From the Offices of Research, Innovation, and Economic Development presents:

The LENS

Wednesday, January 22nd, 2025

Fall 2024 Principal Investigator Reception

Wednesday, November 13th

This event was held to honor the faculty and staff PIs and project directors who have been awarded external funding over the last year. This celebration of their research, scholarship, and creative activity success was be hosted by Academic Affairs and the Offices of Research, Innovation, and Economic Development. In addition, President Luke Wood was in attendance to recognize the PIs with a toast.

There were an outstanding 134 attendees this year! Compared to the previous year, that's nearly double the number of attendees. We would like to thank Dr. Wood for an amazing speech and toast about the importance of our faculty PIs, Co-PIs, RCA Awardees, RESG Awardees, and everyone in between. This event could not have been a success without your hard word and dedication. We look forward to hosting you next year, keeping in mind your helpful and noteworthy feedback.

ORIED Lunch and Learn Series

First Lunch and Learn in Partnership with The University Library - November 6th!

ORIED hosted its new “Lunch & Learn” series, which featured informal discussions around topics associated with research and creative scholarship in partnership with various campus units that support faculty and students in research and creative scholarship. The first Lunch & Learn, jointly sponsored by ORIED and the University Library, was held on Wednesday, November 6th from 12pm -1:30pm in the Faculty Seminar Room in Library room 1522, and focused on open access publishing, highlighting how the University Library supports faculty in making their research freely accessible.Attendees learned about resources such as APC funding and explored how the Library can assist throughout the entire publishing process.

Fall Research and Creative Activity Poster Forum

Student Research Center

The Fall Poster Forum was a resounding success, with nearly 300 attendees who came to support 100 of our student participants from various colleges. We are incredibly proud of the dedication our students demonstrated and deeply grateful to the faculty mentors who guided and encouraged their participation. We would also like to give thanks to President Wood for engaging with many of our participants and for expressing genuine pride for our scholars’ hard work.

Create, Make & Share Faire

Student Research Center

The Create, Make & Share Faire celebrated creativity and innovation, featuring a wide array of unique projects. Highlights included restored and re-created samurai armor, captivating paintings, ceramics, crocheted pieces, poetry, topical games, and original soundtracks. The event showcased the diverse talents and imaginative spirit of our campus community.

Lynn Tashiro

Director, Center for Teaching and Learning

"It takes a village!"

The focus of Dr. Tashiro's scholarship is to uncover and address systemic inequities in higher education, with a focus on faculty and student success at Sacramento State. Her passion for grant writing, and collaboration with colleagues across the University has resulted in the

receipt of over $12 million of grant funding to create equity programs and conduct research on their impact. Activities include student peer-to-peer programs to close student success equity gaps and a faculty learning community program that enables faculty to implement equitable evidence based teaching strategies. Dr. Tashiro and her team have also built research capacity to quantify the impact of these programs on student success and changes in the equity gap for underrepresented students.

"The goal is to produce top tier higher education research that is also relevant and applicable to our campus community. Our research team has reached a milestone this month, with large scale study on the impact of faculty professional development on student grades," Tashiro says. "The study has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, a Tier 1 research journal. This achievement will support Sacramento State’s aspiration to develop an identity as both a teaching and a research university."

When asked how Dr. Tashiro engages Sac State students in her work, she notes, "[Because] my job is focused on the professional development for faculty, I do not have much direct interaction with students. I do,however, center students in all of the teaching and learning programs for faculty. Over the various projects I have managed we have funded over 600 student jobs in peer-to-peer tutoring, mentoring, and ambassador programs. Our program impact research has both a student survey and focus group component."

Dr. Tashiro's scholarship work began in Physics with contributions to Physics education around integrating technology and inquiry based instruction, but she quickly became interested in teaching, learning, and technology beyond Physics. "More recently, my work has been in studying student success and equity in higher education. A major research contribution to the field of science teaching is a quantitative study of the impact of faculty professional development on student grades.Most research on faculty professional development on higher education is survey based and not correlated with student success indicators such as grades, making our study a unique contribution to the field."

The research Dr. Tashiro and her research team are engaged in will advance knowledge about the strategies that build capacity for change for equity in large institutions. Their work shows that effective and large scale professional development to identify and address structural inequities in institutions can produce measurable outcomes for an organization. "Our research will continue to identify critical components of profes-

-sional development that are necessary for measurable change. As the professional workforce increases in diversity, institutions, organizations, and businesses will be challenged to identify and address systemic inequities to retain talented employees and remain competitive in a rapidly changing workplace environment. Our work will contribute to understanding how to manage and measure systemic change for equity."

We asked Dr. Tashiro if she had any advice for new faculty in pursuing a research agenda here at Sacramento State. She says, "My advice would be, 'It takes a village!'. My PhD physics research felt like an all-consuming solitary journey through learning, failing, discovery, and persistence, and as a graduate student I was unaware of the vast infrastructure needed to support the research enterprise. Pursuing an education research agenda at Sac State required new skills and expertise. Our research team has evolved to include grant writers, financial analysts, accountants, administrative coordinators, qualitative and quantitative researchers, statisticians, computer coders, disciplinary experts, and technology and design consultants. The team members have amazing tenacity to navigate complex systems, critically reflect, and problem solve with grace under pressure. The growth of this team is a long time in the making and my advice would be to start with a few people, build relationships, and slowly build your team, or maybe you can be a part of ours!"

Christopher Rogers

Assistant Professor of Sociology

"We do this until we are all healthy and free.”

Dr. Christopher Rogers joins the Sociology Department as an Assistant Professor. His scholarship is rooted in Critical Race Theory (CRT) while integrating an abolitionist framework into all services, teaching, and scholarship efforts.

"I ground all actions I undertake with the hope of building community, creating knowledge, reducing structural harm, and innovating solutions and curriculum. In this way, my scholarly and research activities fall within two specific categories: Health & Liberation and Invention Education for Undergraduate Students (IvEUS)."

Dr. Rogers goes on to explain that Health and Liberation primarily centralizes reproductive health, rights, and laws as the site of liberation. He describes his research as 'inherently interdisciplinary', as it challenges various structures like the carceral, health, and education systems to formulate new worlds that reduce the structural harm of White Supremacy, Patriarchy, and Heteropatriarchy upon Black and Brown people.

"I often engage with undergraduate students in multiple IRB and grant-sponsored community engagement research projects. Our work takes us into communities to work with Black Doulas, Midwives, and LGBTQIA2S+ members. The broader impact of this category is to unravel how violence is enacted upon people and conceive of social, economic, and policy-oriented pathways that lead to our collective liberation."

The Invention Education for Undergraduate Students (IvEUS) is a project in partnership with the Lemelson-MIT (LMIT) program, administered by the School of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), CSUS College of Engineering & Computer Science, and Social Science & Interdisciplinary Studies; Carlsen Center; StingerStudio Makerspace; and The Office of Innovation & Technology Transfer. IvEUS aims to design courses where CSUS students can build original inventions that address systemic inequalities in their communities while fostering technical expertise and social awareness in STEM, social science, and entrepreneurship. IvEUS is dedicated to advancing equity, innovation, and opportunity in STEM and social

science education, intellectual property (IP), and entrepreneurship for underrepresented groups. Dr. Rogers and his team believe in the following core values: IvEUS plays a crucial role in promoting diversity in STEM fields, facilitating the development of solutions to global challenges, and supporting economic mobility for historically marginalized populations; Everyone and anyone can become an inventor.

Rogers says, "Embarking on the research path is to plant seeds of change and nurture them with diligence, vision, and courage." He encourages new faculty to know their purpose, build community, be unyielding in curiosity, balance fire with sustenance, and a steward of wonder.

Palisades Fire Resources

Provided by the Office of Economic Development

The Offices of Research, Innovation, and Economic Development would like to take a moment to acknowledge the tragedy and devastation that has occurred in Palisades, Los Angeles. This unfortunate event is on many people’s minds, and we would like to offer a few links to some resources. These resources can also be found on the Cal Fire website.

Mentorship: Promoting a Healthy Research Environment

Presented by Dr. Chevelle Newsome

A healthy research culture is a critical factor in conducting high-quality research. While approaches may vary, optimal research cultures are underpinned by collaboration, belonging, creativity, and support. Growing out of the national work on student success, learn about the set of recommendations and the pledge that advisors can sign to signal their commitment to promoting a healthy research environment. Join us for lunch and a lively discussion on how to cultivate a thriving research community, where students feel supported, motivated, and inspired to achieve their full potential.

For assistance, please contact oried-office@csus.edu.

This Lunch & Learn only has 25 spots available! Reserve your spot now to attend this event.

Developing an Oral Presentation Workshop

Student Research Center

Help your students strengthen their presentation skills, by encouraging them to sign up for our Developing an Oral Presentation workshop on Wednesday, February 12th from 4:30pm – 5:30pm. This workshop is packed with insightful tips on creating a compelling, professional presentation that is related to research, scholarship, and/or creative activity. This workshop will also help students that are preparing to compete in the upcoming 2025 Spring Symposium.

2025 Spring Symposium, March 5th

Student Research Center 

The Spring Symposium is fast approaching and we are thrilled to welcome applications from undergraduate and graduate students across all disciplines. Participants will deliver dynamic 10-minute presentations, competing within their respective fields. 1st and 2nd place winners receive monetary awards and professional development funds are awarded to their faculty mentors. This year, presentation time slots will be open to the campus community, providing a unique opportunity to observe academic presentations. We encourage you to support our scholarly students by attending and encouraging your classes to attend as well. If you are interested in a fun opportunity, please sign up below and serve as a faculty juror. You don’t want to miss this great competition! For questions contact student.research@csus.edu.

Protected Writing Time

Protected Writing Time provides a supportive, structured environment for scholarly writing. Faculty and staff are invited to use Protected Writing Time to focus on research, manuscript development, grant proposals, or other scholarly activities - whatever your research and creative activity agenda requires. Sessions will be held in Library Room 4026F (the Faculty Study) from 10am - 3pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Benefits:

Please reserve your seats for the semester below. If you have already reserved your seats for the semester, there is no need to do so every week. If you would like to have a record of the dates you reserved, or need to make corrections, please email oried-office@csus.edu for assistance.

Research and Proposal Development

Are you ready to apply for your first- or first in a while- external grant?

Such grants offer fantastic opportunities to support research and scholarly activities. Developing a strong, well-crafted proposal, however, requires significant effort and careful planning. Not only does this increase your chance of success, but will also build a positive reputation with the funder. It is important to be strategic, to put your best foot forward with your proposal, and to make the most of the opportunity for funding.

Key indicators that you are in a strong position to submit a competitive proposal for external funding include:

Please visit ORIED’s website for guidance or reach out to ORIED to discuss your submission plans and next steps!

For more information or inquiries, please contact the Offices of Research, Innovation and Economic Development below.

California State University, Sacramento
Offices of Research, Innovation and Economic Development
Library 2520, MS 6093
6000 J Street
Sacramento, CA 95819-6065
Phone: (916) 278-6402