Falk College strives to achieve excellence in education not only through good teaching but also through participation in active research. Our students benefit by learning from researchers who are working at the cutting-edge of knowledge, within well-equipped laboratories, and in projects that are both domestic and abroad. We encourage both undergraduates and graduate engagement to achieve not only a rewarding educational experience but also enhanced career opportunities upon graduation. Learn more about the different types of research awards.
2019-2020 SU CUSE GrantAgricultural Guestworkers and the New Immigrant Economy
Due to strenuous working conditions and low average wages, labor shortages are a consistent challenge in U.S. production agriculture. For decades, farmers have been turning to foreign-born workers to fill labor-intensive positions. This study focuses on the H-2A agricultural guestworker program, which has been promoted as a solution to the contradicting labor needs of farmers and the increasingly precarious environment for undocumented immigrants in the U.S.
Learn more about this research.
Intramural Sponsored ProjectCross-Cultural Engagement of First Year Students
The proposed Cross-Cultural Engagement Project is designed to provide first-year undergraduate students in the Department of Human Development and Family Science (HDFS) with an opportunity to explore issues of diversity and inclusion by providing them with multifaceted opportunities for intercultural engagement. In the second semester of their first-year, a cohort of twenty-five HDFS undergraduates will be invited to participate in a seminar course that will include active learning experiences that challenge them to engage with cultures and communities other than their own.
Learn more about this research.
2019-2020 SU CUSE GrantDeveloping Machine Learning Classifiers on Uncovering Patterns of Intimate Partner Violence Risk
We seek support from the CUSE’s Innovative and Interdisciplinary Research Grant committee to conduct a two-year study that will utilize text-mining algorithms to uncover patterns or typologies of intimate partner violence (IPV) from women’s narratives. For the purpose of this grant, IPV is conceptualized as the motivational need of aggressors to exert coercive control in close relationships and aggressors need to use physical, sexual, and psychological violence to reinforce coercive control in relationships.
Learn more about this research.
2019-2020 SU CUSE GrantE-sport, psychological well-being, and sport participation: Data collection and natural field experimental analysis
E-sport participation can be conceptualized as competitive video game played at grassroot levels, where the video game of interest is played in professional competitions. In terms of the time use and prevalence, competitive online gaming is an important activity among American youth. According to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, more than 92% of 1,641 sampled Americans age 17-27 had at least one experience with competitive online gaming.
Learn more about this research.
2019-2020 SU CUSE GrantEffects of Maternal Stress, Dietary Intake, and Physical Activity Behaviors on Adverse Birth Outcomes
Maternal exposure to acute or chronic stress during fetal development leads to adjustments that have both short- and long-term consequences. Our proposed study is a multi-disciplinary investigation of maternal stress exposure, maternal stress response, and adverse birth outcomes (including pre-term birth and low birth weight). We plan to conduct a prospective cohort study of pregnant women to assess whether dietary intake and/or physical activity (PA) mediate or moderate the relationship between maternal stress exposure and adverse birth outcomes.
Learn more about this research.
2019-2020 SU CUSE GrantEnvironmental Exposures and Child Health Outcomes 2 (EECHO2)
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death in the United States and disables 10 million Americans each year, and literature demonstrates an association between metals (e.g., lead) and CVD risk. Supported by our most recent R01, we finished recruitment of 297 children in a study being named the “Environmental Exposures and Child Health Outcomes” (EECHO) study. EECHO considered the cross-sectional association between Pb exposure and cardiovascular outcomes in 9-11-year-old children.
Learn more about this research.
2019-2020 SU CUSE GrantManagement Team Diversity and Misconduct by Male Professional Athletes
Organizations and managers have a strong interest in preventing and redressing employee misconduct, which is voluntary behavior that deviates from prevailing norms. When employees are admired public figures, as is often the case with professional athletes, the negative consequences of misconduct to organizations may be more likely and more severe, than in other contexts. This research project represents the first examination of the organizational determinants of misconduct by high-profile employees of professional sports teams.
Learn more about this research.
2019-2020 SU CUSE GrantUrban Food Forests: Ecological-Human Connectivity and Rights to Access
The Urban Food Forests: Ecological-Human Connectivity and Rights to Access proposal weaves together ecological sciences, landscape design, and urban food policy to develop an innovative approach to assessing the potential for edible urban food forests that serve as connective ecological and human infrastructure. As “green infrastructure,” urban forests provide critical ecological services such as sequestering carbon, ameliorating urban heat island effect, reducing storm water runoff, and mitigating climate change.
Learn more about this research.
2018-2019 Falk Tenure-Track Assistant Professor Seed Grant AwardAgricultural Guestworkers and the New Immigrant Economy
This research will look at the circumstances and experiences of farmworkers who participate in federally sponsored guestworker programs, as well as farmers who use these programs, throughout New York State. This pilot study will consist of approximately sixty in-depth interviews at four sites, with farmworkers and farm owners who participate in the Department of Labor’s H-2A agricultural guestworker program. Due to historically low wages and physically demanding work conditions, labor shortages are a consistent challenge in production agriculture.
Learn more about this research.
2018-2019 Falk Tenure-Track Assistant Professor Seed Grant AwardA Logistic Regression Analysis of Reported Concussion Risk among NCAA FBS Football Players
The present research seeks to analyze and estimate a salient concussion risk factor for NCAA FBS football players. The results of this study have the potential to inform NCAA student-athlete concussion policy. College gridiron play features student-athletes who are faster, larger, and stronger, on average than their high school counterparts. While learning this new level of play as freshmen and sophomores, players may be at increased risk of concussion due to increased incidence of improper positioning and lower average strength, ceteris paribus.
Learn more about this research.
2018-2019 Falk Tenure-Track Assistant Professor Seed Grant AwardCoping with Losses: Need Un-fulfillment and its Influence on Sport Consumer’s Temporal Psychological Well-being
Losing is an imperative part of sport, but has garnered relatively less attention in sport consumer well-being research. Therefore, this research project investigates how sport consumers psychologically process their sport team’s loss and how the process impacts one’s well-being state.
Learn more about this research.
2018-2019 Falk Tenure-Track Assistant Professor Seed Grant AwardIdentification of the Gene-diet Nexus in Depression in U.S. Adults
Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, and more than 300 million people of all ages suffer from depression according to the World Health Organization. Epidemiological studies have shown that both dietary and genetic factors play a predominant role in mental health such as depression. The effect of dietary exposures on the risk of depression may vary by genetic predisposition, with potential for interactions between genes and dietary factors.
Learn more about this research.
2018-2019 SU CUSE GrantCause of Death, Longevity, and Career Statistical Characteristics among Former NFL Players: An Empirical Analysis using Categorical and Survival Models
The present research seeks to determine the relationships between on-field attributes/events, longevity, and cause of death among former NFL players. As the present NFL player concussion reporting protocol was not enacted until 2011, present data cannot determine the mortality risk factor presented by the elevated rate of concussion experienced by players during their career. That is, the complete pathway from concussion(s) to chronic traumatic encephalopathy and other neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Parkinson’s Disease) to mortality risk among former NFL players is empirically indeterminable given present data.
Learn more about this research.
Extramural AwardDo Children Displaying Different Profiles of Cognitive and Behavioral Self-Regulation Respond Differently to Early Education Programs?
This NICHD-funded study examines how profiles of cognitive and behavioral self-regulation influence the effectiveness of Head Start REDI, a preschool intervention program, in order to determine which version of the program works best for different types of students. Dr. Vasilenko’s role in the project includes expertise in person-centered and longitudinal research methods, and she will aid in creating latent profile models of self-regulation. Results can be used to inform intervention programs that are targeted to subgroups of children based on their risk profiles. Researchers have increasingly focused not only on whether a prevention program is effective, but for which types of people the program is most effective for. Then, researchers can examine how well a program works for people in these subgroups.
Learn more about this research.
Extramural AwardVirtual Reality Opportunities to Integrate Social Skills (VROISS)
Justin Ehrlich is the co-principal investigator of a research team-comprised of Ehrlich, researchers from the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning and educational leaders at the Ohio Center on Autism and Low Incidence Disabilities-that received $2.5 million ($246,745 will come directly to Syracuse University) through a grant from the Office of Special Education and Programs in the United States Department of Education to fund a five-year plan to implement Virtual Reality (VR) application that will teach social skills to students with Autism.
Learn more about this research.
Extramural AwardThe Care Coordination Certificate Program
The Care Coordination Certificate Program targets the professional development of the care coordination workforce of Central New York. It addresses the need for effective training of direct care workers who perform a critical role in New York State’s integrated care initiative. The first component is a 10-week sequence. Curricular areas include Medicaid redesign, strengths-based practice, ethics and boundaries, engagement, and documentation. The second component targets site supervisors. Supervisors will learn to apply a framework that supports building positive relationships with staff.
Learn more about this research.
Extramural AwardMental Health, Economic Well-Being, and Experiences of Farming in Resettled Refugees in Syracuse, NY
This project examines relationships between home and community gardening practices, mental health indicators, community building, and socio-economic well-being in resettled refugee populations. Existing literature suggests refugees face a decreased probability of sustaining socio-economic development if nutritional and general health needs are unmet.
Learn more about this research.
Extramural AwardEducating Girls in the Classroom and Beyond in Northern Nigeria
The projects goals are to delay the age of marriage and enhance girls’ agency and voice in rural communities in northwestern Nigeria by reducing social and economic barriers to female schooling and providing group-based mentoring and support. Dr. Larsen will be providing statistical support and analysis needed to meet the program goals.
Learn more about this research.
Extramural AwardEpidemiology Support for the Kenya HDSS Site
The long-term goal is to achieve sustainable funding for the Kenya HDSS site through external sources. To that end David Larsen will support scientific dissemination efforts of data that has already been collected at the Kenya HDSS site and to which Upstate Medical University has access. David Larsen will provide epidemiological support for numerous projects coming out of the HDSS in Kenya. Along these lines he will analyze data in accordance with established hypotheses and plans that were brainstormed with numerous Upstate scientists. David’s role in these investigations will primarily be to analyze the data, and then draft methods and results. He will bring in students as appropriate.
Learn more about this research.
Extramural AwardInflammatory Markers and Diet Quality among Vegetarian Versus Non-Vegetarian Female Collegiate Athletes
At present, it is unclear if the anti-inflammatory effects of a vegetarian diet directly benefit competitive athletes who engage in high-intensity exercise. Therefore, Redmond aims to directly measure levels of pro- and anti-inflammatory biomarkers and assess overall diet quality (using the DII) between vegetarian and non-vegetarian female collegiate athletes. This study was developed in response to observed interest in vegetarian diets among female athletes as well as growing opportunities for dietitians to provide nutrition education to collegiate athletes about overall diet quality. The results of this study can be used to highlight the need for sports nutrition professionals to closely monitor collegiate athletes and provide evidence supporting the potential benefits of a vegetarian diet for female collegiate athletes.
Learn more about this research.
Extramural AwardMultilevel Risk Profiles and Reproductive Health across Adolescence and Young Adulthood
In this United States, rates of sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy are highest among adolescents and young adults, making prevention programs to this group particularly important. Vasilenko propose the use and integration of two innovative analytic methods, the time-varying effect modeling (TVEM) and latent class analysis (LCA). The first aim of this project will elucidate age trends in SRH outcomes (e.g., sexual risk behaviors, STIs) across adolescence through young adulthood at the population level, including differences among demographic subgroups. Vasilenko will also examine how profiles of multilevel early risk and age-varying individual factors predict sexual, reproductive, and SRH outcomes across adolescence through young adulthood. Results will allow prevention scientists to design interventions targeting the most relevant risk factors at particular ages for specific subgroups.
Learn more about this research.
Extramural AwardPublic health professor’s patented mosquito control device supports disease prevention
David Larsen, associate professor at Syracuse University’s Falk College, invented a newly patented technology with colleagues from SUNY Upstate Medical University and Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador. The technology is a bait station that kills the Aedes aegypti mosquito, that spreads Zika, dengue fever, and other diseases. The mosquito originated in Eastern Africa, but is now found in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world. U.S. patent number 10,470,084 is co-owned by Syracuse University and two other universities.
Learn more about this research.
Extramural AwardSpirituality and Prosocial Values in the Absence of Religion Among Millennials and Their Families
Approximately one-third of millennials and post-millennials—young adults born 1981 and later—profess to have no connection to religion, according to the Pew Research Center. Yet evidence points to their strengthened humanitarian values and prominent spirituality. The degree to which religion is decoupled from prosocial goals and spirituality in contemporary young adults is one of many research questions to be addressed in the project.
Learn more about this research.
2018-2019 SU CUSE GrantChina’s Aging Population: Implications for Families and Public Policy
This proposal requests support to convene a workshop devoted to the topic of demographic change in China and its implications for family care and support for older adults. The goal of this workshop is to bring together prominent scholars working at the intersection of China studies, family science, gerontology, public policy, and demography to present research papers about the consequences of social and demographic change in China for meeting the needs of older individuals and their families, as well as the policy responses to those changes.
Learn more about this research.
2018-2019 SU CUSE GrantDried attractive bait stations (DABS) for the Control of Aedes Aegypti
The Aedes aegypti mosquito is responsible for dengue, zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever, which affect more than 100 million people each year and cause economic damages of more than $50 million per annum. There are limited interventions available to control adult Ae. aegypti– prevention is typically managed through larviciding. Larviciding however is often ineffective because Ae. aegypti utilize hidden breeding sites that are missed during larviciding campaigns.
Learn more about this research.