Video by Ashur Lockrem
The fourth annual College of Health and Human Sciences Research Day took place on March 6 in the Colorado State University Lory Student Center showcasing the amazing research within the College.
CHHS Research Day was the brainchild of Dean Lise Youngblade who launched the event to spark collaboration, display profound discovery and innovation, and celebrate the impactful research conducted by students, staff, and post-doctoral researchers across the college.
At the morning Poster Show, 55 presenters made up of undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, staff, and post-docs presented their research through short talks to visitors and judges, using their posters to supplement their explanations.
Regardless of the discipline, the research presented from the College revolved around bettering individual and community health and promoting physical, mental, and social well-being.
Winning poster presentations were determined by judges and the Poster Show award-winners were announced at the end of the day. Award-winners included studies on insomnia sleep-habits, gluten-sensitive consumption alternatives, psychometrics on inhibition tasks in young children with down syndrome, eating disorders within the CSU population, women of color in science speaking truth to power, and more.
Keynote speaker
This year, the keynote address was given by Gerald Buckwalter, chief innovation officer for the American Society of Civil Engineers and president of his consulting firm, Strategy Essentials.
He has served on the National Infrastructure Advisory Council under both Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush and is also a member of the board of the Center for Public Policy Innovation and has served on the board of the National Homeland Defense Foundation.
Additionally, Buckwalter oversees the Future World Vision initiative, a forward-leaning strategic assessment and visualization project that is creating a virtual and interactive computer model to assess potential built environments 50 years into the future.
Buckwalter’s speech, titled “Envision The Future,” highlighted this initiative and provided a glimpse into the future through visualization and prediction based on research.
Buckwalter explained the various environmental challenges derived from improvements in technology, using examples from past advancements to assess the feasibility of future projects.
His research delved into ways technology and the human population have changed the environment, as well as ways society needs to better plan around the environment. For example, Buckwalter stressed the importance of vertical structures that are conducive to the area around them, integrative strategies to reduce the expanding carbon footprint, and developing tangible plans to increase overall efficiency in an ever-expanding population.
“It is often easier to focus only on incremental changes.” Buckwalter said. “We all need to learn how to ask the right questions, think critically, be bold and comprehensive in our planning, develop potential solutions, and collaboratively promote those solutions to change our culture, improve everyone’s quality of life, and help make the communities we serve healthier than what they are now.”
Watch Buckwalter’s full keynote address on the college’s website.
Lightning talks
Following Buckwalter’s keynote address, faculty and Dean’s Fellows gave four-minute lighting talks. Researchers in seven of the College’s disciplines provided concise overviews of their work.
This year’s Dean’s Fellows are: Mohammad Teymouri, Construction Management; Elliot Graham, Food Science and Human Nutrition; and Heidi Tseng, Human Development and Family Studies.
Teymouri discussed sustainable and more effective alternatives to concrete and concrete de-icing. Graham illustrated how obesity detrimentally impacts the gut microbiome and may interact with immune responses to viruses like SARS-CoV-2, presenting potential guidance for obese populations. Tseng shared research focusing on the motivational and attitudinal factors contributing to better health and well-being for aging adults.
Each of the seven faculty presenters from the College outlined their research studies revolving around sustainable clothing production, food processing and replacing traditional ingredients for consumption, cancer survivors maintaining positive mental health, aging paradoxes in older adults, impact of yoga on individuals with disabilities, metacognition and understanding in education, and sexual violence prevention.
Listed are the seven faculty lightning talk presenters – view their talks and those of the Dean’s Fellows on the college’s website.
- Sonali Diddi, Design and Merchandising
- Charlene Van Buiten, Food Science and Human Nutrition
- Heather Leach, Health and Exercise Science
- Gloria Luong, Human Development and Family Studies
- Arlene Schmid, Occupational Therapy
- James Folkestad, School of Education
- Jamie Yoder, School of Social Work
Research Day Poster Show award winners
Go to the CHHS Research Day Poster Show webpage for photos of each award winner and individual who submitted a poster for CHHS Research Day 2023. Additionally, find more images in the College of Health and Human Sciences Flickr. Congratulations to all the award winners!
2023 CHHS Research Day Poster Show award winners:
Applied Science Category – Distinction in Graduate Research
Ojo Friday Abraham, Mechanical Engineering
Carbon Dioxide Capture: Concrete as a Potential Sink
Applied Science Category – Distinction in Research
Marissa Bunning, Food Science and Human Nutrition
Partnerships Between Public Health Agencies and University Extension Networks Combine Strengths to Address Critical Food Safety Issues
Basic Science – Distinction in Graduate Research
Bayley Wade, Health and Exercise Science
Neural Mechanisms of Psychomotor Impairment in Adults with Type 1 Diabetes
Behavioral and Social Science Category – Distinction in Research
Kate Miller, School of Social Work
Short-term effects of a dog training intervention for military veterans with PTSD: A pilot feasibility study
Behavioral and Social Science Category – Distinction in Research
Patricia Grady, Occupational Therapy
The Evaluation in Ayres Sensory Integration: Using Rasch Analysis to Evaluate a Novel Measure
Behavioral and Social Science Category – Distinction in Research
Paula Yuma, School of Social Work
The Emerging Concept of Benevolent Childhood Experiences: A Scoping Review
Behavioral and Social Science Category – Distinction in Graduate Research
Hadalyn Anderson, Health and Exercise Science
Cancer survivors’ experiences of sustaining physical activity following a community-based exercise program
Clinical and Translational Science Category – Distinction in Research
Darby Easterday, Health and Exercise Science
An Investigation of Skeletal Muscle Derived Extracellular Vesicles as Modulators of Adipose Tissue Metabolism
Luke Whitcomb, Biomedical Sciences
Acute thrombosis analytes predict PASC development in COVID-19 patients
Clinical and Translational Science Category – Distinction in Graduate Research
Jordan Acosta, Health and Exercise Sciences
The Transcallosal Highway: The ipsilateral silent period as a neural biomarker for impaired corpus callosum communication in multiple sclerosis
Undergraduate Research and Creativity Category – Top Honors
Dana Lervick, Health and Exercise Science
Neural Control of Balance: Smartphone-instrumented measures of sensory contributions to postural stability in older adults
Community Engaged Scholarship Category – Distinction in Research
Laurie Carlson, School of Education
Development and Initial Validation of the Colorado PWR Survey
Equity and Social Justice Category – Distinction in Graduate Research
Mo Moreira, School of Education
Considering Risk; Responsibility; and Reward: Experiences of Women of Color in Science Speaking Truth to Power
Public Health Category – Distinction in Graduate Research
Mingyue Zhang, Food Science and Human Nutrition
How long-term repeated intermittent fasting effect gut microbiota and cardiovascular dysfunction
Science of Teaching and Learning Category – Distinction in Graduate Research
Michelle Milholland, School of Education
Health Equity Education: Literature Support for an Undergraduate Curriculum
Find out more about the Poster Show, Lightning Talks, Keynote Speaker, and Awards Ceremony at the CHHS Research Day Website!
