and Tufts University, particu-larly on those from low-income backgrounds or from academically underrepresented Asian American ethnicities. Tufts and UMass Boston
have somewhat different programs that may affect their students differently. This is also a question to explore. The project may also ask the subjects for any products that they wrote or produced on their experiences with civic engagement activities as another source of information.
Most liter-ature around student civic e n g a g e m e n t suggests positive outcomes in educa-tional outcomes and civic attitudes when students participate in civic engagement activ-ities. Like many areas, however, research specif-ically on Asian Americans is in its early stages. This exploratory research will provide more detail about civic engage-ment’s effects on these students. Ms. Ghosh, who has a long
history in the local community, previ-ously worked at the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center. She is currently employed at Phillips Brooks House at Harvard University while concurrently pursuing her doctoral degree in education. Ms. Yang has been pursuing her doctorate in gerontology at UMass for the past several years and has previously worked with IAAS. Michael Liu, IAAS Research Associate, will be working with Ms. Ghosh and Ms. Yang on the project.
Top: UMass Boston alumnus, Henry Ho takes the students in the English class he teaches at Asian American Civic Association on an outing. Photo by Sum Tan. Bottom: UMass Boston student, Yen Phan volunteering in Mexico. She also mentors high school students in the Boston area. Photo courtesy of Yen Phan.
New Research
6
In May of this year after an eight-year planning process, the staff at South Cove
Manor moved 97 residents from the original
facility near Boston’s Chinatown to a new building at 288 Washington Street in Quincy. South Cove Manor at Quincy Point is the only nursing and rehabilitation home with a special focus on serving the Asian American community in New England. A study conducted by IAAS and commis-sioned by the South Cove Nursing Facilities Foundation was used in the planning for the new facility. The study examined the concerns of Chinese American seniors and their adult relatives about housing and elder services. Barriers created by limited English profi-ciency was an issue that was raised repeatedly by the study participants. South Cove Manor, which opened in 1985, provides a multilingual staff as well as Asian food and cultural activities to its residents. The new building is much larger than the old one, with more space for socializing and activities and for rehabilitation services. The residential capacity has increased by 40%. One feature that IAAS staff particularly enjoyed on a recent visit was a gallery that displayed photos and stories about some of the residents. IAAS was pleased to be a part of the expansion of this facility which has consis-tently maintained an outstanding record of service.
South Cove Manor Relocates to Quincy
• Samuel Museus, Associate Professor ofHigher Education, University of Denver, “Understanding How AANAPISIs Create the Conditions for Student Success”
• Malaphone Phommasa, Ph.D. student,Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara, “Educational Experiences of Southeast
Asian American College Students: Understanding Influences on Student Persistence and Retention”
• Chao Vang, Doctor of Education Student,Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, California State University, Sacramento, “Hmong American College Students at California State University, Sacramento.”
Grant recipients, Continued from page 4
Top: South Cove Manor at Quincy
Point. Bottom: Hospitality aide Jessica Lam and
rehab resident Fook Yuen chat over breakfast at South Cove
Manor. Photos byR. Philip Dowds.
7
or air conditioning devices.” The teenagers at the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center will gain experience in presenting what they learn about envi-ronmental health and highway pollution to concerned residents and community leaders in the community. With the aid of the visual-ization tool, the teenagers will engage people who hear their presentation in small group bilingual discussions. The researchers expect that combining visualization of the pollution with informal conversation and storytelling will aid interpretation of the scientific infor-mation and make it meaningful to people. This process will also help participants learn to communicate what they learned to others. A long-run goal of the project is to increase the capacity of immigrants to understand and communicate health information so they are able to participate in public deliberation about environmental health issues and health promotion efforts. Wong will provide expertise on intergen-erational communication, immigrant civic engagement, social policy, and participa-tory citizenship. UMass Lowell Professor of Computer Science, Georges Grinstein, who is a founder of the open-source software Weave, will direct development of the visualiza-tion tool. Tufts University Professor of Public Health and Community Medicine, Doug Brugge will guide the environmental health science components of the study. Brugge is a leader of the CAFEH, a community participatory study which has created a large and unique store of scientific data on ultra-fine particulate pollution in the
Chinatown and Dorchester neighborhoods of Boston, as well as Somerville and Malden. The visualizations will be derived from CAFEH’s data.
In addition, Tufts University Assistant Professor of Public Health and Community Medicine, Susan Koch-Weser will contribute her expertise in health communication. UMass Lowell Associate Professor of Work Environment, William Mass will direct his students’ involvement in training teenagers to use the Weave software.
ReferencesBrugge D, Lane K, Padró-Martínez LT, Stewart A, Hoesterey K, Weiss D, Wang DD, Levy JI, Patton AP, Zamore W, Mwamburi M. 2013. Highway proximity associated with cardiovascular disease risk: the influence of individual-level confounders and exposure misclassification. Environmental Health 12:84.
Highway pollution, Continued from page 2
Men play volleyball in a park bordered by Kneeland Street and the I-93 off ramp in Chinatown.
When Henry Ho transferred to UMass Boston, he planned to finish his bachelor’s degree
in management information systems quickly and leave. But then he took an Asian American studies course to fulfill a requirement and his college career took a different turn. He became deeply involved with Asian American studies and the Asian American communities both on and off campus. Henry, who graduated this past Spring, completed a program-of-study in Asian American studies, including two community internships. For one of the internships, he facilitated an ESL course for new immigrants at a Chinatown non-profit organization. Henry was selected to participate in the Provost’s Undergraduate Research Scholars Initiative and was a research assistant for Professor Shirley Tang. He helped to present the findings from the research project at a number of venues, including the Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning in Hong Kong. In addition, he helped out with numerous events and projects for the Asian
A m e r i c a n S t u d i e s Program and served as a peer mentor. But what Henry is probably most known for is the video he p r o d u c e d for Shirley Tang’s Asian A m e r i c a n M e d i a L i t e r a c y course. The video won first place in Boston Asian American Film Festival’s Short Waves competition in 2012 and was shown in the festival as a result. The moving video, My 2009 Experience, can be viewed at www.baaff.org/2012-short-waves.html.
2014 Anthony Chan Student Award Recipient
Henry Ho is the recipient of the 2014 Anthony Chan Student Award.
