College of Health & Human Development
Department of Child & Adolescent Development
Huynh, Virginia
Dr. V. Huynh’s research focuses on understanding social and cultural factors that influence the adjustment of ethnic minority and immigrant youth. Her current line of research focuses on the effects of ethnic discrimination on the health outcomes (e.g., biological stress, blood pressure, heart rate) and behaviors (e.g., food choices) of minority youth. The goal of this work is to provide evidence that discrimination may be one contributor to health disparities, and this effect emerges as early as adolescence. Students will have access to participant survey and experimental data of cultural and social factors and mental and physical health. Students’ responsibilities include recruiting school and participants, running experiments, analyzing data, and presenting research at conferences. Students who work with Dr. Huynh will receive close mentorship and be trained in lab procedure (both specific to this study and methods in general), biological data collection, and working with a team of research assistants.
Miodrag, Nancy
The projects’ main goals are to: (1) enhance the health, and psychological wellbeing of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and their caregivers; and (2) evaluate the effectiveness of an exercise and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) intervention program. My variables of interest are MBSR, physical exercise, individuals with ASD, caregivers, and psychological wellbeing including stress, coping, quality of life, and behavior problems. Students will work with primary quantitative data collected by the research team. Students will be responsible for acquiring in depth knowledge about ASD and MBSR, collecting data via assessments, interviews, and observations and data entry and management. Students will gain valuable skills including analytical thinking by analyzing data; critical thinking by reviewing and synthesizing literature; communication via public speaking at conferences, poster sessions, and interviewing test subjects; and team work in collaborating with students and faculty. Other important skills gained include scholarly writing, work ethics, and organization.
Moschetti, Roxanne
My research focuses on the development and well-being of underrepresented and understudied adolescents and young adults with a specific focus on the transition from high school into college. I am particularly interested in investigating the attitudes, experiences, social support systems, and knowledge among students who are first in their family to attend college. Using social capital theory (Stanton-Salazar, 2001) as a theoretical framework for examining the experiences of underrepresented students, networks of relationships can aid students in managing an unfamiliar environment by providing students with valuable information, guidance, and emotional support- such as those found in mentoring programs. Findings will aid in assessing the benefits of implementing a peer mentor program. I am committed to ensuring that students have the opportunity to apply and integrate theoretical, research-based and evidence-based knowledge. This current study will provide student research assistants with direct mentorship by receiving training procedures, data collection, and analyses.
Russell, Emily
I will explore bilingual children’s patterns of word learning to better understand their mechanisms of vocabulary acquisition. There is little research on this topic, which is problematic given the differences in the language, cognitive, achievement, and health outcomes that can exist between language and cultural backgrounds in the US. The findings of this study will provide knowledge that can serve to improve these outcomes in bilingual populations. Students will help me to recruit young English monolingual and English-Spanish bilingual children (and their families) to participate in the study. They will assist in running an experimental word-learning paradigm with the children, for which bilingual students will be essential. Students will code and tabulate data, analyze the data, and gain knowledge about the development of children. They will apply their knowledge of development to research settings using professional tools (e.g., Excel and SPSS). They will think critically about the findings and implications of the research.
Taylor, April
Motivational researchers have consistently documented that as students move into middle school many experience a decline in academic achievement and orientation towards school. This is particularly the case for ethnic-minorities who experience disproportionate declines in academic indicators compared to their non-ethnic minority counterparts. Guided by the expectancy-value framework this work examines 1) perceptions of barriers and achievement values as mediators for the relationship between experiences with discrimination and academic outcomes, and 2) how this mediational model may be moderated by ethnicity. Analyses will include sociometric and nonparametric analyses, multilevel regressions, and multivariate analyses of variance. Undergraduates will participate in recruitment, data collection, analysis, reporting, and presentation.
Department of Communication Disorders & Sciences
Kochis-Jennings, Karen
The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that female commercial music singers control vocal register by adjusting laryngeal muscle activity, vocal processes adduction and subglottal air pressure. In this study, simultaneous recordings of thyroarytenoid, lateral cricoarytenoid and cricothyroid laryngeal muscle activity, videonasendoscopy, subglottal air pressure and audio will obtained from 20 female commercial music singers during production of a variety of mid-range and upper range sustained pitches, scales and song phrases produced in chest, chestmix, headmix, and head registers. Students will be involved in the measurement and analysis of the laryngeal muscle activity data and subglottal air pressure data. They will be responsible for entering the data into excel files and making graphs. The students will gain valuable experience with data measurement and analysis and have the opportunity to be listed as co-authors on publications resulting from this research.
Department of Environmental & Occupational Health
Kennedy, Nola
The objective of this project is to evaluate environmental exposure to noise experienced by dance students. Current understanding of non-occupational exposures to noise is limited because these exposures are often accepted as part of the recreational experience. The investigation seeks to measure (1) noise exposure levels and (2) exposure durations. The research will investigate control technologies for reducing noise exposures in the dance studio environment. Health outcomes, related to noise exposure, will be evaluated using a questionnaire. Students will work with the collection and analysis of noise exposure data, including dosimetry and octave band source characterization. These data will be analyzed using statistical analyses for correlation, variance and significance. Students will be responsible for survey scheduling, data collection, interaction with test subjects, data analysis and presentation. Students will gain a broad set of research-related skills, including survey management, environmental mentoring, equipment calibration, data analysis and public communication of findings.
Department of Family & Consumer Sciences
Barrack-Gardner, Michelle
Primary research areas of interest include evaluating the interrelationships between diet, exercise, bone metabolism, injury risk, and sport performance and assessing the effectiveness of nutrition and physical activity interventions for optimizing health, wellness among adolescent and young adults. Variables in my current projects include bone mineral density, anthropometric measures (including body composition), food intake using dietary recalls and food frequency questionnaires, total daily energy expenditure, psychometric assessments of eating attitudes and behaviors, and indicators of cardiovascular fitness. Students are involved in evaluating anthropometric measures, implementing dietary recalls, administering study questionnaires, collecting cardiovascular fitness data, assisting with recruitment and data entry. The students will gain skills related to each of the above assessments including those needed for nutrition evaluation, fitness testing, and other assessments of health. Additionally they will gain experience and knowledge of each step of the research process.
Besnilian, Annette
The project goal is to implement, evaluate and conduct follow up to determine the effectiveness of an intervention program designed to affect healthful behavior in parent participants and their families in schools with a high percentage of Latino families in LAUSD. The program focuses on increasing awareness and providing guidelines on healthy nutrition choices, food-label reading, recipe modification, smart shopping, and related nutritional and healthy lifestyle information. A six-month and one-year follow up will determine long-term effects of school based obesity prevention programs. Research variables are: participants’ knowledge regarding nutrition, cooking, and physical activity (pretest, posttest, follow up); cooking, eating and physical activity behaviors at pretest, posttest and follow up; changes in body mass index (BMI) and percent body fat. Students will assist with data collection, taking field notes, taking height, weight and calculating BMI. Students will learn to administer surveys, analysis and interpretation; organization skills, professional development, curriculum development, use SPSS.
Bradley, Linda
Current research focuses on the impact of financial education for at-risk individuals and families with the intent of providing workable solutions that may alleviate the impact of financial stress. Research has shown that the decisions consumers make has an impact on their future financial well-being. Furthermore, financial well-being can be directly tied to both physical and mental well-being. The primary variables in my research include demographic variables (age, gender, ethnicity, educational attainment) as well as the impact of time on retention of financial knowledge gained and changes in financial behavior as measured by survey responses at three points in time. Student research assistants are working with mining qualitative data form primary and secondary sources and are responsible for data entry and analysis of data. Students will gain skills in developing research proposals, formulating hypothesis and research questions, collecting and analyzing data, and drawing conclusions and implications from the research study.
Cai, Yi
The study examines the social, cultural, and economic factors influencing Chinese Americans’ savings, indebtedness, and retirement preparedness (or lack thereof). I will examine the participants’ cultural beliefs, collectivism, trans-culturalism, and family traditions, in the framework of old-age support and retirement planning. Students’ involvements and responsibilities include development of the survey and interview instruments, data collection and analysis, community outreach, and incorporating the project into class-room learning. They will work with qualitative data from focus groups and in-depth interviews and quantitative data from a survey questionnaire developed in this project; as well as the national Health and Retirement Survey data that can be compared with the data collected in this project. The students will learn a hands-on experience of conducting community-based research and connect with local ethnic communities to embrace the diverse demographics in Los Angeles. Also, the project will enhance students’ cultural competences in their disciplines.
Herman, Dena
The goals of the LA ROCCS evaluation project are to: 1) Reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity among children 3-5 years of age participating in an intervention to inform parents of children’s weight status using a parent BMI letter; and 2) To evaluate if a provider training on healthy lifestyle habits results in lower BMI values for children ages 3-5 years attending child care services in Los Angeles County. The primary variables are: Body mass index (BMI) (kg/m2); knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of child care providers regarding their personal healthy lifestyle habits including: healthy eating, exercise, and screen time; and demographic variables (e.g., age, race, education, and income). Students will work with survey data including the variables listed above, and they will be responsible for measuring and weighing children, data entry, recruitment of childcare sites. Students will gain skills in anthropometry, experience in community-based participatory research, data management.
Krishnan, Uma
The research goals are to: 1) address one of the major methodological limitations in cultural studies – assuming heterogeneity in the classification of families by culture or ethnicity, and psychological well-being and 2) examine the horizontal/vertical (H/V) elements within the individualism/collectivism constructs and conflict experience, conflict management, as well as internalized and externalized outcomes, in families of Mexican origin. The primary variables are: cultural orientation- horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism; conflict intensity and frequency; conflict resolution styles; and self-esteem and depression, delinquency and academic achievement. Students will be exposed to collecting and entering qualitative data through surveys and interviews. Students will review instruments, attend meetings to receive information on administering and administer, code and review results with researcher. Students will obtain research skills, as well self-awareness, specifically on conflict resolution styles, and will also learn the significance of cultural orientation in planning and implementing effective, culturally sensitive programs for families.
Mimura, Yoko
The project goal is to explore financial practices, both actual and ideal, among first and second generation immigrants, young adults and low income householders. I plan to write several journal articles following this line of research over the next few years. Primary variables in the quantitative portion of the project are financial stress, psychological stress, financial practices, sources of personal financial information, and immigration status. Students will work with survey-based quantitative data and qualitative data, the latter to be collected through focus group interviews if funding is secured. Students will be responsible for assisting at various stages of the manuscript preparation, including gathering relevant literature, recruiting study participants, assisting in collecting interview data, transcribing interview data, and writing papers. Skills students will gain are familiarity with library databases, literature review preparation, interpretation of quantitative data analyses, preparation and interpretation of qualitative data, and manuscript preparation.
Sussman, Elizabeth
The main goals of my research are to evaluate the effects of micronutrient supplementation in hemodialysis patients on antioxidant markers and quality of life. Currently, my research is evaluating selenium and vitamin C supplementation in hemodialysis patients. The primary variables of my current research are plasma vitamin C and quality of life (to be evaluated by a validated survey for this patient population). Students will participate in both the collection (dietary intake and quality of life questionnaires, and distribution of food products) and statistical analysis of the data. Furthermore, abstracts and/or journal articles will be prepared and submitted. Students will learn the importance of research, how it’s conducted, analysis of variables, and how research stimulates future projects.
Department of Health Sciences
Augustin, Frankline
The goal is to develop an evidence-based, culturally-competent program for prediabetic/diabetic elder Latinos/as (55+), that teaches behavior change, management and compliance using service-learning, physical activity, education, and a hands-on cooking experience to modify dietary behaviors. Includes family participation. A primary goal is to achieve weight loss goal of 5% and improve diabetes compliance and to increase family involvement in diabetes “self” management. A secondary goal is to increase interest of college students to consider eldercare career. The primary variables are Latinos/as, 55+, prediabetic/diabetic . Students will work with quantitative data (demographic, weight, height) and qualitative (interviews, diaries, meal logs). Students will be responsible to assist with project management and recruitment; design, administering, collecting and maintenance of surveys, entering data into SPSS; monitoring and tracking students’ diaries; serving as liaison between students, seniors, agency and CSUN; fact checking and literature research. Students will gain skills in general research methods, program management, SPSS, strengthen interpersonal, communication and written skills, potential opportunity to co-author an article.