Student Research
Health and Human Performance Graduate student, Ms. Paloma Mendoza, won 2nd Place in UTRGV's Graduate Research Symposium.
Paloma Mendoza, a graduate student from the Exercise Science Master’s Program, received 2nd place at the Graduate Research Symposium, February 2018 with her “UTRGV Freshman Study – Cohort I” presentation. Paloma’s study is the first Hispanic Freshman Study to investigate the changes in weight, body composition (BC), hemodynamics, blood chemistry, and diet in Hispanic freshman students. |
Previous freshman research studies found that during freshman year, students gain between 4 and 9 pounds along with a decline in physical activity level. This weight gain is commonly known as the “Freshman 15”, referring that on average weight gain during freshmen year of 15 lbs. (6.8 kg)
Paloma’s mentor Dr. Ulku Karabulut is from Health and Human Performance Department
Exercise Science Student Research
Dr. Murat Karabulut revised the format of one of the classes (KINE 3160 Exercise Testing and Prescription) in order to link scholarship with learning to provide opportunity for students to test their knowledge, discover relationships between health related independent and dependent variables, and gain more hands on experience. In his class, he guides his students to explore the literature and find a unique health issue or problem to investigate. Students also go through online training to learn about ethics, Belmont report, the Federal regulations etc. to obtain necessary knowledge and certification to perform a research study. They perform real IRB approved research studies and present findings of the research studies in local, regional, and national conferences and symposiums.