Web Series To Highlight Wellness Research

At NC State, wellness is not just a goal for students, staff and faculty, it’s increasingly a wide-open field of study.

Beginning Friday, the University Wellness Advisory Committee will air a monthly web series about the various kinds of wellness research done by NC State faculty and programs across campus, with the hopes to create awareness about that research, to learn about the variety of wellness topics and to identify potential collaborations for future wellness research.

“One of the goals of our committee’s strategic plan is to promote wellness research at NC State,” says Suzie Goodell, committee member and associate professor of nutrition.

“When discussing the best way to promote that research, the team thought having a web series would be a fun and engaging way to share that information.”

Each half-hour episode will include 20 minutes of questions from Goodell, followed by 10 minutes of questions from the audience. The program is targeted for NC State graduate students, faculty and staff, but it will also be of interest to undergraduates, alumni and the broader local community.

Goodell says the series will reach across disciplinary lines to promote topics of wellness research, including public recreation, nutritional wellness and sustainability. The series is an initiative of the Wellness Advisory Committee, but also has support from Wellness and Recreation and NC State University Libraries. Multiple colleges are represented on the committee.

“Our goal is to have all colleges represented over time,” Goodell says.

The program will air live at 2 p.m. every third Friday, beginning March 19. Learn more and join the livestream from the university calendar.

The series kicks off with associate professor of community health and sustainability Aaron Hipp from the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management and the Center for Geospatial Analytics.

An expert in social ecology, Hipp researches how access to public spaces such as parks and community greenways impact health and wellness behaviors. He uses emerging technologies and crowdsourcing methods to study those environments and how they impact community health behaviors.

“I’m really interested in active living, how we get people to move more throughout each day and how we ensure access to safe, enjoyable environments to move in,” Hipp says. “I’m also really interested in measurement, both of the environment and of the activity.

“One area of my research is the measurement of people in the space, including the number of people who are there, when they are present and just how active they are, whether running, walking or cycling.”

Upcoming Programs

April 16
Mary Haskett, Psychology
Topic: Food insecurity and homelessness

May 21
Randy Jirtle, Biological Sciences
Topic: Epigenetics

June 18
Nilda Cosco, Natural Learning Initiative
Topic: Preventing obesity by design

July 16
Sid Thakur, Population Health and Pathobiology
Topic: Antimicrobial resistance

Aug. 20
Kari Lewis, Health and Exercise Studies
Topic: Exercise for students with ADHD