| RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP ACTIVITIES: COLLEGES, CENTERS, AND INSTITUTES |
The College of Health and Human Sciences advances knowledge, policies, and practices to enhance the lives, health, safety, and environments of individuals, families, at risk populations and communities in Oregon and beyond. We achieve this mission through exemplary undergraduate and graduate education, creative scholarship, and effective Extension programs and outreach initiatives. The College's scholarly and creative work reflects the strengths and diversity of our faculty and disciplines. This work ranges from laboratory-based investigations of nutrition and physiology, to field and applied investigations in public health and health services administration, to artistic and creative works in dance, apparel, and design.
A full listing of Publications, books and chapters, awards and honors, research grants and contracts, and editorship and editorial board memberships for the college may be found at http://www.hhs.oregonstate.edu/research-publications/index.php
Design and Human Environment |
Nutrition and Exercise Sciences |
Human Development and Family Sciences |
Public Health |
The Design and Human Environment research agenda is centered on the human environment: that which is close to the individual and with which the individual interacts. Apparel, interior spaces, and housing are all components of the human environment. The overall goals of research and creative activity in the Department of Design and Human Environment are to advance knowledge, policies, and practices to enhance the lives, health, and environments of individuals. Through our research and creative activities we strive to address social issues, improve human environmental conditions, and advance our subject matter areas. Underlying themes include social responsibility, development across the lifespan, diversity, and interdisciplinary approaches.
The focus of the department is on both tangible products - apparel and other textile products, interiors, housing - and intangible aspects of the human environment - cultural and individual values and attitudes, social institutions, individual perceptions, and motivations. Faculty engage in scholarly activity that may be empirical or creative in nature. A variety of theoretical frameworks underlie DHE research: aesthetics, consumer behavior, economics, education, fiber science, history, cultural anthropology, marketing, management, and social psychology.
The Department of Human Development and Family Sciences does research that covers the life span, focusing on families and individual development. Current research interests include care giving to elderly parents, youth-at-risk, the effects of family structure on the well-being of family members, welfare reform's impact on rural families, parent education, evaluation of even start programs, and issues in the relationship between work and family.
The Department of Nutrition and Exercise Sciences integrates two complementary applied human sciences that focus on optimal health and disease prevention through the lifestyle factors of nutrition and physical activity. The Department is fully engaged in the teaching, research and service missions of the University, with flourishing academic programs, federally funded research laboratories, and a strong emphasis on outreach through its Extension programs.
Major research programs in the Department include: The Bone Research Lab, which conducts basic and applied research on factors that affect bone health; the effect of zinc on prostate cancer and on factors that affect DNA damage; vitamin E kinetics and factors that modulate vitamin E requirements; the biomechanical study of passenger transfers for accessible airline transportation; diet and physical activity effects on aging; behavior-change strategies related to the adoption and maintenance of a healthy diet and a physically active lifestyle; the cardiovascular disease risk of persons with disabilities; physical activity programs to improve the quality of life of persons with disabilities; knee biomechanics and osteoarthritis; knee injuries in the female athlete; the nutritional requirements of active individuals; absorption and utilization of trace minerals; and effective teaching methods in physical education and sport settings.
The Department extends its research to citizens of Oregon through the nutrition education programs delivered by OSU Extension faculty in the Family and Community Development Program.
Department faculty are also members of the Linus Pauling Institute
and the Center for Healthy Aging, participate in the Molecular and Cellular
Biology program, and have strong interdisciplinary research ties with
faculty in Engineering, Public Health, Food Science and Technology,
Animal Sciences, Biochemisty and Biophysics, and Environmental and Molecular
Toxicology.
The over arching goal of the Department of Public Health is to create
and disseminate knowledge with the aim of preventing disease and protecting
the health of populations. Recognizing that multiple and complex factors
affect the public’s health, faculty are engaged in research that
examines environmental health and safety issues; access to, delivery
and payment of health care services; health policies; and social and
contextual factors as determinants of health. We acknowledge that efforts
to improve health must go beyond the treatment of disease and must address
all conditions affecting the health of populations including human behavior,
social conditions, health care organizations, governmental and corporate
policies, and physical environments. Several faculty are involved in
basic and applied research that advances understanding of how human
behavior and environmental context affect the public’s health,
including factors that operate at the individual, family, organizational,
community and societal levels. Particular research interests include
mental health, sexual and reproductive health, and prevention of risky
behaviors that lead to infectious and chronic diseases. Other faculty
members focus on research that identifies, assesses and reduces human
health risks associated with exposure to microbial and chemical agents
in the environment and workplace. Faculty also work to improve environment,
safety and health programs in businesses and industries. In the area
of health management and policy, faculty are engaged in research pertaining
to hunger, the effects of employment on physical and mental health,
tacit learning within high performing health care teams, and ways in
which health care organizations can measure and improve their resilience
to natural and man-made disasters. Others examine access to health care
for disadvantaged populations, including women, the elderly and international
populations. By generating research that will inform policies, services,
and programs of direct relevance to diverse populations, these efforts
will contribute to the health of populations in Oregon, nationally and
internationally.
Oregon State University Research Office
312 Kerr Administration Building, Corvallis, OR 97331
Phone 541-737-3467 Fax 541-737-9041
researchsupport@oregonstate.edu
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Oregon State University
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