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2007 Research Findings in Brief
Rachel Adler (Department of Sociology and Anthropology)
Johanna Soto and Dan Suarez helped anthropology professor Dr. Rachel Adler explore ethnic transitions in Trenton’s Chambersburg neighborhood. Dr. Adler has a multi-year project that has used ethnographic and life history methods to document how this neighborhood has changed from a traditionally Italian American one to a new home for immigrants from South and Central America. Johanna and Dan updated a census of Chambersburg businesses and conducted interviews with Italian American and Latino business owners.
Diane Bates (Department of Sociology and Anthropology)
Student researchers Tamaria Green and Regine Saintilien and sociology professor Dr. Diane C. Bates sought to explain the social and institutional context behind the stalled construction of the Jefferson School annex in North Trenton. Using interviews of residents and institutional actors, historical census data, and contemporary parcel-level data, their research explores how the contaminated soil brought onto the site galvanized residents to action, and reflects longstanding educational, social, and economic challenges in this African American neighborhood.
Martin Bierbaum (Municipal Land Use Center)
Dr. Martin Bierbaum and student researcher Angel Jesus Hernandez explored the potential impacts of the relocation of Capital Health System’s Mercer Campus from Trenton’s west ward to suburban Hopewell Township. This research found that CHS based its decision on concerns about future insolvency linked to the cost of providing charity care. The hospital’s relocation will likely have deleterious effects on the neighborhood, but Angel’s research suggests that the City of Trenton can learn from plans developed by the Princeton Medical Center for their own relocation from Princeton Boro to Lawrence.
Elizabeth Borland (Department of Sociology and Anthropology)
Joanna De Leon worked under the guidance of sociology professor Dr. Elizabeth Borland to identify and explain social movements in Trenton that seek to defend immigrants’ rights and curb violence in the city. By performing archival research and interviewing leaders from both movements, their preliminary research results highlight differences and similarities between these two movements, such as the importance of local religious institutions in both movements.
Curt Elderkin (Department of Biology)
Biology professor Dr. Curt Elderkin led a team including Andrew Máthé and Alex Rass, as well as Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) student Jaclyn Kahn, to conduct field sampling of freshwater invertebrates (mussels) and research the Assunpink Creek watershed, which bisects the City of Trenton. Their research details a biologically distressed stream that has virtually no riparian zone within the city limits, despite previous efforts to restore the creek and provide habitat and recreational facilities.
Dave Prensky (Bonner Center for Civic and Community Engagement)
Drawing on her academic background in both business and sociology, Valerie Koch worked with TCNJ’s Bonner Center Director, David Prensky, to explore social entrepreneurship in Mercer County. By attending workshops on this innovative way for non-profit organizations to generate revenue streams and working with the Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce, their research surveyed organizations to determine levels of interest and perceived barriers to developing social entrepreneurship programs.
Antonino Scarpati (School of Nursing, Health and Exercise Science)
Nursing student Jessica Tellier, working under the guidance of Assistant Dean of TCNJ’s School of Nursing, Health, and Exercise Science Antonino Scarpati, critically applied nursing theory while conducting research with Trenton’s Project TEACH (Teen Education and Child Health). Jessica surveyed staff and clients in this novel program designed to provide education and health services for the city’s pregnant and parenting teens. Her results emphasize how sensitivity to clients’ personal and cultural backgrounds strengthens the ability of programs like Project TEACH to promote prenatal care.
