Join the Office of Research Administration and Dr. Ingrid Weigold for “Personal Growth Initiative and the Therapeutic Process: An Exploratory Study”

C.P. and Cornelia Chima Family Center, Conference Room

Thursday, November 12, 2015

12-1 pm

Guest Speaker

Dr. Ingrid Weigold is currently an Associate Professor in the Collaborative Program in Counseling Psychology in the School of Counseling. She graduated with her degree in counseling psychology in December 2007 and joined the faculty at The University of Akron in August 2008. She teaches master’s- and doctoral-level courses in research design, statistics, lifespan development, theories, and assessment. Her research interests include personal growth initiative, the influence of human agency on college and international student success and persistence, scale validation, and data collection methodology. Her work in these areas has been published in top-tier journals such as Psychological Methods, Psychological Assessment, and Assessment. She is involved with several national boards. For example, she is the incoming Associate Editor of Research for the Journal of Mental Health Counseling, the treasurer for the American Psychological Association Division 17’s Section on Positive Psychology, and the secretary for the American Psychological Association Division 17’s International Section.

What’s on the Menu…

Personal growth initiative (PGI) refers to a person’s active and intentional desire to grow internally in domains that are salient to the person (e.g., social, vocational). PGI theory emphasizes its potentially important role in the psychological counseling process as a way to either provide clients high in PGI with the means of being more involved in therapy or teach clients with low levels of PGI the skills necessary to engage in the growth process. However, few studies have examined PGI in relation to counseling, and none have investigated its relation to psychological distress or therapeutic outcomes. This is the first study systematically examining the role of PGI in the therapeutic process. Participants were gathered from a community-based mental health setting and assessed for levels of PGI, psychological distress, and interpersonal issues at their initial appointment and when they left therapy. I investigated how PGI related to distress and interpersonal functioning at the first session, if PGI predicted whether or not clients would stop therapy unexpectedly or before meeting their goals, and how PGI related to psychological issues when both were measured longitudinally. 

Come, bring a lunch, and learn more about Dr. Weigold’s exciting research!

Contact RschSrvsGA8@uakron.edu with any questions

Join the Office of Research Administration and Dr. Richard Londraville for “Is this why we are fat? A key innovation in the genome of mammals”

Auburn Science and Engineering Center, Room D404

Thursday, November 5, 2015

12-1 pm

Guest Speaker

Dr. Richard Londraville

I’m a fish guy-I study how fish do what they do. I’m also a fat guy-I’m interested in what cells and organisms do with fat. Finally, I’m a temperature guy-I spend time thinking about how temperature affects cell function. Together, these things mean that I study the cell physiology of fish with different body temperatures, and different fat metabolisms. In the past I’ve worked on very cold fish (Antarctic fish) and fish that are cold seasonally (like striped bass). I’ve also worked on some fish that keep parts of their bodies warm (blue marlin). Where does fat come into the picture? Cold fish tend to accumulate fat. Why? How? That is some of the focus of our current research. We study proteins that may help the cell to burn fat, move it around, get rid of it or deposit it. Specifically, we are working on leptin, and enzymes that burn fat. Current directions include characterizing how leptin works in zebrafish and carp.

Currently I am working with 3 doctoral students in the new Integrated Bioscience PhD program. Donnie Copeland is working on how leptin affects carp’s physiology in their environment. He is particularly interested in response to stress and cold. Hope Ball is working with myself, Joel Duff, and Hans Thewissen at NEOUCOM. Her project is investigating the biology of leptin in Bowhead whales. Mark Dalman will join the lab this Fall, and he is going to be working on leptin physiology in zebrafish.

What’s on the Menu…

Human Obesity is a worldwide health crisis with no widely accepted pharmacological solution. One aspect of human obesity that makes it difficult to treat is leptin resistance. Leptin resistance occurs when our brains no longer respond adequately to the hormone signal that controls appetite and metabolism. A promising therapeutic target for leptin resistance is a protein called endospanin. Endospanin regulates how sensitive an organism is to leptin. Our research generates an endospanin-knockout zebrafish to test the hypothesis that this protein only regulates leptin resistance in mammals.

Come, bring a lunch, and learn more about Dr. Londraville’s exciting research!

Contact RschSrvsGA8@uakron.edu with any questions

Join the Office of Research Administration and Dr. Qindan Huang for   “Cost-Benefit Evaluation of Self-centering Concentrically Braced Frames Using Life Cycle Cost Analysis”

Auburn Science and Engineering Center, Room 223/224

Thursday, November 5, 2015

12-1pm

Guest Speaker

Dr. Huang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at The University of Akron. She acquired her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering and has occupied the roles of engineer, researcher, lecturer and professor. Her work has been recognized in professional journals as well as conference papers. Several areas of special interest to Dr. Huang are risk analysis, structural reliability, performance assessment of deteriorating structures and damage detection methods.

What’s on the menu…

Earthquake-induced damage of buildings can cause social and economic disturbances. Conventional lateral load resisting systems (e.g., concentrically braced frames (CBF)) are expected to exhibit structural and non-structural damage under design-level earthquakes, and may also exhibit residual drifts as a result of this damage. Self-centering concentrically braced frame (SC-CBF) systems have been developed to reduce post-earthquake damages in braced frames. However, due to special details required by the SC-CBF system, the construction cost of an SC-CBF is expected to be higher than that of a conventional CBF. In this study, the seismic performance and economic effectiveness of two prototype buildings utilizing SC-CBFs are assessed and compared with buildings utilizing conventional CBFs by evaluating the annual probabilities of exceeding various damage levels, expected annual losses, life-cycle costs, and economic benefit of using SC-CBFs considering prevailing uncertainties. Dr. Huang will also present the applications of reliability analysis and probabilistic modeling in other research topics in this presentation.

.

Come, bring a lunch, and learn more about Dr. Huang’s research and findings!

Contact RschSrvsGA8@uakron.edu with any questions

Join the Office of Research Administration and Dr. Wondimu Ahmed for “The Role of Self-concept and Subjective Value in Predicting Math Anxiety “

Central Hower High, Room 307

Friday, October 30, 2015

12-1 pm

Guest Speaker

Dr. Wondimu Ahmed is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Foundations and Leadership, LeBron James Family Foundation College of Education.

What’s on the menu…

Math anxiety is one of the most significant emotional impediments to learning and performance in math. Evidence shows that math anxiety is associated with avoidance of math courses and careers that depend on math thereby depleting the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) pipeline in the U.S. and elsewhere. Despite its debilitating effects on math achievement and career choices of individuals and its negative impact on a nation’s resource base in STEM, far too little attention has been paid to the causal antecedents of math anxiety. 

Come, bring a lunch, and learn more about Dr. Ahmed’s research and findings!

Contact RschSrvsGA8@uakron.edu with any questions