Physical Plant Improvement

As a small but growing HBCU, Central State University has depended on external sources to provide critical resources necessary to conduct research.  The CADRE project is providing some of the resources that our faculty and students need, to increase our research capacity.  Construction is slated to begin on a new 41,000, sq. ft. building that will house our Department of Natural Sciences and our physical plant aims in the CADRE project will complement the construction of this building.  The CADRE project will devote 34 percent of the overall budget to physical plant improvement activities which include:

·         Animal Care Facility

·         Psychology Testing Lab

·         Human Exercise and Performance Lab

·         Geospatial Database Center for Minority Health Disparities

Animal Care Facility

An animal care facility is basic to any health care research.  This 900 square foot secured area in the new DNS facility will house small animals (mice, rats, snakes) for classroom and research use.  It will have carefully controlled environmental conditions (light, humidity, temperature). This area would have shared usage with anyone on campus performing animal studies and would provide a site not only for animal storage, but also for animal experimentation. 

Psychology Testing Laboratory

The PTL lab enables us to infuse research directly into our curriculum and assist our students to better prepare for post-graduate education. The Psychology Testing Laboratory will facilitate:

·        Developing student professional skills

·        Conducting psychological research

·        Conducting counseling, testing, and observation research

·        Studying examples of alternative medicine: mind-body therapies, hypnosis, relaxation training, and meditation and spiritual healing as forms of health treatments that promote wellness among minorities

Human Exercise and Performance Lab

The academic purpose of developing a Human Exercise and Performance Laboratory (HEPL) would enable CSU to provide the laboratory support for a number of our professional health education and physical education courses.

The goal of HEPL is to build the research and educational capacity in the area of physical fitness, wellness, and disease prevention; especially as it relates to obesity, hypertension, and type II diabetes.  The purpose of this training and research infrastructure is threefold: education, fitness testing, and investigation. The lab and its staff will facilitate the development of courses in exercise physiology, fitness assessment, and physiological adaptations to training and physical inactivity. 

Geospatial Database Center for Minority Health Disparities

Internet assessments and distributions of georeferenced public health information are crucial for the health services as well as the individual users. The internet is becoming the most effective medium for information distribution; additionally, ArcIMS and ArcGIS Server make GIS analysis possible for health applications over the internet. The center will implement the server for public health data for internet access and host the analysis modules and models on the server so as to “Create a GIS application once and reuse it in many different ways”. 

The Geospatial Database Center (GDBC) will enable CSU to:

·         Establish a working relationship with geospatial scientists from NIH

·         Establish interdisciplinary GIS related courses in GIS applications in public health and in geospatial research methods for public health

·         Establish a pilot research program using GIS for studying environmental health parameters affecting minorities