Stoner has little time to revel in such success. Her plate remains full as a researcher, col- laborator and mentor. “I believe it is important to focus on the ca- reer development of young researchers and so I also direct research training programs that focus on developing these early-stage investigators, with a particular interest in minority health, cardiovascular disease and cancer research,” she added. Stoner is Principal Investigator for the Strong Heart Study Coordinating Center and the Oklahoma Field Site. The Strong Heart Study, funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, is the largest cardiovascular epidemiologic cohort study among American Indians and now in its thirtieth year of follow-up. She also is lead biostatistician of the Evalua- tion Core for the Healthy Hearts for Oklaho- ma project, funded by the agency for Health- care Research and Quality. “The project investigates the impact of a practice quality improvement intervention among over 250 primary care practices in Oklahoma on adherence to cardiovascular disease prevention measures, including as- pirin for high-risk patients, blood pressure control, cholesterol management and smok- ing cessation,” Stoner explained. When she is not crunching numbers or perusing data to uncover new findings or trends, she is busy keeping up with a differ- ent set of numbers – 23 years of marriage to husband Marc, as well as the growing list of accomplishments for her twin sons, Jack and Ethan, now in their freshman year at OU, and her daughter Kate, a junior at Edmond North High School. OU Public Health | Fall 2018 26 Dr. Wang’s research is as much a part of what drives him as his background as an engineer. “Asfacultyinamajoruniversity,wecheerfor publications and grants. As a hardcore engi- neer, though, my happiest moments come when my research findings actually translate into practice,” he said. “I developed a new type of welding technique that can greatly reduce workers’ exposure to nano-sized me- tallic aerosols and carcinogenic hexavalent chromium. That technology’s effectiveness has been demonstrated in various military settings, including naval shipyards and army vehicle disassembling lines, among others.” Recently, Wang and his doctoral student Marcio Bezerra invented a new type of res- pirator to help better protect workers from inhaling toxic metal particles. “My great belief is that without practical ap- plication, any research diminishes in value, regardless of how many manuscripts a re- searcher publishes or how many grant dol- lars a professor secures,” he remarked. Dr. Wang fully intends to continue to do all of those: to secure grants, publish and move discoveries from the lab to the world. “The OU Hudson College of Public Health is an elite program with a complete picture of core areas of public health. It is easy to find people at the College who share common research goals, but with different expertise. I think the most fun of doing research comes from collaborating with others, learning from others, and sharing with others,” he said. His love of engineering is evident through- out his professional life, and it also spills over into his personal life. Dr. Wang met his wife, a fellow environmental engineer, while in college almost two decades ago. She is now a senior engineer at the Oklahoma Depart- ment of Environmental Quality. The couple has two daughters, with whom he enjoys spending as much time as possible. When he is not researching or inventing or spending time with family, Dr. Wang is pursuing his not-so-secret passion for all things Nintendo. “I am a diehard Nintendo fan and have been since I was a child. I guess this makes me a particularly popular profes- sor among students who share that same love,” Wang said. RESEARCH IN FOCUS Continued from page 25 Continued from page 22