From Water Testing to E-cigarette Usage, Professor’s Research Covers a Variety of Public Health Issues When it comes to research, Dr. Jason Marion, associate professor of environmental health science, considers himself an opportunist. Like many EKU faculty researchers, a combination of student interests, current issues and available resources determine the direction of his research topics. This approach has led to him leading a multitude of research projects based around his area of expertise in environmental epidemiology. Focusing primarily on water-related diseases and prevention, his student-centered research has taken him across the globe to Kenya and to low-resource communities in the United States gathering data on the safety of drinking water. In Kenya, he also conducted studies on antibiotic resistance stemming from the antibiotics in milk; and in South Central Kentucky, he’s looked at the prevalence of MRSA among livestock workers.
from low-income countries, like Kenya, he’s realized those areas are often neglected in terms of research studies. “If our students want to work there, then I’m going to help them,” he said. “There are so many communities that have so many questions about what’s going on in their community. In many cases, they just need the data to be able to make future decisions on how to deal with their problems.” One of Marion’s current research projects focuses locally on e-cigarette usage among college students in the Appalachian region. With a graduate student taking interest in studying e-cigarettes, the initial survey was conducted in 2014. The student received award recognition by the tobacco control section of the American Public Health Association. Then, the survey was repeated in 2018 by another graduate student using the same data collection technique. Surveys on what Marion calls “hot button issues,” like e-cigarettes, can generate strong participation bias. To avoid skewed results, the students took the approach of visiting general education courses to conduct their surveys. This method produced a high response rate and cross-section sampling consistent with the University’s student population.
When a student wants to research an issue in their hometown, Marion jumps at the opportunity. Having students from rural communities within EKU’s service region and international students
Between the first and second surveys, Marion and the student researchers discovered an increase in e-cigarette usage among students, along with a significant softening of support for policies related to prohibiting e-cigarettes on campus. The noticeable increase in e-cigarette usage was especially prevalent among students engaged in Greek life, and even more so among fraternity men.
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