Rosa Maria Cruz Castruita, Ph.D, and WNMU's Takahiro Sato, Ph.D.

Post-Doctoral Researcher From Mexico Collaborates With Western New Mexico University’s Dr. Takahiro Sato

Silver City, NM – Western New Mexico University was recently host to a post-doctoral researcher from Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon in Monterrey, Mexico. Rosa Maria Cruz Castruita, Ph.D., wrapped up her first of three short residencies in Silver City on Thursday.

She and Dr. Takahiro Sato, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology at Western New Mexico University, are collaborating on articles during each of her visits. “This month, we wrote an article about the effect of physical activity on the physical condition and psychologic condition of adults, specifically seniors,” said Cruz, whose doctoral thesis is centered around why people do or don’t exercise.

Cruz and Sato’s research overlaps. In Mexico, she studied one group of two dozen adults over six weeks, administering an exercise program throughout the research period then measuring their physical condition afterward. Sato conducted a similar exercise program with a smaller group of seniors in Silver City, also testing the participants’ fitness at the end.

“There’s a difference in the health of older people here. People here are skinnier and healthier. They have good physical condition. In Mexico, the older people sometimes have bad health. They have a lot of diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity,” Cruz said.

The other notable difference is the average level of education among participants. Most seniors Cruz studied had only basic educations, and a handful had bachelor’s degrees. Those who participated in Sato’s study were doctors and lawyers. “The group is different,” Cruz said.

They will submit their article outlining their findings to the Journal of Applied Psychology.

During her upcoming research visits, Cruz will work with Sato to compose articles about the stereotypes of old age and continue reviewing the effects of physical activity on seniors in both Mexico and Silver City.

“This is an example of partnership that we’ve built between Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon and Western New Mexico University since last year,” Sato says.

Western New Mexico University was recently host to Rosa Maria Cruz Castruita, Ph.D., who is a post-doctoral researcher from Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon in Monterrey, Mexico. She is pictured with Dr. Takahiro Sato, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology at Western New Mexico University. The two have conducted similar studies on the effects of physical activity on seniors and so are collaborating on articles together.

For 125 years, Western New Mexico University has served the people in its region as a comprehensive, rural, public body. As a Hispanic-Serving Institution and the state’s only public Applied Liberal Arts and Sciences university, WNMU is committed to developing cross-cultural opportunities that encourage people to explore new experiences. WNMU’s student body represents every segment of southwest New Mexico’s diverse population.