Dearborn Nursing Student Joins Wayne State University Research Team

Eight Wayne State University undergraduate nursing students are gaining unique insight about the research field thanks to a $40,000 grant awarded to the university’s College of Nursing and School of Medicine from the National Institute of Nursing Research of the National Institutes of Health.

The “Socio-behavior Training and Research (STAR) Program,” led by Dr. Xiaoming Li, professor of pediatrics and director of the Pediatric Prevention Research Center in the School of Medicine, and Nancy Artinian, associate dean for research and director of the Office for Health Research in the College of Nursing, will provide participants with skills and experiences not offered at the undergraduate level. In doing so, Artinian says, the students will have a more successful transition to research work environments or graduate studies sooner rather than later.

“Now is the time to get them excited about research and expose them to the many possibilities available in the field of nursing,” Artinian said. “We don’t want them to get to a doctorate level and find out that it is too late for a research career.”

An important goal for the program is to attract nursing students to doctoral education at an earlier age. Research has found that the median age of graduates receiving doctorate degrees is 47 years. Earlier engagement would result in increased years for productive teaching and research.

Amber Buchholz of Dearborn Heights is among the eight students chosen to participate in the eight-week program. She will be paired with a faculty member of the College of Nursing and the School of Medicine’s Pediatric Prevention Research Center.

Buchholz will spend 20 hours a week between laboratory and field work while attending seminars and topical workshops relative to socio-behavioral health research and career development.

The experience introduces workshop participants to every facet of research, from determining focus groups to recruiting participants and collecting and analyzing data. The students receive a $3,000 stipend for their participation in the program, to which they were accepted through a competitive application process.

Buchholz said she is excited to be selected to assist with research on a host of health topics including juvenile diabetes, asthma, HIV, immunization rates and cancer, and said the experience is opening up a wealth of opportunities.

Students are developing their own abstract studies for submission to research conferences and events such as the college’s Research Day or the annual WSU Undergraduate Research Conference. Several are pursuing the publication of their work in research journals, Artinian said.