Research Opportunities for Undergraduates

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.

1. Gait across the decades-Goals are to assess 3D gait using motion capture cameras, sensors to capture muscle activity and in-ground force plates, for healthy people up to age 80 yo. Task: Place markers and sensors on subjects, run software for data capture and help to summarize biomechanical data.
2. The effect of acute exercise in Spinal cord injury-Goals are to collect cardiovascular (blood pressure, heart rate, cerebral blood flow) after a brief acute exercise bout. Tasks: Assist in recording data, helping to collect and process data with a Ph.D. student.
3. A novel corticospinal model for use in neurorehabilitation-Goals are to understand how the brain and spinal cord networks work and how they adapt when perturbed. Tasks: Help to set up study documents and prepare setting to start the study and learn how to use Matlab to process data.
4. Locomotor training and spinal cord stimulation on the recovery of walking-Goals to determine if either or both interventions improve walking independence and function. Tasks: Assist people with SCI to walk on a treadmill which is physically challenging, and assist with all assessments.

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:

• The first study examines the dynamic changes in maternal e-cigarette/cigarette use around the time of pregnancy (before, during, and after), the determinants of these changes, and their associations with maternal and infant health. We use existing data from two large U.S. national studies with complementary data: 1) the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System and 2) the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study.
• A second study examines the extent to which maternal and child consumption of pulse foods influences pregnancy/birth outcomes, cardio-metabolic health, physical growth, and obesity up to perimenopause (mother) or adolescence (child).
• A third study examines how maternal consumption of eggs during pregnancy and postpartum influences health in both the mother and the child. Maternal outcomes include pregnancy and delivery complications, weight change, obesity, and metabolic health up to 6 y postpartum. Child outcomes include birth weight, physical growth, obesity, and egg allergy up to 6 y of age. We will consider effect modification by maternal pre-pregnancy BMI, child sex, and breastfeeding. Research assistants can work on various tasks, including literature review, data cleaning and management, data analysis, and drafting manuscripts. Specific tasks depend on the interests and availability of each research assistant.

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