Research

Overview

Research projects at SCCO represent a broad spectrum of disciplines within vision research, and are aligned with the traditional strengths of the College. These are in the areas of pediatric optometry and binocular vision, cornea and contact lenses, ocular disease, and rehabilitative vision. The treatment of amblyopia and convergence insufficiency (CI) have been a focus of recent National Institutes of Health-funded (NIH) research. Another recent emphasis has been in the area of refractive error development in children, particularly in non-Caucasian individuals. This was part of a multi-center NIH-funded effort to study the factors that lead to vision conditions in young people so that remedies may be more readily apparent. Additional faculty research projects encompass dry eye studies, pathophysiology of eye diseases, investigating the visual pathway in normal and abnormal visual conditions, and retinal photoreceptor optics.

SCCO requires its students to complete a scholarly project prior to graduation. Each year about 40 individual projects undertaken in the form of clinical or lab studies, case reports, literature reviews, or capstone projects. The College holds a student research symposium each year for the most worthy projects to be presented before an audience of peers, faculty and area optometrists. In addition, between the first-and second-year of study many SCCO students have taken advantage of summer research opportunities in the form of the National Institutes of Health T-35 program that sponsors professional students to undertake up to two months of faculty directed research at participating institutions.

Clinical Research Studies

Laboratory Research Studies

Faculty Research Interests

Updated – June 2010

Current Research Projects

Updated – June 2010