Doing Translational Research

Shopping experiences in beauty retail stores are often imagined as frivolous, temporary pursuits of pleasure. Yet, from the perspective of millennial Black women, and in the context of predominantly Black neighborhoods, the consumer experience is impacted by issues related to representation, location, and ownership. Reed’s work revolves around the historical and cultural relevance of the Black beauty supply store and how to improve beauty retail store design and community and business partnerships. Reed is an assistant research professor in the Department of Fiber Science & Apparel Design. Her primary research interest is in millennial Black women’s beauty culture and beauty retail spaces. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on connecting human geography, feminist studies, and merchandising in the fashion, apparel, and textile industries.

Misha Inniss-Thompson says we should listen to young people — in particular, young Black girls — for their lived experiences which can help shape school policies and create real safe spaces in schools. Inniss-Thompson’s work revolves around the impact of families, communities, and schools in shaping Black girls’ mental health and wellness using a cultural-assets perspective. She has also done research on trends in nationwide school discipline disparities that impact Black girls. Inniss-Thompson is an assistant research professor in the Department of Psychology at Cornell University.

When a policy is implemented, the intended purpose of it is important but what about the unintended actions or consequences of that policy? Jamein Cunningham looks at the impact that historical programs from the 1960s and 1970s have had on the socioeconomic conditions of Black Americans. Cunningham is an assistant professor in the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy. His research agenda consists of four broad overarching themes focusing on the intersectionality of institutional discrimination, access to social justice, crime and criminal justice, and race and economic inequality. He is a faculty affiliate at the Cornell Population Center and holds professional memberships in the American Economic Association, the Southern Economic Association, the American Law and Economics Association, the Racial Democracy, Crime, and Justice Network and the National Economic Association.

Translating research can take a long time. How do you help speed up the process? Melody Goodman says you should bring in the non-academic stakeholders that will benefit from your research. Melody Goodman is associate dean for research and professor of biostatistics at the School of Global Public Health at New York University. Dr. Melody Goodman’s efforts seek to understand the social risk factors that contribute to health disparities in urban areas, with the goal of developing culturally competent, region-specific, and evidence-based solutions through collaborative activities with community members, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, and other community health stakeholders. The purpose of her work is the development of solutions for improving health in minority and medically underserved communities.

Janis Whitlock is research scientist emerita at the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research at Cornell, and founder/director of the Cornell Research Program on Self-injury and Recovery. While Whitlock is retiring from Cornell, it's more of a transition, where she will continue the work she has been doing.

Dr. Renata M. Leitão is a Brazilian/Canadian design researcher with eleven years of experience in collaborative projects with Indigenous and marginalized communities. Dr. Leitão holds a PhD in Environmental Design and a MASc in Design & Complexity (Université de Montréal). In this episode, Dr. Leitão discusses the importance of intercultural translation, including how academics and researchers can connect with the communities they are working with.

Dr. Adam Hoffman is an assistant professor of psychology in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University. His research focuses on how ethnic, racial, and gender identities develop during adolescence and how they affect academic motivation and achievement, well-being and mental health. Hoffman also investigates how social identities can be leveraged to promote positive youth development. Hoffman shares with host Tony Burrow about his research with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and how he was able to engage with them for his research.

Dr. Laura Bellows is an associate professor in the division on nutritional sciences, after spending 20 years at Colorado State University. Her research is focused on the development of eating habits and physical activity patterns in early childhood; interventions in the early care setting; and the influence of parental behaviors and the home environment on the development of these behaviors.  Much of her work is focused on health disparate populations, including those with limited resources, who are Latino, and living in rural communities. Additionally, Dr. Bellows has worked with an interdisciplinary food systems team contributing expertise in diet quality, food security, the food environment and rural communities. Dr. Bellows has been awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) by President Barack Obama, and the Society of Nutrition Education and Behavior’s Mid-Career Award.  She serves as an associate editor for the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Ph

This episode we hear from Deborah Sellers, director of research and evaluation for the Residential Child Care Project (RCCP) in the BCTR. Much of RCCP's work involves training staff in residential facilities and schools worldwide to respond to traumatized children in crisis without further traumatizing the child. Through her work in RCCP, Sellers helps design research studies that answer the right questions to guide decisions and uses data to evaluate how facilities can improve child safety. Deborah Sellers is director of research and evaluation for the Residential Child Care Project (RCCP) in the Bonfenbrenner Center for Translational Research. She facilitates research and evaluation activities in RCCP by identifying new avenues for research, supporting the development of new proposals, monitoring and/or assisting with data collection, processing, and analyses, and writing manuscripts for publication. Dr. Sellers also oversees the data collection efforts associated with the implementation of RCCP's Children

Laura Tach and Elizabeth Day of Cornell Project 2Gen join Tony to talk about two-generation approaches to helping families thrive. They discuss why addressing the needs of both children and adults in a single family is a more effective way to create positive outcomes. Project 2Gen has extensive connections in communities and the court system. These partners have helped form the research that then benefits vulnerable families. Laura Tach is an sssociate professor of policy analysis and management and sociology (by courtesy) at Cornell University. Her research and teaching interests focus on poverty and social policy. Together with Rachel Dunifon, she co-directs Cornell Project 2Gen, an initiative of the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research. Project 2Gen serves as a hub for research, policy and practice that supports vulnerable caregivers and children together. Elizabeth Day is assistant director for policy engagement for Cornell Project 2Gen and an engaged learning associate with the Cornell In

Tony welcomes Jutta Dotterweich to reflect on her career with Act for Youth. Jutta retired in June after 22 years with the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research. Jutta received her MA in Psychology, Westfaelische Wilhelms University in Muenster, Germany in 1979. She has years of professional, community-based experience in the mental health and human services field in New York State and New Jersey. Jutta started as an Extension Associate at the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research in 1999; working with centers on training and curriculum development in the areas of collaboration, community building, positive youth development, adolescent sexual and mental health, and implementation science.

This is the debut episode of the new BCTR director Tony Burrow! Tony welcomes Patrick Hill, who studies how individuals consider and ultimately commit to a purpose for life. Hill notes that we all face difficult times where we have to decide who we are and where we want to go. He's interested in helping people find direction at times of uncertainty by determining what the best choices are for them by identifying their own direction in life. He and Tony also discuss the lifespan perspective of his work and his current research in retirement communities. Patrick Hill is an associate professor of psychological and brain sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. His research focuses on understanding how dispositional traits predict and shape trajectories of healthy aging. Hill's current research is interested in how individuals explore options for and ultimately commit to a purpose for life, and how having a sense of purpose predicts important life outcomes. In addition, he examines the lifespan developmen

In Chris' final episode as Doing Translational Research host and director of the BCTR, he talks to his friend and colleague Andrew Papachristos, a professor of sociology doing translational criminology. How can social science help identify who will become a victim of gun violence and how to best intervene? Chris and Andy discuss this as well as Andy's path to academia, the biggest barrier in translational work and Andy's approach to mentoring graduate students. Andrew V. Papachristos is a professor of sociology and the director of the Northwestern Neighborhood & Network Initiative. Papachristos aims to understand how the connected nature of cities—how their citizens, neighborhoods and institutions are tied to one another—affect what we feel, think, and do. His main research applies network science to the study of gun violence, police misconduct, illegal gun markets, Al Capone, street gangs and urban neighborhoods. He is also in the process of completing a manuscript on the evolution of black street gangs

Chris welcomes Lauren Brinkley-Rubenstein, assistant professor of social medicine at the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill. Their wide-ranging conversation covers: the definition of social medicine, how COVID-19 more greatly impacts people in prisons and jails*, of course they cover her work with community partners, and there's a ghost named Kim. Yes, a ghost. *This episode was recorded in May, so covid numbers mentioned will have changed since then. Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein is an assistant professor of social medicine at the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill, as well as a core faculty member in the UNC Center for Health Equity Research. Dr. Brinkley-Rubinstein’s research focuses on how incarceration can impact health outcomes. She is the PI of a recently funded NIMHD R01 cohort study relevant to pre-exposure prophylaxis among people on probation and parole and the MPI of a NIDA Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network Clinical Research Center grant that will include the implementation an

This month we hear from our own Jane Powers, project director of ACT for Youth. Jane and Chris get into the history and work of ACT, changing communities to be better environments for young people, building capacity in practitioners, the strength of partnerships with diverse perspectives and Jane's life examining adolescent development. Jane Powers, Ph.D. is a researcher based at Cornell University's Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research. She is project director for Assets Coming Together (ACT) for Youth Center for Community Action which connects youth development research to practice, provides training and technical support, evaluation assistance and resources to communities and youth serving programs across New York State. Her research expertise includes positive youth development, child abuse and neglect, youth homelessness, violence prevention and program evaluation. She is interested in the application of knowledge to practice, and in translating research to improve environments for children

In our first episode recorded in coronavirus separation, Chris speaks with Tasseli McKay, a social science researcher in the division for applied justice research at Research Triangle International. They discuss the most common acts of violence: partner violence; and the interplay of family violence in the context of mass incarceration. Tasseli notes how government systems, often at odds with each other, economically hobble families and are dangerous in other ways. They discuss how programs need to understand the different causes of violence and design programs accordingly. Tasseli also praises her community partners' vast knowledge, which makes her work possible and meaningful. Tasseli McKay is a social science researcher with more than a decade of experience in public health research. Ms.McKay’s research examines intimate partner violence in marginalized communities, couple and family relationships in the context of justice system involvement and strategies for improving health coverage and access to care

This episode Chris is joined by Emily Wang of Yale's Health Justice Lab, a collaborative, innovative interdisciplinary team focused on improving the health of individuals and communities who have been affected by mass incarceration. They discuss her work with incarcerated and recently-incarcerated patients; how the transition from incarceration to home is a particularly health-harming time; getting buy in from patients; evaluating programs; and the joy her work brings her. Dr. Emily Wang, MD, MAS, is an associate professor in the Yale School of Medicine and directs the Health Justice Lab. The Lab has run studies ranging from the epidemiology of incarceration and cardiovascular health to mitigating the community impact of gun violence using a participatory approach and assets based framework. Dr. Wang has cared for thousands of individuals with a history of incarceration and is co-founder of the Transitions Clinic Network (TCN), a growing consortium of 30 community health centers nationwide dedicated to carin

This month's guest is the BCTR's own Martha Holden, director of the Residential Child Care Project (RCCP). She and Chris discuss her years of studying, and training care workers, how to keep children in care safe and healthy. They cover how power struggles escalate, working with state agencies and facilities, working with children with trauma and RCCP's internationally-used training programs. Martha J. Holden is a senior extension associate with the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research and the director of the Residential Child Care Project. As project director, she provides technical assistance to implement CARE, a program model for residential child caring agencies, Therapeutic Crisis Intervention System to residential and educational organizations, training programs in violence prevention, and a program in the Investigation of Institutional Maltreatment, throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and Israel. Throughout her career, Ms. Holden has been studying

Do we recognize our influence on others? Vanessa Bohn's research suggests we underestimate it. This episode she and Chris discuss social influence and the psychology of compliance and consent. Issues around consent and compliance arise in our romantic relationships, work life and interactions with law enforcement, to name a few, and we're not always consciously aware when they're in play. Vanessa Bohns is an associate professor in the Department of Organizational Behavior at Cornell University, Her research focuses broadly on social influence and the psychology of compliance and consent. In particular, she examines the extent to which people recognize the influence they have over others in various interpersonal interactions, including when asking for help, encouraging one’s peers to engage in questionable behaviors and making romantic advances. Some of her additional research interests include prosocial behavior, perspective-taking and self-conscious emotions. Doing Translational Research is produced by Car

Ever since postal systems arose, people have engaged in distance learning. But how are digital technologies impacting learning contexts? This month's guest René Kizilcec discusses his work in this area, including massive online open courses (MOOCs): who uses them, what are they learning and do MOOCs improve access to knowledge? Chris and René also touch on whether digital learning perpetuates achievement gaps along race and gender lines or narrows them. René Kizilcec is an assistant professor in the School of Computing and Information Science at Cornell University, where he directs the Future of Learning Lab. His research is on the impact of digital technologies in formal and informal learning contexts and scalable interventions to broaden participation, raise academic performance and reduce achievement gaps. Kizilcec is known for his research in Learning Analytics on understanding and supporting learners in open-scale courses such as Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs. He also works on developing methods