ComArtSci Researcher Receives Prestigious Undergraduate Funding Award

Bree E. Holtz, Ph.D.

Dr. Bree Holtz, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Advertising + Public Relations, has received the Minority Undergraduate Internship Award through the American Diabetes Association's Research Program to support the work of Media & Information junior Alexis McCarroll, for one year. Ms. McCarroll will be working on the MyT1DHero app project with Dr. Holtz.

The project has created a mobile app for adolescents with type 1 diabetes and their parents that aids in the transition to adolescent self-management. As teens transition to self-care, the app allows them to test and track their blood glucose (or blood sugar) values without being constantly reminded by their parents. The app also seeks to reduce conflict between kids and their parents through real-time notifications to the parents with the child’s blood-sugar values.

MSU Media & Information junior Alexis McCarroll“Alexis has been a member of my research team for over a year and has shown an exceptional ability to aid in research projects,” said Holtz. “This award will provide me her assistance for this important research to positively impact the type 1 diabetes community.”

With the help of this award, Ms. McCarroll will assist Dr. Holtz in conducting the pilot testing of the app that has been developed for adolescents with type 1 diabetes and their parents, including: participant recruitment, enrollment, screening and retention strategies, data entry of survey measures, data analysis, and manuscript preparation.

For more information about the award or this project, visit www.myt1d.org, or contact Katie Murray (murra172@msu.edu, 517-884-8892).

The project is supported by a grant from the American Diabetes Association.