Cresiski Research Areas

Dr. Cresiski's doctoral research focused on autoimmunity, namely the role of T cells in the activation of auto-antibody producing B cells in a mouse model of lupus.  Her work in this area resulted in a provocative paper in Immunity, a top journal in the immunology field (impact factor 21.5).  Upon coming to NSC, with no mouse room available and no undergraduate research program, she creatively began a comparative immunology and microbiology program to engage students in insect immunity.  She mentored over 25 undergraduate researchers in these projects, and presented with these students at national and regional conferences.  She is writing two manuscripts with these students as we speak.  Some of Dr. Cresiski's lab alumni are now in graduate school, including PhD programs at the University of Nevada-Reno and SUNY Stony Brook, master's programs at University of Nevada-Las Vegas, medical schools in Kansas City and Reno, and the veterinary program at Washington State University.  Others are putting their research skills to use for local agencies like  Southern Nevada Environmental Inc.

Dr. Cresiski has also published about approaches to student success in the classroom and at the institutional level.  She has published in multiple Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Journals (JMBE article and PLAT article) and has co-authored multiple conference papers, including papers on mentoring internship students and closing equity gaps.

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Select Publications

 Hignite, L., Yao, R., Brautbar, S., & Cresiski, R.H. Designing and implementing an effective college internship program. (2015) In Dominguez, N. & Gandert, Y. (Eds.). 7th Annual Mentoring Conference Proceedings: Developmental Networks: Mentoring & Coaching at Work. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico.
 
Cresiski, R.H. (2014). Undergraduate bioinformatics workshops provide perceived skills. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education, 15(2): 292-294
 
Sharp, G., Yao, R., Hahn, K., & Cresiski, R.H. (2013). Boundary issues in undergraduate psychology field experience courses. Psychology Learning and Teaching. 12(13): 266-74.
 
Cresiski, R.H. (2013). Two virtual labs to study genetic inheritance in the fruit fly. Journal Of Microbiology & Biology Education, 14(1): 141-142.
 
Herlands, R.A., Christensen S.R. & Shlomchik, M.J. (2008). The roles of T cells and toll-like Receptors in autospecific B cell activation and auto-antibody secretion in the AM14 model of lupus. Immunity. 29(2): 249-60.
 
Herlands, R.A., William, J., Hershberg, U., & Shlomchik, M.J. (2007). Anti-chromatin immune complexes drive in vivo antigen specific activation and somatic hypermutation of rheumatoid factor B cells at extrafollicular sites. European Journal of Immunology. 37(12): 3339-51

Select Presentations

Beck, E., Thanki, S., Scinta, T., Cresiski, R., & Shi, Q.  (oral presentation accepted for April 2016 conference). Closing equity gaps: student support services that matter. American Educational Research Association National Conference. Washington, D.C.
 
Beck, E., Scinta, T., Thanki, S. Cresiski, R., Shi, Q., and Le, J. (oral presentation accepted for January 2016 conference). Senior student overall satisfaction and its relationships with engagement and perceived gains: an examination of NSSE 2013. Hawaii International Conference on Education. Honolulu, HI.
 
Thanki, S. & Cresiski, R. H. (2015, October). SQL, Tableau and Student Success. Oral presentation at Rocky Mountain Association for Institutional Research. Las Vegas, NV.
 
Favela-Belmonte, B.*, Bassong Bassong, S.*, Combs, S., Mathews, A., Qadir, A., & Cresiski, R.H. (2014, September). Identification of antibiotic-resistant bacteria on the American cockroach. Oral Presentation at Nevada Bright Stars Event at the Desert Research Institute, Las Vegas, NV.

Qadir, A., Villa, J., Law, Q., and Cresiski, R.H.  (2013, May). Characterization of the Periplaneta americana immune response using image-based flow cytometry. Poster presented at the American Association of Immunologists National Conference, Honolulu, HI.
 
Thomson, G. Brommel, A., Robinson, G., Herlands, R.A., and Kebede, K. Strategic planning in Faculty Senate: An adaptation of the balanced scorecard to promote shared governance. Oral presentation delivered at the AAUP Conference on the State of Higher Education, Washington, DC.