Southern Miss Professor Leads Research with Undergraduate Students Support
Fri, 01/06/2012 - 09:54am | By: Van Arnold
Dr. Geoffrey Hudson, assistant professor of exercise science at The University of Southern Mississippi, has partnered with four undergraduate students on an important research project involving weight loss supplements.
The students – Bethany Boleware, Emily Buras, Lisa Knecht and Cody Tullos – are assisting Hudson on research for a private company that includes the testing of a weight loss nutritional supplement. The double-blind, four-month study relies on two sets of volunteers: a group receiving the dietary supplement and a group receiving a placebo.
Results are compiled using a variety of physiological tests and are used to determine the efficacy of the supplement. The students assist with body composition testing, dietary analysis, tracking of blood samples and analysis of the results.
“It is wonderful to have eager students get involved with research as undergraduates,” said Hudson. “They have been able to witness remarkable results from the study in which one participant lost as much as 60 pounds through a mix of diet and exercise.”
Boleware, Buras and Tullos plan to capitalize on the opportunity by presenting abstracts of their research next month at the Southeast United States chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine in Jacksonville, Fla.
For more information about research in the College of Health at Southern Miss, call 601.266.5253 or visit www.health@usm.edu