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Impact in Indiana & Beyond

Impact in Indiana & Beyond

Enhancing our state

IU faculty and student researchers are tackling issues important to Hoosiers, making discoveries that advance knowledge in their disciplines and collaborating with local, state and national partners to improve lives here in Indiana and around the world.

Their work is helping to grow our state economy — building a pipeline of future leaders in important fields, such as cybersecurity and environmental sustainability, and helping address important issues including cyberattacks, health infrastructure, homelessness and more.

Improving lives

Addressing youth mental health

With mental health issues among youth on the rise, IU School of Medicine experts are working to increase the availability and accessibility of statewide pediatric mental health care teams through telehealth consultation and referral services.

Read about the Be Happy program

Understanding homelessness

To combat homelessness and direct resources to those in crisis, the IU Public Policy Institute has collaborated with Marion County organizations to provide real-time Indianapolis data for more than a decade.

Read about the survey

Sustaining Hoosier communities

Dubois County residents are partnering with IU Bloomington faculty and hundreds of students to address critical issues like health and infrastructure planning through IU's Center for Rural Engagement.

Learn more about the partnership

Monitoring energy use

Companies around the globe can become more energy efficient and sustainable, thanks to the work of Kelley School of Business researcher Amrou Awaysheh and his students.

Learn more about his work

Ensuring access to health care

IU researchers are working to ensure Hoosiers have better access to the resources they need to improve and maintain their health as part of a collaboration with the Indiana Department of Health and other partners.

Learn about the statewide initiative

Supporting mothers and families

Women who have children in prison and who are released to their home communities are receiving the support they need to succeed through the Mothers on the Rise program, a partnership between IU researchers and the Indiana Department of Corrections.

Read about how they are helping

Empowering Indiana’s nurses of color

Understanding the significant impact a lack of representation has on health outcomes in Indiana, IU School of Nursing’s Sharron Crowder created a new program to engage with Hoosier nurses of color and to prepare them for future positions in health policy and advocacy.

Description of the video:

[Animation: fade in image of Indiana, text: Empowering Indiana's Nurses of Color for Health Policy Leadership, and three quarters crimson box around text on screen]

[Audio: Sharron Crowder speaks on camera] [Music fades in]

In Indiana, our nurses of color represent only 10 percent of all of the registered nurses. And

[Animation: fade to white transition, Lower third: IU logo with text Sharron Crowder, PhD, Clinical Associate Professor of Nursing fades in and fades out] [Video: Sharron Crowder sits in an office talking to camera]

when we look at that small

[Video: Nurses organizing items in nursing classroom][Audio: Sharron Crowder speaks off camera]

number, we recognize that we have even less nurses of color who are involved in health policy

[Video: Sharron Crowder sits in an office talking, Sharron Crowder speaks on camera]

and advocacy. In January of

[Video: Three professionally dressed women of color walking in Indiana capitol building, Sharron Crowder speaks off camera]

2021, we launched a program that's called Empowering Nurses of Color for Health Policy

[Video: Sharron Crowder sits in an office talking, Sharron Crowder speaks on camera]

Leadership. Think about the missed opportunity we have when we

[Video: dolly out of Sharron Crowder sitting at a round table talking with two other professional women of color, Sharron Crowder speaks off camera]

don't have these nurses of color at the table

[Video: Sharron Crowder sits in an office talking, Sharron Crowder speaks on camera]

to be able to contribute to solutions because

[Video: Nurse and cohort member speaking in nursing classroom, Sharron Crowder speaks off camera]

they know the issues, they live them.

[Video: Sharron Crowder sits in an office talking, Sharron Crowder speaks on camera]

This cohort of nurses represent nurses

[Video: Still image of nurses of color on a zoom call, Sharron Crowder speaks off camera]

throughout the state of Indiana

[Video: Still image of nurses of color on a zoom call, Sharron Crowder speaks off camera]

who have the expertise, who have the leadership skills, they have the day-to-day

[Video: Sharron Crowder sits in an office talking, Sharron Crowder speaks on camera]

commitment, working and engaging with patients of

[Video: dolly in of instructor teaching nurses over a dummy in a hospital bed, Sharron Crowder speaks off camera]

all different ages and then with their families

[Video: Sharron Crowder sits in an office talking, Sharron Crowder speaks on camera]

to enhance, to improve health care. [Shandra Burton speaks off camera] I've had mentors before,

[Video: Shandra Burton speaking to colleague in classroom setting]

but this program was special because I had a mentor that looked like me, and I think that's a valuable thing.

[Video: Shandra Burton sits in front of a window looking outside talking to interviewee, Shandra Burton speaks on camera] [Animation: IU logo with text Shandra Burton, 2021 Nurse Cohort Member fades in and fades out]

You start this journey, and you think that you're alone,

[Video: dolly in of Shandra Burton sitting at a round table in an office talking with a family of three other women of color, Shandra Burton speaks off camera]

but there's other people that have the same interests, the same focus, and we just need to have these

[Video: Shandra Burton sits in front of a window looking outside talking, Shandra Burton speaks on camera]

platforms to bring us all together.

[Video: Shandra Burton sits at table speaking with elder woman about a form, Shandra Burton speaks off camera]

And I hope to be able to utilize what I've

[Video: Shandra Burton stands Infront of a classroom giving a lecture, Shandra Burton speaks off camera]

learned with my students now and in the future because they are the future of health care.

[Video: Shandra Burton sits at table speaking with elder woman about a form, Shandra Burton speaks off camera]

[Johnathan Liechty speaks off camera]

This program has helped me

[Video: dolly in of Johnathan Liechty speaking from a desk]

tremendously in my role as a board member for the federally-qualified health center in my community.

[Video: Johnathan Liechty sits in an office space in front of a glass wall speaking to interviewee, Johnathan Liechty speaks on camera] [Animation: IU logo with text Johnathan Liechty, 2021 Nurse cohort member fades in and out]

It's helped me to

[Video: Johnathan Liechty speaks with nurse in a nursing classroom, Johnathan Liechty speaks off camera]

be more familiar with

[Video: Johnathan Liechty sits in an office space in front of a glass wall speaking, Johnathan Liechty speaks on camera]

current legislation that's impacting

[Video: high angle of Johnathan Liechty sits at a table talking with his hands over a piece of paper, Johnathan Liechty speaks off camera]

our communities of color. And so, it's helped us

[Video: Johnathan Liechty speaks with nurse in a nursing classroom over a practice patient dummy, Johnathan Liechty speaks off camera]

with some of our decisions and some of our strategic planning.

[Video: Johnathan Liechty speaks with to person off camera in an office setting, Johnathan Liechty speaks off camera]

It is so important to get nurses of color

[Video: Johnathan Liechty speaks with nurse in a nursing classroom over a practice patient dummy, Johnathan Liechty speaks off camera]

involved in health care advocacy because

[Video: Johnathan Liechty sits in an office space in front of a glass wall speaking, Johnathan Liechty speaks on camera]

we are the voice for sometimes those that

[Video: Camera circles around Johnathan Liechty and nurse in receptionist area of an office, Johnathan Liechty speaks off camera]

may not be represented.

[Video: Johnathan Liechty sits in an office space in front of a glass wall speaking, Johnathan Liechty speaks on camera]

We can provide perspective,

[Video: Johnathan Liechty speaks with nurse in a nursing classroom with a practice patient dummy in the background, Johnathan Liechty speaks off camera]

we can provide nuance

[Video: Johnathan Liechty sits in an office space in front of a glass wall speaking, Johnathan Liechty speaks on camera]

to many decisions that

[Video: dolly in of Johnathan Liechty speaking to a person off camera from a table in an office setting, Johnathan Liechty speaks off camera]

impact our communities of color.

[Video: Johnathan Liechty sits in an office space in front of a glass wall speaking, Johnathan Liechty speaks on camera]

[Sharron Crowder speaks off camera]

We are part of a university system that's

[Video: Outside of the IU Nursing school building with words reading Indiana University School of Nursing on the façade]

dedicated to preparing

[Video: Sharron Crowder sits in an office talking, Sharron Crowder speaks on camera]

nurses who are a vital part of the healthcare

[Video: Shandra Burton sits at table speaking with three woman about a form, Sharron Crowder speaks off camera]

workforce. We're layering on

[Video: Shandra Burton sits at table in an office speaking about a form, Sharron Crowder speaks off camera]

the exposure and the preparation

[Video: Sharron Crowder sits in an office talking, Sharron Crowder speaks on camera]

for engaging in policy decision-making

[Video: Sharron Crowder sits at a round table speaking with two other professionally dressed women of color, Sharron Crowder speaks off camera]

and advocacy. We cannot forget that they

[Video: Sharron Crowder sits in an office talking, Sharron Crowder speaks on camera]

advocate for patients and families on a day-to-day basis, they advocate

[Video: dolly in of Johnathan Liechty speaking in front of student off camera in a nursing classroom, Sharron Crowder speaks off camera]

for patient populations, and they advocate for

[Video: Shandra Burton sits at table in an office speaking with three women of color, Sharron Crowder speaks off camera]

key issues affecting Indiana. And so

[Video: Three professionally dressed women of color walking in Indiana capitol building, Sharron Crowder speaks off camera]

why not expand, and to broaden, to know that when we look around, that we have the inclusion, and we have

[Video: Sharron Crowder sits in an office talking, Sharron Crowder speaks on camera]

nurses of color who are vital

[Video: Camera circles around Johnathan Liechty and nurse in receptionist area of an office, Sharron Crowder speaks off camera]

on the front lines,

[Video: Close up shot of student male nurse working, Sharron Crowder speaks off camera]

then provide quality care.

[Video: Johnathan Liechty speaks with nurse in a nursing classroom demonstrating over a practice patient dummy, Sharron Crowder speaks off camera]

And let's bring their

[Video: Shandra Burton stands Infront of a classroom giving a lecture, Sharron Crowder speaks off camera]

voices. Let's bring their expertise.

[Animation: cross fade] [Video: Shandra Burton and two other professional women of color walk outside of the US capitol building]

Let's bring their leadership. Because we all want a better Indiana.

[Animation: cross fade] [Video: Sharron Crowder sits in an office talking, Sharron Crowder speaks on camera]

[Video: fade to black, IU logo, Indiana University, research.impact.iu.edu fade in and out][Music fades out]

Building a stronger Indiana

Increasing energy efficiency

For the last 10 years, IUPUI's Industrial Assessment Center has audited more than 150 Hoosier companies, helping them improve energy efficiency – and now, cybersecurity.

Learn more about the Industrial Assessment Center

Advancing the economy

In collaboration with regional partners, IU has engaged in the state of Indiana's READI grant program to look at ways to enhance regional prosperity in Indiana.

Read about IU's role in the program

Addressing major challenges

A pioneering partnership between the Hoosier state and IU designed to create and foster greater access to value-added data and information is helping government, non-profit and private-sector organizations address several major challenges facing communities across the state.

Bolstering resiliency to climate change

Programs that help Indiana communities take action against climate change and connect students with career training opportunities in sustainability and the environment is a focus of IU’s Environmental Resilience Institute.

Learn how ERI is helping Hoosier communities