Barbara Piperata, Ph.D., Professor, Director, Medical Anthropology Degree Program, has received an NSF International Research Experience for Students award (see flyer attached). The award allows her to take students to Ecuador for a 7-week medical anthropology research project. The experience is fully funded and includes an additional stipend.  The deadline for applications is October 8.

One Graduate and two undergraduate students from Ohio State will be selected to participate in a year-long mentored research process through the NSF funded International Research Experience for Students (IRES) program. Students will be mentored by Dr. Barbara Piperata, and join a cohort of additional undergraduate and graduate students from Texas State and Tulane University as part of an interdisciplinary team of 8 total students . This team of 8 students will be led by Dr. Piperata, one faculty member each from Texas State and Tulane University, and by conservation professionals with the Non-Governmental Organization in Ecuador called Fundación para la Conservación de los Andes Tropicales (known as FCAT) that is housed at the FCAT Biological Field Station and Forest Reserve (https://fcatecuador. org). Together, students will design and conduct interdisciplinary research on conservation projects that promote the wellbeing of the people, plants, and wildlife living in this lowland rain forested region in the foothills of Andes Mountains in Ecuador.

Requirements: US citizenship/permanent residence; Intermediate/Advanced Spanish speaking; enrollment in classes in Fall 2022; Minimum GPA of 3.2.

For full application information, click here.

For more information contact Dr. Piperata at Piperata.1@osu.edu.

UNDERGRADUATE POSITIONS:
Students are welcome to apply on our website by clicking here to be considered for current and future openings in our lab!.

Research Description: Experimenters needed for studies on the effects of stress on immune function. Availability of at least 9 hours each week spread across two or three shifts is highly desirable. Depending on your availability/interests, you will be responsible for tasks on one or more studies. Current studies address questions related to psychological/behavioral influences on a key aspect of immune function–inflammation, as well as molecular markers of aging.

Our current studies examine:

• How one’s physical fitness, mood, and stress can affect the immune response to infection.
• The ability of chemotherapy and depression to alter triglyceride responses following meals in ways that would promote atherosclerosis.
• How inflammation affects behavioral symptoms, including pain sensitivity, mood, social behavior, and cognitive problems.
• Marital stress, and how a couple’s interactions may affect their immune system and their aging.
• How the stresses of providing for a husband or wife with Alzheimer’s disease may promote depression and anxiety in caregivers, and simultaneously promote the aging of the immune system.

Based on personal strengths and interests, Stress & Health lab students often have the opportunity to:

• Work face-to-face with research participants including breast cancer patients and adults from the community
• Be involved in behind-the-scenes data collection and organization.
• Learn in an interdisciplinary environment with lab managers, research assistants, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows from several fields.  This is a good opportunity to learn about possible career paths in research.
• Obtain more responsibilities over time; some of these responsibilities may be similar to those of a first or second year graduate student.

Student Participation: Responsibilities may include: Administering psychosocial stress tasks to research participants. Conducting interviews about life stress and daily dietary intake with research participants. Collecting heart rate variability, bionutritional and psychological self-report data in hospital clinics. An excellent opportunity for someone considering graduate or medical school! We require a commitment of 300 lab hours, approximately two semesters of working 9 hours per week, in order to earn a letter of recommendation.

Special Qualifications Needed: Detail-oriented, self-motivated, communication skills, professional appearance; at least a two semester commitment. Preference for students who are available to work in this internationally recognized lab one or two years.  Students must complete CITI training on Human Subjects Research before beginning work in the lab.