360° Review
Jump to:
Consumer Science
CSR welcomed new faculty members Jason Clark, Andrea DeMaria and Jiong Sun. Clark is an associate professor and his research focuses on factors that guide how people cognitively process persuasive messages and other social communications. DeMaria (PSY ’06) is an assistant professor and holds a joint appointment with the public health graduate program. Her work encompasses an interdisciplinary approach to understanding women’s sexual and reproductive health behaviors and issues, which informs community-based public health interventions. Sun is an assistant professor and is an expert in retail supply chain and innovation management using quantitative modeling.
Health and Kinesiology
HK welcomed new faculty members Scott Lawrance, Chad Carroll and Cassandra Ledman. Lawrance is a clinical associate professor and holds state licenses in both athletic training and physical therapy. He has served professionally as president of the Indiana Athletic Trainers’ Association and currently serves as president of the Great Lakes Athletic Trainers’ Association. His research interests include studying lower limb asymmetries and the link to injury risk. Carroll is an assistant professor. His research focuses on the development of effective treatments for tendon pain and injury, and the mechanisms regulating tendon adaptations to exercise. He previously worked in physiology at Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine. Ledman is a clinical assistant professor and is an exercise physiologist. She previously worked at Lutheran Hospital, The Cleveland Clinic and IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital.
Health Sciences
Jason Cannon, associate professor of toxicology, and his research team recently launched a project to investigate how a group of chemicals formed during barbecue grilling called “PhIP” cause Parkinson’s disease. Given that these chemicals also are mutagens and probable carcinogens, Cannon has teamed up with other researchers at the University of Minnesota and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to explore the overlaps between carcinogenesis and neurodegeneration. In June, the National Institutes of Health awarded $1.68 million to support the project.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission awarded a $194,400, two-year training grant to a joint health physics training program between Purdue’s School of Health Sciences and the School of Nuclear Engineering. The program, which began in 1942, has been successfully training both undergraduate and graduate students in radiation safety and management, nuclear security and proliferation, and environmental control. Many graduates of the program have taken prominent leadership roles in industry, government and academia. The program is currently led by Jason Harris, associate professor of radiological health science.
HHS Extension
More than 550 Indiana child care providers participated in HHS Extension’s I am Moving, I am Learning (IMIL) program in 2015. The program helps child care providers ensure that children meet guidelines for daily physical activity, understand the link between physical activity and mental acuity, bridge cultural gaps to get kids moving, promote outdoor activity when possible, and teach kids the basic building blocks of nutrition. Because most of Indiana’s children under age 6 have parents who work, secondary child care providers — whether it’s family, friends or a facility — exert great influence on a child’s daily nutrition and physical activity. Indiana’s obesity rate among children ages 2-4 is slightly above the U.S. average, and IMIL aims to reduce childhood obesity by offering community-based lessons to child care providers and caregivers.
Hospitality and Tourism Management
Starting in spring 2017, HTM will be offering an online Master of Science in Hospitality and Tourism Management. The development of an online master’s degree option will provide ongoing career development for mid-career hospitality managers who would find it difficult to undertake a residential program. The program is designed to provide working hospitality professionals with skills and knowledge to compete at the highest level of the industry. Students will learn advanced management and leadership skills including human resources, operations management, marketing, and hospitality finance. Critical thinking and problem-solving techniques will be used to address real-world problems. The program has a strong focus on quantitative analysis to enable students to use data to meet the challenges of business. The coursework combines cutting-edge online technologies to ensure students have the most effective learning experience while managing the demands of their careers.
Human Development and Family Studies
A new evidence-based early childhood curriculum for children from birth to age 5 years will be available in spring 2018 to the military’s large worldwide system of child development programs and interested civilian early childhood programs. Douglas Powell, Distinguished Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, is leading the development of the curriculum for the Department of Defense Child Development Program. The new curriculum is based on best practices in promoting children’s school readiness in all domains of early development. Early childhood experts at Purdue and other research institutions and Purdue’s Military Family Research Institute are contributing to the effort. The five-year grant project is supported through the federal DoD-USDA Partnership for Military Families.
Nursing
The Gerontological Society of America selected Kathleen Abrahamson, an associate professor of nursing, as a 2016 Fellow for her innovative research with elders in long-term care. Abrahamson focuses on person-centered care and has published more than 60 journal articles, peer-reviewed conference proceedings, chapters and policy reports. She currently has a contract with the state of Indiana to improve quality for long-term care facilities. The first project under the contract is addressing concerns related to polypharmacy, the use of multiple medications in a patient’s treatment.
The American Academy of Nursing inducted Karen Foli, associate professor of nursing, as a 2016 Fellow. Foli’s research focuses on nursing care of nontraditional families, including support during transitions and challenges faced in community settings. She is co-author of “The Post-Adoption Blues: Overcoming the Unforeseen Challenges of Adoption” and “Nursing Care of Adoption and Kinship Families: A Clinical Guide for Advanced Practice Nurses.” Fellows are selected based on evidence of significant contributions to nursing and healthcare.
Beginning in the fall of 2017, the inaugural cohort of PhD in Nursing students will begin their plans of study to become nurse scientists. They will embark on a three-year journey to learn how to influence innovation in healthcare through transdisciplinary collaborations and intense mentoring. Graduates will be prepared to work with and lead transdisciplinary teams to transform healthcare through scientific discovery and the translation of research findings. Their innovation in healthcare delivery systems and care will focus on discovering new knowledge and improving caregiver and patient experiences.
Jane Kirkpatrick, head of the School of Nursing, and Karen Foli, PhD program director, note that nurse researchers are in high demand for both industry, to address the challenges faced by our healthcare system, and academia, where multiple retirements of senior faculty are predicted over the next 10 years. Approved by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education in March 2016, this on-site program is accepting applications. For information about this program, please contact Foli at kfoli@purdue.edu.
Nutrition Science
The newly renovated 10,000-square-foot Nutrition and Exercise Clinical Research facility was dedicated on May 6. The center has capacity to deliver 25,000 controlled meals per year, assess diets, measure bone and body composition, and perform clinical services. It houses a state-of-the-art exercise facility to support research on the role of diet and exercise in health and chronic disease prevention. The Purdue Clinical Research Center housed in this facility is part of the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Alumni and friends of the department returned on May 6 to celebrate the 110th anniversary of the Department of Nutrition Science (see “A Recipe for Success”). The day culminated with a grand gala that celebrated achievements of the department, recognized 110 “diamonds of the department” and honored generous gifts from across the decades. During the gala, Patsy Mellott (NUTR ’69) was recognized for her planned gift, which includes a named professorship supporting nutrition and fitness and support for the Department of Nutrition Science’s Women's Global Health Institute initiative (see “Having by Giving”).
The National Institutes of Health awarded $8.8 million to fund a Purdue-led study of dietary recommendations and the impact of curbing sodium intake on blood pressure in adolescents. Connie Weaver, distinguished professor and head of the Department of Nutrition Science, leads the study. The five-year grant will evaluate the effects of young teenagers consuming the DASH diet, which stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet. The DASH diet is focused on consumption of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, nuts, poultry, and fish, while reducing unhealthy fats, red meats, including pork, and added sugars. DASH diets are rich in calcium, magnesium and potassium as well as other nutrients. More than 500 girls and boys, ages 11-15, with elevated blood pressure will be recruited for the study and will participate in two 25-day Camp DASH summer camps from 2017 to 2020. Similar to Weaver’s Camp Calcium studies, which over the past 25 years determined calcium levels for adolescents to maximize bone growth, campers will live in a residence hall and eat specific foods while spending their time participating in educational and fitness activities.
Psychological Sciences
Professors Margo Monteith and Deborah Rupp were among faculty selected by the Office of the Provost to lead research projects as part of the Diversity Transformation Award program. DTA seeks to enhance campus diversity by increasing the enrollment and success of students from underrepresented populations and increasing the number of underrepresented minorities among faculty. The goal of the program is to leverage research talent on campus to create a nationally recognized center of activity in studying factors affecting inclusiveness and success of underrepresented students and faculty.
The year 2017 will mark the 80th anniversary of the Industrial-Organizational Psychology program. The Purdue I-O program, which focuses on the scientific study of human behavior in the workplace, was one of the first in the world. Under the leadership of early I-O pioneers including Ernest McCormick and Joseph Tiffin, the program continues to be one of the world’s preeminent programs. An 80th Anniversary Endowment Campaign will be launched to help fuel continued success in the years ahead.
Public Health
The Public Health Graduate Program (PHGP) continues to grow. The program experienced a 30 percent increase in new student enrollment for fall 2016. In addition, Dr. Andrea DeMaria (PSY ’06), assistant professor of consumer science and public health, joined the faculty in August 2016. She is the first new faculty hire since the launch of the program in July 2014.
PHGP will host the Indiana Public Health Association statewide annual meeting in April 2017.
Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
SLHS welcomed new faculty members Hari Bharadwaj, Mark Sayles and Ray Munguia. Bharadwaj and Sayles are assistant professors and also hold appointments in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering. Munguia, M.D., is a clinical assistant professor and assumed dual roles in SLHS and the Indiana University School of Medicine-West Lafayette. The new faculty cement the department’s reputation as a top program in hearing sciences. Few institutions in the world compare with Purdue’s combination of pioneering research, leadership in clinical education and excellent clinical services.
Assistant Professor Georgia Malandraki and Clinical Instructor Jaime Bauer Malandraki have developed new facilities for understanding swallowing disorders with the only video fluoroscopy C-Arm dedicated exclusively to research and teaching in a communication sciences department. This is among many developments in medical speech-language pathology and interprofessional development made possible by the new Lyles-Porter Hall.
Extending a long unblemished record, 100 percent of SLHS Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology and Doctor of Audiology students passed the national PRAXIS exam, establishing clinical competence on first attempt.
For the latest HHS News, visit www.purdue.edu/hhs.