To help meet the School's growing commitment to research, the Center for Research & Education (CRE) was established in the Fall of 1987. Not only does the School of Nursing have a full complement of biomedical and data laboratories stocked with state-of-the-art equipment, the CRE is staffed with statisticians, systems analysts and programmers, and clerical personnel.
About Us
Systems analysts and programmers are available to provide network and systems support and data management and programming services. Experienced PhD-prepared statisticians are available to support the analysis of data generated from observational (cross-sectional/survey, prospective cohort and retrospective case-control), experimental/intervention, and meta-analytic studies.
In addition to providing methodological, statistical and data processing support for research, the CRE supports educational evaluation in the School of Nursing. Faculty statisticians serve as liaisons to the SON Evaluation Steering Committee, offering measurement, methodological and statistical consultation. CRE staff design and implement end of program surveys and process and analyze survey data collected from program graduates.
The CRE also houses the School of Nursing’s international visiting scholars. These short-term international faculty and students are offered all non-academic services in the CRE such as cubicle space, computers, phone, printers, and any other help pertaining to the logistics of their visit. The CRE administrator and assistant administrator both serve as the non-academic contact persons to the international visiting scholars.
The CRE of the School of Nursing also houses a computer lab for use by research faculty, research staff and doctoral students. The CRE Data Lab contains 8 Dell Pentium-class computers running Windows 10; black and white HP LaserJet printers, and a flatbed scanner (with document feeder) are also available and locally networked. Two additional Fujitsu scanners are dedicated to support data entry via optical scanning.
The CRE Data Lab contains current full-versions of the major statistical software packages (SAS, IBM SPSS, STATA, and S-Plus). Specialty statistical packages are also accessible in the lab, including Mplus, LISREL, EQS, and AMOS for structural equation modeling; HLM for hierarchical modeling; StatXact and LogXact for discrete data analyses with exact estimation methods; SOLAS for missing data description and imputation; and PASS for sample size estimation and power analysis. Popular qualitative analysis software are also available, including ATLAS.ti and Nvivo. Oracle, Access and Excel are available for data management. Teleform is available for data entry and verification of large data sets requiring paper-and-pencil data collection forms.
Our researchers are addressing some of the most challenging issues facing today's health care practitioners. The CRE supports the following areas of research:
Behavioral management of chronic disorders including adherence, self-management, technology, and prevention activities
Patient management in critical care including communication, recovery, and end of life care
Consumer informatics including education, care management, usability, and health literacy
Genetics applications in nursing care focusing on molecular genetics and psychosocial implications
Technology for nurses and patients to improve care
The CRE support services include the following:
Design and consultation for analysis of data, as well as, training in design and data management
Scientific review of proposals submitted through the OSIRIS to the IRB committees
Maintenance and dissemination of information on funding, conference and research development and training opportunities
Faculty, post-doctoral fellow and doctoral student development in research methodology
Consultation on research program development
Front Desk Summer Office Hours: Kathleen Kennedy -- 8:30 am - 4:30 pm
Open Office Hours for Statistical Consulting for SON Students via Zoom —The open office hours for brief statistical consultation for PhD dissertations, MSN theses and BSN honors theses for Spring/Summer 2020 are the following:
- Susan Sereika (ssereika@pitt.edu) Mondays 9:00am–10:00am
- Dianxu Ren (dir8@pitt.edu) Thursdays 1:00pm–2:00pm
- Paul Scott (pws5@pitt.edu) Wednesday 11:00am-12:00pm
Students are strongly encouraged to contact statisticians in advance to reserve a 15- to 20-minute block of time during an open office hour.
Associate Dean for Research and Education Support Services
Susan M. Sereika, PhD
3500 Victoria Street
361 Victoria Building
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
Phone: 412-624-4854
Fax: 412-624-1201
Director for the Center for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Nursing Education
Amy Bowser, MEd, PhD - 412-624-4079 - amy.bowser@pitt.edu - 370 VB
Director for Statistical and Data Support Services
Dianxu Ren, MD, PhD - 412-383-5240 - dir8@pitt.edu - 363B VB
Faculty Statistician
Paul Wesley Scott, PhD - 412-624-4854 - pws5@pitt.edu - 360 VB
Staff
Paulina Gatarz, BA - 412 624-3323 - pag17@pitt.edu - 370A VB
Kathleen Kennedy - 412-624-4854 - kke100@pitt.edu - CRE Front Desk
A. Blair Powell, BS - 412-624-0963 - blair1@pitt.edu - 364B VB