Red River Valley Research Corridor aggregator

UND Research News: Mary Ann Sens

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:25:16 -0400

Pathology - "ND Statewide Cancer Registry" - $75,000

UND Research News: Dongmei Wang and Ray Butler

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:19:30 -0400

Geology & Geological Engineering - "Surfactant formulation study for enhancing Wattenberg Field oil production" - $195,123

UND Research News: Nuri Oncel

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:14:41 -0400

Physics & Astrophysics - “On the Novel Properties of Ir Modified Si (001) and Si (111) Surfaces: Nanowires and Rashba Type Spin-Orbit Splitting” - $119,051

UND Space Studies: Space Studies to Host New Season of Star Parties

Wed, 22 May 2013 01:00:00 -0400

UND Research News: NSF / EPSCoR “SCIENCE: BECOMING THE MESSENGER” Workshop

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:33:14 -0400

On behalf of the National Science Foundation and ND EPSCoR, you are invited to an interactive hands-on communications workshop designed to assist scientists, engineers, researchers and educators champion their work effectively to the outside world.

This workshop will be held at the Fargo Hilton Garden Inn, June 26th-27th. There is no registration fee but pre-registration is required. Breakfast and lunch will be provided.

Registration Deadlines: May 24th for those attending both Days 1 and 2; June 14th for those attending Day 1 only.

Three expert communicators will reveal professional approaches and real-world insights, and let you in on their secrets for communicating effectively.

Dan Agan is a media strategist and communications counselor; Chris Mooney, a best-selling science author and journalist; Joe Schreiber, an Emmy-Award-winning TV producer and filmmaker.

Gain Techniques/Skills for Effective Communications: Professional approaches, real-world insights, and secrets for communicating effectively. Interactive setting - Develop effective communications—from grant proposals and classroom lectures, to media interviews and presentations. Practical advice, easy-to-use guides, talk-and-slides, blogs, videos, Twitter, media interviews, and Q&A sessions. Day Two is designed for a specially-selected group of researchers who apply. Research participants will build on fundamentals they learned and gain one-on-one mentoring. A requirement is an investment of preparation time prior to Day Two and a commitment to a full day of training June 27th.

The NSF Registration link and additional workshop information my be found HERE

~ Cathy Lerud, Administrative Officer, UND EPSCoR

UND Research News: Institutional Review Board to Meet June 5, 2013

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:31:31 -0400

UND's Institutional Review Board will meet at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 5, 2013, in Twamley, Room 305 to consider all Full Board Review research proposals submitted to the IRB Office before Friday, May 24, 2013.

Clinical medical projects must be reviewed by the Clinical Medical Subcommittee before being brought to the Full Board. Proposals for these projects were due in the Institutional Review Board Office before Friday, May 17, 2013.

Minutes from the meeting will be available in the IRB Office approximately one week after the meeting.

~ Janet Elshaug, Administrative Secretary, UND Institutional Review Board

UND Research News: Notification of Revised Cost Transfers for Sponsored Projects Activity Policy

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:22:57 -0400

President Kelley signed a revised Cost Transfers for Sponsored Projects Activity policy on April 29th, 2013. The policy along with instructions and required forms may be found on the VPRED website.

The policy applies to cost transfers involving one or more sponsored funding sources. All FY14 cost transfers must be submitted with the new forms.

If you have any questions, contact Grants & Contracts Administration at 777.4151 or UND.grantcontracts@research.und.edu.

~Trinity Bohlman, Cost/Compliance Analyst, UND Budget Office

UND Research News: UND Honored for Contributions to Building the Family Medicine Workforce

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:28:09 -0400

Twelve medical schools that have contributed the most to the pipeline of family physicians were honored when the American Academy of Family Physicians presented its Top Ten Awards during the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Annual Spring Conference. The awards recognize schools that, during a consecutive three-year period, graduate the greatest percentage of students who chose first-year family medicine residency positions. Known as the Top Ten Awards, this year’s recognition was expanded to 12 schools to accommodate the growth in the number of geographically separated medical school campuses.

The University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences is in a virtual tie with two other medical schools for the largest percentage of the graduating class going into family medicine at 20.5 percent. The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University is first at 20.9 percent. At a time when the United States is facing a shortage of primary care physicians, filling the pipeline is vital to the health of America, according to A.A.F.P. President Jeff Cain, M.D.

“Family physicians are the foundation of primary care,” Cain said. “Theirs is the only specialty in which all physicians are trained to provide primary care. Research has consistently shown that more than six in ten people who have a usual source of health care say a family physician provides that care. The expertise of family physicians becomes even more important to people who have serious and chronic health conditions.”

Americans make more office visits to family physicians than any other medical specialty, and family physicians provide care for patients who have a sore throat, patients who need stitches, and patients who have multiple, complex conditions such as diabetes with congestive heart failure.

Research has shown family physicians are the usual source of care for more than six in ten patients with anxiety, depression or diabetes; six in ten patients with cancer, and nearly six in ten patients with heart disease.

“These 12 medical schools have demonstrated their consistent commitment to meeting the nation’s need for family physicians,” said Cain. “I commend them, their leadership and their faculty for helping to ensure that Americans have access to the care they need.”

Stan Kozakowski, M.D., A.A.F.P. Director of Medical Education agreed. “Initiatives at the medical school level are invaluable to increasing the number of students who choose family medicine for their specialty,” he said. “Admissions policies, academic and clinical experience with family physicians, and rural medicine tracks have significant influence on students’ choices.”

He noted that 2013 is the third consecutive year that six of the AAFP’s Top Ten schools—the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University; the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences; the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University; the University of New Mexico School of Medicine; the University of Kansas School of Medicine; and the University of Washington School of Medicine—have been cited as a Top Ten school.

“This says much about their focus on educating students to meet the needs of the nation,” Kozakowski said.

Top Ten Award schools employ several initiatives that support students who are interested in and most likely to become family physicians. Those initiatives include student outreach, admissions policies that target students from rural and medically underserved areas, clinical rotations that emphasize positive experiences in family medicine, faculty involvement in medical school committees, strong family medicine interest groups, and financial aid packages that minimize student debt.

The UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences has several unique programs designed to educate students about the benefits of family medicine. The nationally recognized Rural Opportunities in Medical Education (ROME) program places third-year medical students in several rural communities in North Dakota for a seven-month rotation. In 2010, the UND SMHS signed its first RuralMed Scholar; currently there are 13 students enrolled in the program. The goal of the RuralMed Scholarship Program is to recruit, educate and retain physicians who will practice family medicine in rural North Dakota. The program absorbs the tuition costs for all four years of medical school for students who agree to practice family medicine in a rural area of North Dakota for five years.

The 2013 award recipients and their percentage of graduates entering family medicine are as follows:
• The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University—20.9%.
• University of Kansas School of Medicine—20.8%.
• University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences—20.5%.
• Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine—20.1%.
• Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University—18.5%.
• University of New Mexico School of Medicine—18.3%.
• University of Minnesota Medical School—17.3%.
• University of Arizona College of Medicine—17.2%.
• University of Washington School of Medicine—17.2%.
• Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine—16.1%.
• University of California-Davis School of Medicine—15.8%.
• University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine—15.4%.

Family medicine physicians are the most sought after specialty in rural North Dakota; 89 percent of the counties in North Dakota are partially or fully designated by the federal government as a primary care physician shortage area.

“We are very pleased to be recognized as one of the nation’s most effective medical schools in encouraging students to pursue the specialty of family medicine,” said Joshua Wynne, M.D., M.B.A., M.P.H., UND Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of the UND SMHS. “We are working hard to address North Dakota’s need for physicians and other health care workers, especially those in the field of family medicine, through our Health Care Workforce Initiative. Although our percentage is among the best in the country, the small size of our class means that we still don’t produce enough family physicians for the needs of the region. That’s why we are so pleased that the Legislature has funded an increase in our class sizes, which will enable us to produce even more of the health care providers that North Dakota needs.”

Ashley Bentley and Leslie Champlin with the American Academy of Family Physicians contributed to this article.

Contact: Denis MacLeod, assistant director, Office of Alumni and Community Relations, UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences, (701) 777-2733, denis.macleod@med.und.edu

UND Research News: Jaako Putkonen

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:41:04 -0400

Geology and Geological Engineering - "Transantarctic Mountains Science Meeting" - $73,157

UND Research News: Space Studies to Participate in High-Altitude Balloon Launch with West Fargo Students May 17

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:00:48 -0400

UND Space Studies students and faculty will be working alongside first and seventh-grade student teams to launch and track two high-altitude balloons Friday, May 17, from the Red River Valley Fairgrounds in West Fargo, N.D.

The High-Altitude Balloon Launch is sponsored by the North Dakota Space Grant Consortium. The public is encouraged to attend and observe the launch. This launch is completely dependent on weather.

Balloon competition

High-altitude balloons are fun, inexpensive and increasingly popular tools to put experiments in a near-space environment. Students will attach payloads (containers holding experiments), along with a ham radio, GPS tracker, radar reflector and a parachute, to a latex balloon filled with helium.

As the balloon rises, the atmospheric pressure drops and the balloon expands. At a certain point in the stratosphere, the balloon can no longer stretch and it pops. As it falls back to Earth, the parachute deploys. Ham radio operators track the balloon as it descends to Earth. After continuously following the balloon’s trajectory with tracking equipment, the chase teams pinpoint the balloon’s final landing destination.

Balloon launch

This is the first launch to include multiple payloads from seventh-grade teams at the STEM Center Middle School in West Fargo. The plan is to launch two balloons from the Red River Valley Fairgrounds. UND is launching a Go-Pro camera to record the entirety of the flight.

The seventh-grade students have been designing their own science experiments throughout the school year and will be launching the high altitude balloons alongside first-grade students.

Space Studies students and faculty will join the student teams in tracking the balloons. They will retrieve the balloons once they descend, usually a couple of hours after launch.

~ David L. Dodds, media relations/writer and editor, University and Public Affairs, 777.5529, david.dodds@UND.edu