Space for research has been tight at California State University-Northridge, but the squeeze should loosen with a new 10,000-square-foot research building set to come online in the fall. The building, which just broke ground, will house two academic research teams on topics at opposite ends of the spectrum. Professors and students in one half of the building will study materials science, while those in the other half will focus on understanding health disparities and why they exist in different groups of people. To show its commitment to research, CSUN will hire three professors and bring on 50 new research students dedicated to each of the two topics, said Associate Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies Crist Khachikian. “We did a space study a couple of years ago that showed we have a lack of research-specific space for students and faculty to do their work,” Khachikian said. “We’re also looking to hire faculty to do more research work, especially for those (topics) that attract research funding.” Materials sciences research will likely involve computer-based molecular modeling, while the health disparities group work will be clinical, he added. Two factors are driving the need for the new building. One is that last year, the journal Nature named CSUN one of the top 25 rising stars for scientific research, joining prestigious research facilities such as Stanford University in Stanford, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa. and NASA. Second, the university received a $22 million grant in 2014 from the National Institutes of Health to help create a more diverse group of students researching health, behavioral and biomedical sciences. CSUN extended that to include health disparities. “One of best ways to make something sustainable is to create space for it,” Khachikian said. The grant funds the training of undergraduate students in health-related research. One example of a possible research study would be why obesity targets certain groups of people more than others, Khachikian explained. Health research is also good for the university because it attracts those in other fields, such as social sciences and psychology. “If we can get more diverse students into the medical field, we can hopefully address medical disparity,” he said. – Carol Lawrence
