Research Mentor News, August 2016

Welcome to the August 2016 Newsletter!

Images from the 2016 CSULB BUILD Summer Symposium
This year's Summer Symposium was larger than last year's, with 64 Scholar poster presentations.

We hope the summer has been productive for your research program.  We know the Trainees have benefited from their work with you, as evidenced during the BUILD Summer Symposium on Friday, July 29. There were 64 poster presentations, over two sessions, from BUILD Scholars, each taking the opportunity to practice their presentation skills.

Mark Your Calendar

The CSULB BUILD Summer Symposium is now over – look for highlights on the website soon. Eleven BUILD Scholars participated in research at UCI and USC this summer. The Scholars who were at UCI will be presenting their work at the UCI SURF Symposium, taking place 8:30am -2:00pm on Aug. 11. UCI has invited CSULB mentors and the CSULB research community to attend. Contact Enríque Flores for more information.

UROP Program Email

Earlier this week, you probably received an email with the Subject line of “Need a Research Assistant? Join the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program.” If you have an active project that you’d like to have a first or second-year research assistant help you with, go to web.csulb.edu/divisions/aa/research/students/urop/sponsors.html and apply by Friday, Aug. 19 at 12pm. UROP can be a great way to recruit students into your research programs, and a number of students have joined BUILD after completing the UROP program!

Use the Correct CSULB Logo

With the fall presentation season upon us, you and your student will want to keep in mind that as a part of the ongoing rebranding of the campus, the University has decided to restrict the use of the CSULB Seal for official purposes.  Instead, they have offered the use of California State University Long Beach in bold letters with either a white or yellow/gold background. We ask you to use this logo and the BUILD logo for student posters for SACNAS or other meetings.

California State University Long Beach and CSULB BUILD logos

Multicultural Workshops in September

BUILD Research Mentors are required to attend at least one multicultural workshop. If you haven’t attended one yet, here are dates for two scheduled for September.

  • Effective Mentoring in a Multicultural Setting. You have two times from which to choose: Tuesday, Sept. 20, 10am to noon, or Friday, Sept. 23, 1 to 3pm.
  • Empowering Underrepresented Students in a Diverse Classroom. You have two times from which to choose: Friday, Nov. 4, 1 to 3pm, or Tuesday, Nov. 8, 10am to noon.

For more information, visit the Multicultural Workshops web page.

NRMNet News: User Portal Platform Upgraded

The National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) has been making a series of enhancements to its NRMNet user portal system, including the ability to access multiple applications from your Homepage. These changes took place in July. If you have not logged in since July 14, you will need to reset your password using your current email for NRMNet. If you experience any difficulties with this process, contact their technical support team at mnc@nrmnet.net.

Opportunities for You and Your Mentee

  • CHROMacademy – training video resource for your mentees
    Need help training your mentees on various laboratory techniques? Send them to CHROMacademy, an intuitive, comprehensive e-learning platform provided by Agilent Technologies. This no-cost resource can help your mentees learn about HPLC, GC, sample preparation and hyphenated techniques. Content includes life streaming events, a knowledge base, monthly webcasts, video tutorials, interactive experiments, lab simulations and more. To apply for a complimentary five-year membership, visit www.chromacademy.com/Agilent-uni.html.
 
  • So Cal Public Health Association Call for Proposals
    The deadlines for submitting proposals, either Breakout Session or Poster Presentation, for the Southern California Public Health Association 2016 Annual Conference are rapidly approaching. The conference will be held Wednesday, Dec. 14, at the California Endowment’s Center for Healthy Living in Los Angeles. The theme for the conference is Strategies for a Healthy Southern California: Ensuring the Right to Health. Breakout Session proposals are due Aug. 10, 2016, and Poster Presentation proposals are due by Sept. 23, 2016. More information and abstract submission forms can be found at these links: Breakout Session and Poster Presentation.
 
  • NIH is funding precision medicine research with a focus on health disparities
    The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities has committed approximately $31 million over five years, pending available funding, to launch a new program for Transdisciplinary Collaborative Centers (TCCs) for health disparities research exploring the potential for precision medicine to promote health equity and advance the science of minority health and health disparities. For more information, visit NIH's website.

Coming Next Month …

  • 2016 Summer Symposium Highlights
  • Preparing for HERI Faculty and Student Surveys
  • Fall Trainee Learning Communities Plans

Communicating with BUILD

We invite your news about your BUILD Trainee and any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions about BUILD.  If you have any of these, in relation to being a BUILD Mentor, or concerns about your BUILD Student, please contact us at BUILD.mentors@csulb.edu.  Be sure to keep an eye out for the September newsletter.