Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university located in the southwest University District of downtown Portland, Oregon, United States.
 It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans.
 It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decades, and was granted university status in 1969.
 It is the only public urban university in the state of Oregon that is located in a major metropolitan city, and is governed by a board of trustees.
Rahmat A. Shoureshi became president of Portland State University in August, 2017.
 From January, 2017, he had served as interim president of New York Institute of Technology, where before he served as provost and professor.
 On May 15, 2017 in an email to students he was named as president of Portland State University starting August 14, 2017.
 For eight years, he served as dean of the School of Engineering and Computing Science at the University of Denver.
 He also taught mechanical engineering and conducted research at Wayne State University, Purdue University and the Colorado School of Mines.
 He received BS from Sharif University of Technology, and his Ph.D. and MS degrees in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and completed a program in Marketing and Industrial Dynamics at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
 He is an Iranian American.
The Portland State Vikings men's basketball team represents Portland State University in Portland, Oregon.
 The team was also once referred to as "The Park Block Bombers" in reference to the school's proximity to Portland's string of park blocks.
 The school's team competes in the Big Sky Conference.
 The team appearances in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament have been in 2008 and 2009.
 The head coach of the Vikings is Tyler Geving.
Joel Sobotka is the former head men's basketball coach for Portland State University and the current head coach of Valley Catholic High School in Beaverton, Oregon.
 He also was a former assistant coach at Cal State Northridge and the University of Portland.
 Prior to Cal State Northridge, he was an assistant coach under Ritchie McKay, and then head coach for four seasons at Portland State University.
The Peter W. Stott Center is a 1,500-seat multi-purpose arena located on the Portland State University campus in Portland, Oregon, in the United States.
 The facility houses the Portland State Vikings Athletics Department as well as physical education classes.
 It features locker rooms, racquet courts (tennis, squash and racquetball), eighth-mile track, weight training, wrestling room, small gym, pool and arena.
 It opened in 1966.
 It is home to the Portland State Vikings basketball and volleyball teams.
Alan M. Olson is a Professor of the Philosophy of Religion at Boston University.
 He received his degrees from Saint Olaf College (BA, History and Philosophy), Luther Theological Seminary (MDiv, Theology), Nashotah House, where he studied with Arthur Anton Vogel, and Boston University (PhD) where he studied with Peter A. Bertocci, Erazim Kohak, Harold H. Oliver and John N. Findlay.
 He served as Chairman of the Religion Department at Boston University, 1980–1987, and Chairman of the Philosophy Department, ad interim, 1987-1989.
 During the 1970s he was Program Coordinator of the Boston University Institute for Philosophy and Religion; and was Executive Director of the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy in Boston, 1998.
 He was a Senior Fulbright Research Fellow at Karls-Eberhart Universität, Tübingen, Germany, in 1986, where he studied with Klaus Hartmann; and a Senior Fulbright Research Fellow and Visiting Fellow at the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen, Vienna, Austria, in 1995, where he worked with Krzysztof Michalski.
 He served on the Board of Officers of the American Philosophical Association, 2000–2003; and is past president of the Karl Jaspers Society of North America.
 He delivered the Jaspers Lectures at Oxford in 1989; and is currently co-editor, with Helmut Wautischer, of the philosophical journal, Existenz.
 He lives on Cape Cod with his wife, Janet L. Olson, Professor Emerita, College of Fine Arts, Boston University.
 They have two daughters, Maren Kirsten, Sonja Astrid, and one grandson, Søren.
This list of Portland State University people includes graduates of the Portland State University as well as former students who studied at the university but did not obtain a degree.
Joan S. Ash, PhD, MLS, MS, MBA, is Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology, School of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), Portland, OR.
 She holds masters degrees in library science Columbia University, health science (California State University, Northridge), and business administration Portland State University.
 Her doctorate is in Systems Science: Business Administration from Portland State.
 She is currently the Chair of the The Board of Scientific Counselors for the Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications.
 She has served on the Boards of Directors of the American Medical Informatics Association, the Medical Library Association, and on the United States National Library of Medicine's Biomedical Library and Informatics Review Committee.
 She is co-author of "Clinical Information Systems: Overcoming Adverse Consequences"
Diana Abu-Jaber (Arabic: ديانا أبو جابر) is an American author and a professor at Portland State University.
 She was born in Syracuse, New York.
 Her father was Jordanian and her mother was American, descended from Irish and German roots.
 At the age of seven she moved with her family for two years to Jordan.
 She currently divides her time between Miami and Portland and teaches at Portland State University.
 She often writes about issues of identity and culture.
Boston University (commonly referred to as BU) is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts.
 The university is nonsectarian, and is historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church.

Question: Portland State University and Boston University, are they a research institution?
Answer: yes