April Pub Talk
Science Pub: “Plutonium’s Places and the Columbia River Plateau”
April 8th, 2025 | 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Sip your favorite brew, while you learn a thing or two! Science Pub is an opportunity to enjoy learning about interesting topics in an informal atmosphere. Just bring your curiosity and a thirst to learn!
There are 2 ways to be at this event:
- In Person – Paradise Creek Brewery will be seating indoors at 100% capacity and the pub talk will be broadcast/projected on a the large projection screen in the pub/restaurant area.
- Via Zoom – Register for Zoom link HERE. Place a food/drink order for pick up at Paradise Creek Brewery’s Downtown Restaurant – 245 SE Paradise St, Pullman. Local delivery is also available. Tip: Place your order early so it’s ready by Pub talk time.
This month’s speakers:
Join Phil Gruen and Robert Franklin on April 8th for their pub talk, “Plutonium’s Places and the Columbia River Plateau”.
The Columbia River Plateau—renowned for its striking geography and agricultural productivity—is seldom recognized as a cultural landscape shaped by the lives of everyday people, and even less frequently examined through the lens of its vernacular built environment. In anticipation of the May 2026 Vernacular Architecture Forum (VAF) in Walla Walla, this talk draws from a community-engaged, interdisciplinary graduate seminar co-taught by Robert Franklin and Phil Gruen in spring 2024. The course focused on the people and architecture of east Pasco, Washington—a community long marginalized in the wake of plutonium production at the nearby Hanford site during World War II. Franklin and Gruen will share insights from the classroom and invite discussion on how to center complex narratives, including stories of indigeneity, within broader public conversations.
Phil Gruen is Professor in the School of Design and Construction at WSU Pullman and First Vice President of the Vernacular Architecture Forum (VAF), a national organization dedicated to the study of ordinary buildings and landscapes. Gruen has taught at WSU since 2003 and his recent scholarship has focused on the built environment of the Pacific Northwest. He is currently co-organizing the 2026 VAF Conference in Walla Walla and co-coordinating the Society of Architectural Historians’ Archipedia project for the state of Oregon.
Robert Franklin is Assistant Professor of History at WSU Tri-Cities who focuses on 20th Century US and World History broadly, the history of the Hanford Site specifically, with an additional background in public history, archival science, historic preservation, and historic interpretation. Since 2015 he has served as the archivist and collections manager for the Hanford Collection, an artifact and archive collection preserving the history of plutonium production at the Hanford Site and managed by Washington State University Tri-Cities for the Department of Energy. Robert has co-authored and co-edited two books in the Hanford Histories series for WSU Press. He is also an expert historical tour guide of the Hanford Site and a past president and current vice president of the B Reactor Museum Association, a non-profit organization that supports the operation and interpretation of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Robert’s current research projects include creating digital assets for the Manhattan Project National Historical Park and planning a series of podcasts highlighting undertold narratives of the Manhattan Project at Hanford. Robert is also currently pursuing a PhD in History at Washington State University.