Last year, the College of Health and Human Sciences at Colorado State University celebrated the inaugural Research Day just before a stay-at-home order due to COVID-19 closed campus. Now, a year later, with in-person events still on hold, the second annual Research Day took to virtual platforms to celebrate the outstanding research and creative scholarship in the College.  This year, the events were spread out over multiple days, March 2 through 4.

“Like so many things this year, we had to pivot to a virtual Research Day celebration and we so appreciate everyone’s participation while managing the many challenges around COVID-19,” said Dean Lise Youngblade. “It was inspiring to see the amazing work we are doing in this college to transform the lives of people.”

Poster Show and Lightning Talks

The Virtual Poster Show, featured on our online platform, showcased the variety and quality of research and creative scholarship by students, faculty, and staff. Each participant recorded a 30-second elevator pitch with a 3-minute presentation about their research. Awards were given to the participants whose research stood out as being innovative and impactful. Many thanks for CSU Ventures who partnered with us on the virtual platform. View the research posters on the virtual platform.

Faculty members from each academic unit in the College along with the graduate student  Dean’s Fellows presented for the Lightning Talks session. Each provided insight on the innovation, integration, and impact of their research in a six minute talk with a short Q and A period. Watch the Lightning Talks session on the CHHS Research Day website.

Thank you to the following faculty for presenting their research:

Construction Management: Erin Arneson, Assistant Professor 
Design and Merchandising: Kristen Morris, Assistant Professor
Food Science and Human Nutrition: Megan Mueller, Assistant Professor
Health and Exercise Science: Molly Gutilla, Assistant Professor
Human Development and Family Studies: Aga Burzynska, Assistant Professor
Occupational Therapy:  Jaclyn Stephens, Assistant Professor
School of Education: Dae Seok Chai, Assistant Professor
School of Social Work: Elizabeth Kiehne, Assistant Professor

Deans Fellows

Health and Exercise Science – Aly Cavalier
Human Development and Family Studies – Reagan Miller

Keynote Speaker

Mary Wakefield serves as a visiting professor at the Georgetown University in Washington D.C. and the University of Texas at Austin. Wakefield served as the deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the Obama Administration, overseeing a department with a $1 trillion budget and 80,000 employees. Wakefield gave the keynote speech during the event titled “Strengthening Health Equity through Health Care Policy: What does science have to do with it?” CSU faculty and staff can view Wakefield’s presentation on the CHHS Research Day website.

In Wakefield’s lecture, she discussed how broader community and socio-economic disparities impact peoples’ health through differences in access to resources. She challenged researchers to think about what interventions could be deployed to change those outcomes.

She also discussed how researchers can share their research, in the form of policy briefs, with policy makers to influence future policies to help alleviate health disparities. She reiterated the critical role of science and research in ensuring that our policies are evidence based.

“Degrading or ignoring available evidence—in health care settings, in crafting public policy, or ignoring science—isn’t good for anyone and it’s a phenomenon  that  as researchers and consumers of research we should never be comfortable with,” said Wakefield. “Having an eye on this challenge and working to meaningfully address it should be something all of us consider—from our respective vantage points—as our responsibility.”

Poster Show Award recipients

Learn more about the award recipients and see images and the awards ceremony video on the College of Health and Human Sciences Research Day website awards page.