2015 Community Based Undergraduate Research Grants Recipients

Student Researchers:  Rachel Carle, Willa Sweeney, and Josh Wayt
Faculty Advisor: David Edmunds
Community Partner: Alive
In collaboration with the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux tribe in Sisseton, South Dakota, this team will prepare a well-researched and credible community center programming plan. Our efforts are two-fold: first, to identify opportunities for economic self-sustainability within the community center as a means to strengthen tribal sovereignty. Second, this team will examine ways to create spaces that both strengthen tribal culture and remain accessible to the geographic community beyond tribal ties.

Student Researchers: Caroline Herre, Vanessa Ehrenpreis, Maeve Curtin, Gina Digiantonio, and Grace Sheridan
Faculty Advisor:  Eileen Merritt
Community Partner: Burnley-Moran Elementary City Schoolyard Garden
This study will build upon the “Healthy Habits” environmental after-school club at Burnley-Moran and further measure the impacts of the club’s curriculum through the development of a handbook. Healthy Habits aims to encourage environmental stewardship, healthy lifestyles, and physical activity through the use of a schoolyard garden and nature.  To expand the program beyond just an after school-club and into part of the school’s everyday curriculum, we will develop a handbook and parallel online resources for teachers and staff.

Student Researchers:  Kelsey Hunt and Makayla Palazzo
Faculty Advisor: Jon Goodall
Community Partner: REDDOM
Following the success of two previous JPC projects, demand for clean water has increased in the community of El Corozo in the Dominican Republic. This JPC team will expand access to the existing pipeline and work to further increase the availability of clean drinking water supplied to the community, using a holistic approach that addresses specific community concerns.

Student Researchers: Dana Lueker and Meredith Stuhlman
Faculty Advisor: David Burt
Community Partner: UVA Guatemala Initiative and Charlottesville Latino Health Providers
To address the health disparities and inequalities that affect the Latino community, we will design educational modules on various health care topics that community health promoters in Charlottesville can then use. The project will focus on EyE presentations to be given at a variety of locations, including churches, shopping centers, and community centers, by community health promoters. We will assess the efficacy of these presentations by collecting data before and after presentations.

Student Researchers:  Callie Johnson and Chris Winstead-Derlega
Faculty Advisor: Karen Ingersoll
Community Partner: Community Health in Limpopo (CHIL)
This project will expand on our established partnerships through developing, facilitating, and evaluating a motivational interviewing (MI) intervention for community health workers (CHWs) in the Limpopo province of South Africa. Responding to a community request, our team hopes to increase the use and quality of MI during CHW-patient interactions. This meets the project’s long-term goals to assess patient health outcomes as they relate to the burden of chronic disease.

Student Researchers: Alice Xie and Aubrey Doede
Faculty Advisor: Cathy Campbell
Community Partner: University of Venda and Vhembe District Department of Health
This project aims to explore management of diabetes and hypertension in a nurse-led, community-based health center in Limpopo province, South Africa. It will evaluate and build on the training community health workers (CHWs) received from the 2013 and 2014 CHIL projects.