Urban Research Initiative

The Urban Research Initiative at Paul Quinn College connects researchers generating data and analysis on the most difficult urban problems with students, grassroots groups, elected officials, and others in need of trustworthy data and analysis. To this end, the initiative elicits course proposals and creates research partnerships with interdisciplinary experts working on the key components of urban resilience: public health, environmental quality, political and cultural self-determination, and equitable economic growth.

We welcome requests for project teams and institutional partners across the state and country. Additional proposals for collaborative research projects from urban centers in Texas and beyond in the component areas are also welcome.

Research

EmissionsReportThumbnail

2022 Annual Emissions Inventory

Know where polluters are, what they are emitting, and how it impacts you. Click here for the 2022 Annual Emissions Inventory.

Learn More

EmissionsReportThumbnail

2020 Annual Emissions Inventory

Know where polluters are, what they are emitting, and how it impacts you. Click here for the 2020 Annual Emissions Inventory.

Learn More

Screenshot 2023 03 24 at 12.28.32 PM 2

Poisoned by Zip Code

An assessment of Dallas' Air Pollution Burden by Neighborhood.

This report outlines the permitted air pollution across the City of Dallas by zip code and City Council District, based on permits filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). A zip code level analysis for permitted air pollution burden has never been compiled before, and will be an important tool for local policy decisions on environmental equity and land use issues.

The Executive Summary is hosted here. A complete copy is available upon request.

Learn More

Student Research

The URI offers PQC students the opportunity to conduct a paid semester long research project along with staff and partners from other educational institutions.
pqc uri Mariya.jpg

Mariya Ronczyk

Mariya Ronczyk, class of 2026, majoring in Psychology. Research Title for 2023 HBCU Climate Change Conference: “Does student perception or awareness of climate change trigger action on climate justice at Paul Quinn College?”

pqc uri Osadiagbon Enegbare.jpg

Osadiagbon Enegbare

Osadiagbon Enegbare, Class of 2025, Business Administration major. Research title for the 2023 HBCU Climate Change Conference: “How have HBCUs in Texas successfully integrated sustainability practices on their campuses towards a climate plan or other environmental justice goals?​”

Events

No Events

Partnerships

In 2011, because of the urgent need to diversify leadership in the environmental arena, Dr. Beverly Wright, Executive Director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Inc. and Dr. Robert D. Bullard, Distinguished Professor at Texas Southern University (Houston) launched the Historically Black College and University Climate Change Consortium.

The Consortium was conceived to help raise awareness about the disproportionate impact of climate change on marginalized communities to develop HBCU students leaders, scientists and advocates on issues related to environmental and climate justice policies, community resilience, adaptation and other major climate change topics—especially in vulnerable communities in the southern United States where the vast majority of HBCUs are located and where more billion-dollar disasters occur than the rest of the country combined.

Paul Quinn College has been a member of the consortium since 2021. Paul Quinn Students work with Faculty Mentor Evelyn Mayo to develop research to present at the conference annually.

Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Joppa Environmental Health Project will explore the connection between exposure to particulate matter (PM) air pollution and the health of Joppa residents. This is the largest investigation of environmental health in Dallas-Fort Worth history and the first time the impacts of exposure to PM air pollution have been explored in a local neighborhood of Color. This is a community-based scientific investigation designed to answer questions Joppa residents have asked about their health and pollution burden. Investigations like this can lead to changes in zoning or pollution controls and decrease exposure from harmful air pollution for everyone. PQC has participated in this project in an advisory capacity, providing any relevant technical support to the resident Steering Committee as requested.

As the PQC Green Team, we are charged with bringing attention to the lack of sustainable living practices in our communities. It is up to us to be the change we wish to see by embodying our core values and addressing the lack of engagement in recycling and green living efforts. Our goal is to create an innovative approach to lowering our green gas emissions, limiting waste, reducing our carbon footprint, and educating everyday people on how these issues affect our overall health and quality of life.

The Resilience Studies Consortium (RSC) utilizes a nation-wide network of universities in order to advance “place-based” educational opportunities for undergraduate students from a diversity of backgrounds and passions. By sharing academic resources, allowing for transferability between partner universities and creating pathways to a better understanding of resilience in the coming era, the RSC seeks to engage and empower students with rich environmental understanding. Paul Quinn College is a member of the RSC and has participated in annual convenings and programming with the Faculty Steward, Evelyn Mayo, and student steward Tamia Kidd.

URI Photo.jpg

The Schuman Challenge is the annual foreign affairs contest for undergraduate students in the United States and an opportunity to present and defend transatlantic policy recommendations on a specific theme in front of a panel of judges. The competition takes place in Washington, D.C., at the EU Delegation, which funds the competition. The competition takes place over two days in March and includes an evening reception with foreign policy professionals.

To prepare for the competition, undergraduate students conduct original research, cite sources, and prepare to present and defend proposals for transatlantic cooperation on a provided topic. As part of the competition, participants present their ideas, mingle with like-minded peers, and engage with brilliant minds in the world of international affairs, including the EU Ambassador to the United States. There are also opportunities for networking with EU policy officials, alums of graduate programs in international relations, and mentoring sessions on careers in foreign policy.

Paul Quinn College participated in the 2023 Schuman Challenge with the following student team: Osadiagbon (Ehud) Enegbare, Leah Butler, Kayla Butler, Tamia Kidd. Students will compete in the 2024 Challenge.

Prez EPA 2023

DALLAS, TEXAS (August 31, 2023) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Paul Quinn College (PQC) located in Dallas, Texas, have agreed to enter a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to share environmental knowledge, provide quality Science Technology Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) knowledge and provide mentoring and recruiting opportunities.

“Paul Quinn College is a leader in environmental justice and is making great strides in communities across Dallas,” said Regional Administrator Dr. Earthea Nance. “With this MOU signing, EPA hopes to deepen our work with Paul Quinn students and faculty on environmental research and to raise awareness about local and national environmental issues.” 

Paul Quinn College was founded in 1872 and has re-defined itself several times throughout its lifetime. Originally stationed in the city of Austin and then Waco, PQC decided to relocate the college to Dallas in 1990. It has grown to receive nationwide recognition and is one of the first urban colleges which requires students to work to obtain real world experience and then incorporate that experience into its learning curriculum. Under direction from the current President Dr. Michael J. Sorrell, PQC has prioritized environmental goals in the local communities and pushed for utilizing its local research center to its full capacity. PQC has even established its own environmental group called, the Paul Quinn College Green Team which has an objective to find solutions to long-standing local environmental health issues.

The MOU outlines several ways to establish cooperation between EPA and PQC, such as EPA attending career fairs at the campus and offering mentorship opportunities for PQC students. Both organizations have demonstrated and expressed an interest in advancing environmental justice in communities. EPA will provide opportunities for PQC’s participation in public activities where EPA is actively engaged with communities to address potential environmental impacts.

The MOU was signed by Regional Administrator Dr. Earthea Nance and Paul Quinn College President Dr. Michael J. Sorrell on the college campus on August 31st.

SharedAirDFW

  • Jim Schermbeck
  • Robert Mundinger
  • Misti O’Quinn

Sensor Development

  • Lakitha Omal Harindha Wijeratne
  • Daniel Rasmi Kiv
  • Adam Aker
  • Gokul Balagopal
  • Matthew Lary
  • John Waczak
  • David Lary

Website Design

  • Xiaohe Yu
  • Julia Boah Kim
  • Giakhanh Huu Hoang

Senior Design Contributors

  • Kameron Noorbakhsh
  • Nicholas Steele
  • Nikhil Nair
  • Jake Schroder
  • Benjamin Hogan
  • Jacob Scheller
  • Jonah Duncan
  • Getenet Demsie
  • Nathan Nguyen
  • Robert Wu
  • Keigo Ma
  • Bryanth Fung
  • Kangzhi Zhao
  • Evelyn Mayo
  • Tamia Kidd
  • Mariya Ronczyk
  • Mackenzie Johnson
  • Dallas College
  • US Army
  • National Science Foundation
  • City of Plano
  • Downwinders at Risk Education Fund
  • Environmental Protection Agency
  • Earth Day Texas
  • Dallas Community Foundation
  • Ben & Jerry’s Foundation
  • Simmons Sisters Foundation
  • Texas Women’s Foundation

About

Under the working title of “SharedAirDFW” over 100 new custom-built air quality monitors are set up throughout the DFW region that will give residents real time information about the air they breathe for the first time. It is the first network of its kind in Texas and one of the largest in the U.S.

Based out of the University of Texas at Dallas, laboratories and built and calibrated by its graduate and undergraduate students, and supported by grants from the National Science Federation, Earth Day Texas, the U.S. Army, Downwinders at Risk, the City of Plano, Texas, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. These monitors will offer real-time information every few seconds through an easily accessible app. In addition, all data is made available in real-time.
Right now a handful of official EPA regulatory grade monitors provide hourly average air quality information with a latency of a few hours behind real-time conditions. SharedAirDFW will increase the number of calibrated air quality monitors in DFW by a factor of about forty while giving readings updated every few seconds.

Some of the first monitor deployments will be across the campus of UT Dallas in Joppa (South Dallas), West Dallas, and Midlothian, around Paul Quinn College for the Southern Dallas neighborhoods surrounding its campus, and across the City of Plano.

Partners

Contact Us

Evelyn Mayo
Urban Research Initiative Fellow
emayo@pqc.edu

Coach Keldrick McKinney of the track and field team smiling

COACH Keldrick McKinney

About the Coach

Coach Keldrick McKinney is a native of Dallas, Texas who enters his third year as the Head Track and Field/Cross Country Coach at Paul Quinn College. After serving one year as Associate Head Coach under the leadership of Coach Maurice West; Coach McKinney was given the opportunity by Paul Quinn’s legendary Athletic Director James “Zip” Summers.

The program has quickly grown from 3 to now 25 student athletes under the leadership of Coach McKinney. In the second year of competing at the Red River Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships, the Paul Quinn Tigers placed two athletes in the Top 10.

Coach McKinney received his bachelor’s in Kinesiology from Prairie View A&M University. After graduation he then opened a training facility where he trained hundreds of athletes. This provided the background and experience for Coach to thrive at the next level. Coach McKinney’s student-athletes not only excel on the track but also in the classroom as well. Coach McKinney’s team maintains over a 3.0 gpa.

Coach Michael Delgado of the mens soccer team

COACH Michael Delgado

Email: mdelgado@pqc.edu | Phone: 214-379-5374

About the Coach

Coach Michael Delgado has been coaching at the collegiate level since 2009. He began his coaching career at Howard Payne University, shortly after starting his time there as a collegiate soccer player. He began as a student coach and after graduating with a degree in Spanish Education, became an assistant.

In 2015, Coach Delgado moved back to Dallas to form the Men’s and Women’s Soccer program at Paul Quinn College as the assistant coach and became the head coach of the Women’s team in 2017. From 2015-2021 he was also the Men’s assistant coach. 

In 2021, Coach Delgado took over the Men’s program and led the team as the #3 seed (highest in school history) to the USCAA National Championship for the 3rd year in a row, with a 3rd place finish. 

Coach Delgado is a Dallas native and graduated from Mesquite Poteet High School as a district MVP & All-State. He holds his Master’s degree from Concordia University in Coaching & Athletic Administration. He resides in the campus neighborhood of Highland Hills and lives daily by his motto, #AlwaysRefuse2Lose.

coach brandon espinosa

COACH Brandon Espinosa

About the Coach

Brandon Espinosa starts his fourth season as Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Paul Quinn College.

Last season, Coach Espinosa and the Tigers had a historic 19 game turnaround from the previous year going from 7-25 to 26-2 (12-2 RRAC). Coach Espinosa led the 2021-2022 Tigers to the school’s first USCAA Men’s Division I National Championship and the 3rd overall national championship in school history. The Tigers also won the Red River Athletic Conference West (RRAC) regular season title for the first time since joining the conference in 1998. The Tigers finished the 2021-2022 season with the most RRAC wins and highest winning percentage in a season in program history.

The Tigers were the No. 1 seed at USCAA Nationals and had a dominant showing with 3 double digits wins. The championship game featured seven ties and ten lead changes. After trailing by four at half, 38-34, Bryant & Stratton led 67-65 with 6:33 left in the game. Henry Hampton hit a jumper a minute later to give Paul Quinn the lead to highlight a 10-0 run to seal the victory for the Tigers. Ja’Mare Redus led PQC with 18 points while Hampton finished with 17. Spencer McElway added 12, Ja’Mere Redus came off the bench and scored 11, and Steven Tynes chipped in seven points and nine assists.

While the team’s collective efforts were the deciding factor in their success, several outstanding individuals led them both on and off the court. Coach Brandon Espinosa was recognized as the USCAA National Coach of the Year. In addition, senior forward Spencer McElway was selected as a USCAA 1st Team All American, USCAA All Tournament Team and RRAC 2nd Team All Conference. Sophomore forward Trevoin Shaw was voted USCAA 1st Team All American, USCAA All Tournament Team and RRAC 1st Team All Conference. Sophomore guard Ja’mare Redus received USCAA Tournament MVP as well as USCAA 2nd Team All American Honors. Sophomore guard Torron Mingo Jr. earned the USCAA Academic All American award. Junior guard Caleb Thompson received the RRAC Champions of Character award.

During his first season with Paul Quinn, Espinosa led the Tigers to the most conference victories since 2012-2013. In addition, PQC had two players receive RRAC All Conference honors; Spencer McElway was 1st Team All RRAC and Mateo Escheik received 2nd Team All RRAC honors. McElway also joined the schools 1000-point club.

Espinosa also serves as the Director of EYBL and 17U Head Coach for Drive Nation which was founded by former NBA All-Star Jermaine O’Neal. This summer Drive Nation qualified for the 2021 Nike Peach Jam and currently has the most ESPN Top 100 ranked players in the country.

Espinosa has held coaching positions at Bossier Parish Community College, Ranger College and with the Dallas Mavericks NBA G-League affiliate, Texas Legends.

  • In 2016-17, while he was the associate head coach for Chris Lovell at Bossier Parish Community College, Bossier qualified for the Region 14 Championship Tournament for the first time since becoming a member of the conference. In 2017-2018 Bossier again qualified for the Region 14 Championship Tournament and finished with a record of 17-14. The 17 wins was the most for a team at Bossier in ten years.
  • While at Ranger College, he helped head coach Billy Gillispie orchestrate the biggest turnaround in college basketball history. During the 2015-2016 season Ranger went from 2-23 the previous year to 35-3, making the NJCAA national tournament and a Final Four appearance for the first time in the schools 90-year history.
  • From 2013-2015, Espinosa was an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks NBA G-League affiliate Texas Legends. Espinosa coached under Eduardo Najera, who in 2000 was the first Mexican born player to be draftedinto the NBA. During the 2013-2014 campaign the Texas Legends tied the franchise record for most wins in a season with 24. Legends guard PJ Hairston was the first G-League player ever to be drafted in the first round of an NBA draft when he was selected 26th overall by the Miami Heat in 2014.
  • Espinosa also served as the associate head coach for Jeff Webster and Nike Pro Skills 17U EYBL team from 2016-2018.

Espinosa is a native of Houston, Texas. He played collegiately for Dallas Christian College, where in 2010 they won the ACCA National Championship. Espinosa earned his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 2011.

Paul Quinn did not compete in 2020-2021 due to Covid-19.

Coach Camille Headshot

COACH Camille Smith

Email: csmith@pqc.edu | Phone: 214-379-5499

About the Coach

Camille Smith is in her first season at Paul Quinn College.

Smith was hired in early March and her most recent position was as an Assistant Coach for the WNBA Dallas Wings.

Prior to coaching, Smith played professionally for 10 seasons internationally and 12 seasons in the WNBA before retiring in 2019. Smith was drafted to the San Antonio Silver Stars in the 2007 WNBA Draft as the 17th Overall pick. Amid the start of the 2008 WNBA season, Smith was selected in the Atlanta Dream dispersal draft before being traded to the Seattle Storm where Smith played and won a championship in 2010! In 2015 Smith was traded to the Connecticut Sun, then to the Phoenix Mercury in 2017, where she finished her career.

Internationally, Smith played on multiple teams in Israel (2015 Israel League Champion) and China. She also played in Turkey, Limassol, Cyrpus, Ragusa, Sicily (2016 Cup Champion), Lebanon (2017 Arab Cup Champion), Montpelier, France, and Venice, Italy (2018 Euro Cup runner-up).

As a former student-athlete at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Camille graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in interpersonal communications. A four-time All-ACC selection, she finished her college career with over 1,700 points, 800 rebounds, 250 assists, and 250 steals. As a senior, Camille averaged 13.7 points and 5.9 rebounds per game along with 99 steals to help the Tar Heels reach the Final Four. Camille is ranked among the top 20 all-time scorers at UNC and was named Honorable Mention All-American by the Associated Press following her junior year. She averaged 11.7 points and 5.5 rebounds as a junior. As a sophomore, Camille averaged 13.3 points and 8.0 rebounds in the ACC tournament, including a 23-point game against Duke in the finals. In 2004, she was named ACC Rookie of the Year and was the only freshman selected as a finalist for Kodak All-American honor. Camille became the first Tar Heel to be named first-team All-ACC as a freshman.

In high school, Camille was named Associated Press NC Player of the Year and NC Miss Basketball (Class 3A; 2003). Camille was also awarded State Player of the Year by the Charlotte Observer and NC Gatorade Player of the Year (2002 and 2003). In 2001, Camille shared AP Player of the Year honors at Carver High School and helped her team finish with a 30-0 record and State Championship. Camille is a three-time All-State Selection and averaged 20.2 points and 11.1 rebounds per game during her senior year. She holds the record of 2,168 career points during her high school career, was a McDonald’s High School All-American, and played in the 2002 USA Basketball Youth Development Festival. Camille was also named Piedmont Triad All-Conference, four years in a row, and Piedmont Triad Conference Player of the Year, three years in a row.

Camille Smith & her husband Jeremis Smith are happily married & live in the Historical Stop 6 Community.

Coach Patrick Gonzalez of the womens volleyball team

COACH PATRICK GONZALEZ

About the Coach

Coach Patrick Gonzalez is a native of Fort Worth, Texas. He has a Bachelor of Science in Sociology with emphasis in Criminal Justice from Texas Wesleyan University. He also has a M.Ed. in Sports Administration from Concordia University in Austin, Texas. He has coached volleyball for over thirteen years. He has coached on the high school, club, and collegiate level.

He currently coaches for 360 Volleyball Club in Arlington, Texas. Coach Gonzalez brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the Paul Quinn College volleyball program. He served as the women’s assistant volleyball coach at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee for five seasons. While at Fisk University, Coach Gonzalez served as an Admissions Counselor and Director of International Student Services in the Office of Student Engagement. He has also worked at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and served as the Associate Director of Minority Outreach in the Office of Admissions. He most recently was selected into the Big XII Reach & Teach Volleyball Diversity Program.