Clockwise from top right: Connie White, Sean Flanagan, Debra Malmberg, George Youssef, Marcia Henry, Rafi Efrat, Frances Gateward and Clement Lai. Photos by Lee Choo.

The eight faculty selected for California State University, Northridge’s 2012-13 Research Fellows Program will present their research on Wednesday, Oct. 16, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Delmar T. Oviatt Library’s Jack and Florence Ferman Presentation Room.

From an exploration on how joints work together during human movement to the development of educational programs for parents of children on the autism spectrum, the fellows’ eclectic projects aim to offer fresh and relevant insights into a variety of disciplines.

“The Research Fellows program allows CSUN faculty to work on projects that are dear to their hearts and channel their enthusiasm for their research questions,” said Marianne Afifi, associate dean of the Oviatt Library. “Being selected by one’s peers in the college as a Research Fellow is an appointment of distinction and honor. The benefits of this program are twofold: one, faculty members benefit by being able to devote time for creative research and problem solving, working alone or with colleagues in their field of expertise, and expanding their research. Secondly, the CSUN community and the research community at large benefit by having the research results available widely.”

The Research Fellows program was founded in 2007 and is funded collaboratively by the CSUN Office of the Provost, the university’s colleges and the Oviatt Library. It is a competitive program, available to all tenured and tenure-tracked faculty. Selected fellows are given the opportunity to pursue and conduct fascinating research or creative works during the school year.

Following are the eight selected research fellows and their respective projects:

Rafi Efrat (Accounting and Information Systems) – Efrat’s research topic is “The Use of Refundable Tax Credits to Increase Low-Income Children’s After-School Physical Activity Level.” He has conducted a new approach for combating childhood obesity rates among low-income children by examining the potential impact tax incentives might have on their participation in organized after-school physical activity.

Sean Flanagan (Kinesiology) – Flanagan’s “Multi Joint Synergies” project explored the way joints function as small “teams” and how performance may be impeded or an injury can occur even though each joint technically has the capacity to accomplish its task. His research explored how joints work together during human movement and form synergies, and the consequences of these synergies for performance and injury risk.

Frances Gateward (Cinema and Television Arts) – Gateward will present her research on the work of African-American women film directors within the contexts of the changing social, political and cultural climates in which their works were produced, linking the films to broader ideological developments in American culture that the films articulate and disrupt.

Marcia Henry (Reference and Instructional Services) – Henry’s research topic is “Mapping the Gerontological Nursing Literature.” She, along with two colleagues, will present their citation analysis of cited references in leading geriatric nursing journals. Bibliometric studies help libraries make evidence-based purchasing decisions. Her study is part of an ongoing, collaborative research project with the Nursing and Allied Health Resource Section (NAHRS) of the Medical Library Association.

Clement Lai (Asian American Studies) – Lai will present his research project entitled “The Difference that Difference Makes: Uncovering California’s Multiracial Past, Living California’s Multiracial Future.” He examined the effects of urban renewal policy on neighboring African Americans and Japanese Americans in San Francisco’s Fillmore District between 1940 and 1980.

Debra Malmberg (Psychology) – Malmberg will present the research she conducted on parents who learn behavioral strategies, with the daily help of behavioral analysts, to facilitate their children’s language development in natural settings.

Connie White (Elementary Education) – White’s research topic is “Exploring New Possibilities: Struggling Readers and Their Parents Bridging the Gap Between Digital and Traditional Literacies.” Her research will address the disparity in current school discourses and practices that are found to marginalize English-language learners and children from low socioeconomic backgrounds.

George Youssef (Mechanical Engineering) – Youssef studied the causal transfer function of biomechanics and muscle forces of human walking. He will present his research on how to formulate an overall causal transfer function that relates the ground reaction force during walking to the mechanical forces and accelerations on the tibia and femur, and to the forces in the muscles.

Visit the Research Fellows web page for more information about the program or call (818) 677-2271.  

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