If you're an undergraduate SPHHP student, you can participate in mentored research for credit. Students who take part in the undergraduate research experience program are matched with a research mentor and have opportunities to be involved in their research activities.
How many credits can I sign up for?
You can sign up for one to six credits. Each credit requires a 40-hour commitment with a work schedule determined in collaboration with the mentor.
How is the course graded?
The course is graded pass/fail.
Can I count 498 credits toward my major or minor requirements?
Nutrition and Exercise Science majors and minors can count up to four credits toward their major or minor requirements. For all other majors, 498 credits do not count toward your major or minor requirements.
What should I expect to do?
Undergraduate research assistants are often involved in tasks such as data collection, data entry and cleaning, transcription, qualitative coding and literature review. Sometimes these tasks are repetitive, but they are fundamental to research. As you become more familiar with these tasks, you may be asked to take on a wider range of responsibilities. In addition to taking part in research activities, you will complete an online research ethics training and write a summary of the research and your involvement in it.
How will I match with a mentor?
To help match you with a research mentor, the application asks for a brief summary of your research/career interests. You will also upload your resume/CV. While we cannot guarantee your choice, we will take into account your preferences and interests when matching you with a mentor. After submitting an application, you will be matched with a mentor.
When will I match with a research mentor?
Matches are made on a rolling basis; the earlier you submit your application the greater chance you have of matching with a particular project. The mentor will have two weeks to reach out and to decide to offer you a spot in their research group. They may ask to interview you or ask you for references. Responding to these requests as quickly as possible is important because the matching process must be completed in two weeks.
How can I apply to the program?
You should complete this application.
Applications are not accepted after the following dates:
Fall semester: August 1
Spring semester: January 2
Summer: May 1
Rehabilitation for Spinal Cord Injuries
Students will help with 4 projects depending on when study participants are scheduled.
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Sue Ann Sisto
Time Commitment: 1-2 credits
Qualitative data analysis project on HIV prevention
Using data collected by our team, the student will learn about oral and injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) which is a medication to prevent HIV.
Students will learn how to use an interview guide to create a codebook, work on a team to apply codes to qualitative interview transcripts
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Sarahmona Przybyla
Time commitment: 1-2 credits
Loss of Control Eating in Children
The Eating Behavior Laboratory (EBL) is looking for student researchers to assist in the UB Food- ittude Study. This study aims to examine the relationship between loss of control (LOC) eating, a type of disordered eating, and obesity/ overweight among children. Secondarily, the study examines the effects of restrictive parental feeding practices, and the relative reinforcing value of food, which are factors known to increase the risk of adolescent LOC eating and/or high weight status. The primary tasks for student researchers include preparing food for buffets, preparing portions of snacks, conducting dietary recalls, setting up visits, assisting with and running visits with children and their parent/ guardian, and entering and checking data.
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Katie Balantekin
Time Commitment: 1-3 credits
Sex differences in the neuroscience of obesity and food reward
Goals: We use rodent models to understand the mechanisms underlying neural controls of energy balance, including the brain areas and neurohormones involved in controlling feeding, body weight, and food reward. We are interested in identifying how these mechanisms may differ in females and males.
Tasks: Students will work hands-on with rodents and assist in experiments aimed at understanding neural controls of energy balance in rats. The student will learn skills such as rodent handling / weighing, injections, monitoring food intake in rats, and assessing behavior in paradigms like lever pressing for palatable food.
Faculty Advisory: Dr. Elizabeth Mietlicki-Baase
Time commitment: 2-3 credits
Surveying the Buffalo Food Environment
The goal of the project is to finalize the food environment instrument and collect preliminary data. Students will conduct surveys of the food environment in dollar stores in the city of Buffalo.
Faculty advisor: Christina Kasprzak
Time commitment: 2-3 credits summer 2023 only
Secondary analysis of e-cigarette, pulse, and egg consumption on maternal and child health
Students can assist with any of three projects:
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Xiaozhong Wen
Time commitment: 3-6 credits
Pilot testing a muscle strength task to determine changes in neuromuscular fatigue
Students will learn in the Hydration, Exercise, and Thermoregulation (HEAT) Laboratory while assisting with hands-on applied human subjects research. Students have the opportunity to create and pilot test a protocol for a new task in the lab that quantifies quadriceps neuromuscular fatigue due to an exercise heat stress intervention mimicking military work. The goal is to create, refine, and standardize an isometric mid-thigh pull task to reduce measurement error and improve repeatability when performing the task, with an overall goal of accurately and precisely measuring strength to determine changes in neuromuscular fatigue.
Join the team and learn alongside Exercise Science and Clinical Nutrition graduate students to implement this new task in studies involving active human subjects data collection. Dedicated students will have the opportunity to run their own data collection and take ownership over a research question in one of our ongoing studies.
Time commitment: ≥3 credits
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Riana Pryor
If you would like to recruit students to work with you please complete this form. The project coordinator will be in touch to discuss the matching process.
Contact Dr. Heather Orom, horom@buffalo.edu.