Research Mentor News, July 2019

CSULB BUILD To Be Funded for 5 More Years!

BUILD is funded for five more years

We have an exciting update for you on the status of our BUILD grant. Although the Notice of Award (NOA) has not been officially released, the NIH has recently informed us that our BUILD program will be funded for the final 5 years. The new team of Primary Investigators taking the reins for the next five years is:

  • Chi-Ah Chun, Professor of Psychology (Contact PI)

  • Jesse Dillon, Professor of Biological Sciences

  • Simon Kim, AVP, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs

  • Panadda Marayong, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

  • Kim Vu, Professor of Psychology

In light of changes to the BUILD program, the mentor newsletter will change its schedule to go out three times a year, in September, January, and May.

Mark Your Calendars for these Summer Events

The Summer Undergraduate Research Gateway to Excellence (SURGE) and SURGE 2 began last month. SURGE for new Scholars and Fellows is held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 am to noon, and SURGE 2 for Year 2 Scholars is held on Tuesdays from 9:30 am to 11:30 am.

Both will run for eight weeks, June 4 through July 25, and will culminate in the Summer Symposium on Friday, July 26, 2019, where participants will present their research to friends, family and BUILD faculty and staff. Please mark your calendar for this event. Location and time will be announced at a later date.

In addition, SURGE participants will be participating in the following events, as well. Please note that your mentees(s) may not be able to work in your lab on these dates:

  • SURGE Bonfire at Bolsa Chica Beach – Thursday, July 18 from 5-8 pm

  • Field trip to UC Irvine – Thursday, July 25, all day event

More events are still in the planning stages and will be announced once dates and times are confirmed.

Mentor Spotlight – June 2019 – Dr. Joshua A. Cotter

Mentor Spotlight, June 2019, Dr. Joshua A. Cotter

The Mentor Spotlight for June was Assistant Professor Dr. Joshua A. Cotter from the Department of Exercise Physiology in the College of Health and Human Services.

His research focuses on understanding the regulation of skeletal muscle mass, exercise countermeasures for spaceflight, and optimizing exercise and sport performance. “Although many people may think that space research helps only the select few who make it into space, the truth of the matter is that what we learn with space research applies to many different environments and scenarios here on Earth. For instance, many physiological changes that occur in space, also happen here on Earth with aging,” he says. “We can consider what happens in space as ‘accelerated aging’ and is an excellent model to see how we can prevent some of the negative changes that occur here with aging on Earth. We have gained many technological advances from studying space.”

You can learn more about him and his research on the spotlight page on the BUILD website and his profile in the BUILD Mentor Database.

CSULB BUILD in Pictures – Elevator Speech Contest

CSULB BUILD’s Facebook and Instagram accounts are filled with pictures of our Scholars, and Fellows. Each month we’ll highlight a collection here.

  • Elevator Speech Contest – On June 18, BUILD trainees participating in SURGE competed in the annual Elevator Speech Contest. This SURGE activity gives them the opportunity to practice explaining their research to both a lay and scientific audience. Winners in several categories were presented with prizes.

Acknowledging BUILD in Your Presentations/Publications

Please remember to acknowledge the funding from National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers UL1GM118979, TL4GM118980, and RL5GM118978 on work supported by BUILD, including support from BUILD student trainees, mentor appreciation fund, BUILD research and equipment grants. When you review your mentees’ posters, also check to make sure they have included the correct grand numbers. For a sample acknowledgment statement, NIH resources and policy, please visit the “Acknowledging BUILD in Your Publications” page on our website. It can be found under Mentors > Current Mentors.

NOTE: Grant numbers may change slightly after July 1. As soon as they become available, the website linked to above will be updated. Please continue to use the one listed on the website for now.

Be Prepared

If you'd like to know what is coming up in the BUILD Learning Community for your mentee, download the current syllabus. This will give you a heads up on what events your mentee is required to attend and therefore will not be available to work in your lab at that time. This page will be updated each semester with the new syllabi.

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 Research Mentor, please contact us at BUILD.mentors@csulb.edu. If you have any concerns about your BUILD Trainee, please contact the Student Training Core PI/Director at Jesse.Dillon@csulb.edu.

Be sure to keep an eye out for the next newsletter, due around the beginning of the Fall semester.