Active Research Projects and Collaborators

There are currently several active research studies in the UCRC including Dr. Mutchler’s studies:

1. Sexual health communication among young adults (see the flyer [PDF]).  The goal of this body of work is to help reduce HIV infections by understanding how young adults transmit sexual scripts and norms via sexual health communication.
2. Dr. Mutchler is also currently the PI on a R03 study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).  This work aims to better understand how substances and alcohol become associated with sex among African American and Latino YMSM through exploratory research including the use of peer ethnographers, semi-structured interviews, and survey data.
3. The UCRC is engaged in ongoing collaborative research to examine treatment advocacy (TA) services at AIDS Project Los Angeles.
4. The UCRC currently offers a class through the Sociology Program designed to facilitate student learning through direct, hands-on research experience. Students from different disciplines are welcome to enroll in the Sociology 302/502 class offered in the Spring, 2001.
5. The UCRC is also currently working on NIH funded studies to explore the use of PrEP (Pre Exposure Prophylaxis), a new medication that has been shown to prevent HIV infection, when taken properly.
6. One of the students in the UCRC, (Ceilique Hatcher) is leading a MBRS Rise sponsored project exploring loneliness and depression among Facebook users at CSUDH.
7. One of the students in the UCRC, Juliana Soto, is leading a project in collaboration with the City of Los Angeles Disability Department and AIDS Project Los Angeles to explore the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS as they age.

Dr. Kelin Li is currently working on projects examining how neighborhood racial/ethnic contexts are related to individual health across US. Specifically, he is analyzing population health survey data linked to community profiles from the Census to see how residential segregation and minority/immigrant concentration would impact individual health behavior and risk factors.

Dr. Kara Dellacioppa The CSU Alliance for Diversity in STEM project employs a culturally-informed, strengths-based faculty development approach for advancing newly hired historically underrepresented minority (URM) faculty in STEM and STEM Education research fields. The early-career faculty interventions include:

1. trainings about culturally-informed strengths and identity,
2. senior faculty mentoring,
3. peer coaching and networking, and
4. grant proposal writing trainings.

Dr. Molly Lancaster, CHES, Ph.D. has been teaching at CSUDH as a non-tenure track faculty member since Spring 2018 in the department of Health Sciences. She has also taught in the Sociology department. She has an interdisciplinary background in public health, clinical translational science, biomedical investigations, mindfulness, and psychology, with an emphasis on innovation in medicine and multicultural health education. In the past she worked as a Project Director on large-scale health intervention trials with NIMH/HRSA for underserved urban populations training and supervising research staff on study recruitment and intervention delivery. She was actively involved in Service-Learning Faculty Learning Communities during the 2019-2020 academic year focusing on understanding accessibility of exam questions. She is currently facilitating an Faculty Learning Community on Equity Mindfulness in Virtual Learning & Teaching. Her current research focuses on student emotional wellbeing and academic achievement and was recently awarded a RSCA institutional grant to further her research including mentoring a student research assistant. She is passionate about teaching, research, and mind-body interventions including meditation and mindfulness. She is currently leading a cross-discipline group of staff and faculty to create a new mindfulness focused center on campus. The new center is being considered for future expansion of Loker Student Union and will be called the TLC Mind & Body Center.