Psychology Faculty and their Interests

Faculty who may be accepting graduate students for the upcoming academic year are indicated by an asterisk (*).

Behavioral Neuroscience Graduate Program

Bozarth, Michael, A., Ph.D.

Neural basis of appetitive motivation and reward; drug addiction; biological psychiatry; motivational theory.

Burkard, Robert F., Ph.D.

Auditory evoked potentials, physiologic manifestations of auditory masking, auditory adaptation, acoustics and sound measurements, use of digital signal process for acquisition of auditory evoked potentials, comparative studies of hearing.

Butera, Peter, Ph.D.

Hormonal control of ingestive behavior and meal patterns, neural mechanisms of estrogen action, cytokines and disease anorexia.

*Daniels, Derek, Ph.D.

Anatomical and biochemical basis of ingestive behaviors, including food, water, and salt intake.

*Dent, Micheal, Ph.D.

Behavioral and physiological measures of the perception of complex auditory stimuli in birds and mammals.

DiPirro, Jean M., Ph.D

Neuropeptidergic and monoaminergic regulation of pain, analgesia, maternal behavior and drug addiction.

*Hastrup, Janice L., Ph.D.

Health psychology and behavioral medicine; epidemiology and public health; health communication; community psychology; emotional development; environmental hazards; methodological issues.

*Kristal, Mark B., Ph.D.

Maternal behavior; opiate-mediated processes; feeding and drinking; taste-aversion learning.

*Mercado, Eduardo, III, Ph. D.

Cognitive neuroscience of learning and memory.

*Richards, Jerry B., Ph. D.

Drug abuse, animal and human models of impulsivity, behavioral neuroscience, and the experimental analysis of behavior.

Salvi, Richard J., Ph.D.

Tinnitus, Auditory Plasticity, Ototoxicity, Noise Induce Hearing Loss, Hair Cell Regeneration, Stem Cell Transplantation.

Shen, Roh-Yu, Ph.D.

Brain dopamine systems; alcohol craving; fetal alcohol syndrome.

*Shucard, David W., Ph.D.

Neural basis of cognition in normal and impaired infants, children, adults, and animals; clinical neurophysiology; clinical and experimental neuropsychology.

Smith, Charles James, Ph.D.

*Thompson, Alexis, Ph.D.

Neural adaptations associated with increased vulnerability or expression of drug addicton, anxiety, and maternal behavior; behavioral regulation of pain and analgesia; neuropeptide regulation of monoamines.

*Wersinger, Scott, Ph. D.

Neural and hormonal regulation of social behavior, including reproductive behavior and aggression.

back to top

Clinical Psychology Graduate Program

Anchin, Jack, Ph.D.

Beck, Gayle, Ph. D.

Panic disorder; anxiety disorders; post-trauma syndromes.

Bowker, Julie, Ph.D.

The roles that peer relationships, particularly friendships, play in social and emotional development during late childhood and early adolescence

Colder, Craig, Ph. D.

Individual, family, and community influences on child and adolescent aggression and substance abuse.

Collins, R. Lorraine, Ph. D.

Drinking restraint; psychosocial factors in alcohol use; women's issues; smoking

Connors, Gerard J., Ph. D.

Alcoholism treatment outcome evaluation; relapse prevention; secondary prevention of alcohol problems

Hawk, Larry, Ph. D.

The role of motivation and cognition in psychopathology and treatment; clinical psychophysiology; ADHD; smoking.

Leonard, Kenneth E., Ph. D.

Alcohol abuse and Marital/family processes; parenting and infant development in alcoholic families; interpersonal aggression; bar violence; domestic violence

Levine, Murray, Ph. D.

Levy, Kenneth, Ph. D.

Univariate and multivariate data analyzing techniques.

Meacham, Jack, Ph. D.

Life-course developmental psychology; history of world civilizations; comparative religion; race and racism; multicultural education.

Miller, Bruce, M. D.

*Ostrov, Jamie, Ph.D.

Subtypes of aggression and victimization; developmental psychopathology; social dominance; interpersonal relationships; applied developmental psychology; prosocial and play behavior.

*Pelham, William E., Jr., Ph. D.

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder; psychosocial, pharmacological, and combined treatments for ADHD; cognition and motivation in ADHD.

Raynor, Joel, Ph. D.

Theory of personality functioning and change; sport and exercise psychology; alcoholism.

*Read, Jennifer, Ph.D.

Social and individual-level factors in the etiology and treatment of alcohol misuse; affective and cognitive determinants of heavy drinking, PTSD-alcohol use disorder comorbidity.

*Roberts, John, Ph. D.

Psychosocial factors in the onset, maintenance and recovery from depression; health behavior and psychological functioning among HIV+ individuals.

*Simms, Leonard, Ph.D.

Applied and basic psychological assessment, dimensional models of personality and psychopathology, item response theory applications to personality measures, and computerized adaptive testing.

*Tiffany, Stephen T., Ph.D.

The psychopathology of addictive disorders in adolescents and adults including assessment, diagnosis, and treatment; behavioral medicine.

Walitzer, Kimberly, Ph. D.

Treatment outcome evaluation; spouse involvement in treatment; secondary prevention of alcohol problems; gender differences

Wood, Beatrice, Ph. D.

back to top

Cognitive Psychology Graduate Program

Dent, Micheal, Ph.D.

Behavioral and physiological measures of the perception of complex auditory stimuli in birds and mammals.

*Luce, Paul, Ph. D.

Word recognition; lexical access; speech perception and production; psycholinguistics.

*Mauner, Gail, Ph. D.

Sentence and discourse processing; reading; anaphora; language processing in neurogenically impaired populations.

*Mercado, Eduardo, III, Ph. D.

Cognitive neuroscience of learning and memory.

*Pfordresher, Peter, Ph. D.

The way in which the mind organizes sequences of events in real time during production and perception.

*Sawusch, James, Ph. D.

Speech perception; attention; auditory memory; computational modeling; psycholinguistics.

*Smith, J. David, Ph. D.

Animal cognition; categorization; metacognition and self-awareness; psychology of music and aesthetics.

back to top

Social-Personality Psychology Graduate Program

*Gabriel, Shira, Ph.D.

Social self; intimacy seeking and social comparison; need to belong.

*Murray, Sandra, Ph.D.

Close relationships; self-esteem; and motivated cognition.

*Park, Lora, Ph.D.

The self, self-esteem, contingencies of self-worth, motivation, interpersonal processes.

*Pelham, Brett, Ph.D.

Self-perception; implicit self-regard, social inference.

*Poulin, Michael J., Ph.D.

Prosocial motivation; meaning; physical and psychological adjustment to stress and trauma

*Sechrist, Gretchen, Ph.D.

Stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination.

*Seery, Mark, Ph.D.

Stress and coping, the self, motivation, psychophysiology.

back to top

Undergraduate Faculty

Beck, Gayle, Ph. D.

Panic disorder; anxiety disorders; post-trauma syndromes

Bozarth, Michael, A., Ph. D.

Neural basis of appetitive motivation and reward; drug addiction; biological psychiatry; motivational theory

Bunker, Barbara, Ph. D.

Planned organizational change; interpersonal and group processes; organizational development; managing diversity; trust

Colder, Craig, Ph. D.

Individual, family, and community influences on child and adolescent aggression and substance abuse

Daniels, Derek, Ph. D.

Anatomical and biochemical basis of ingestive behaviors, including food, water, and salt intake

Dent, Micheal, Ph. D.

Behavioral and physiological measures of the perception of complex auditory stimuli in birds and mammals

Gabriel, Shira, Ph. D.

The social self; gender differences in interdependence; minority group membership

Hastrup, Janice L., Ph. D.

Behavioral medicine; understanding genetic and other risk factors; methodological issues; epidemiology of stress-related disorders

Hawk, Larry, Ph. D.

The role of motivation and cognition in psychopathology and treatment; clinical psychophysiology; ADHD; smoking.

Kristal, Mark B., Ph. D.

Maternal behavior; opiate-mediated processes; feeding and drinking; taste-aversion learning

Luce, Paul, Ph. D.

Word recognition; lexical access; speech perception and production; psycholinguistics

Mauner, Gail, Ph. D.

Sentence and discourse processing; reading; anaphora; language processing in neurogenically impaired populations.

Meacham, Jack, Ph. D.

Life-course developmental psychology; history of world civilizations; comparative religion; race and racism; multicultural education

Mercado, Eduardo, III, Ph. D.

Cognitive neuroscience of learning and memory

Murray, Sandra, Ph. D.

Close relationships; self-esteem; motivated cognition

Ostrov, Jamie, Ph. D.

Subtypes of aggression and victimization; developmental psychopathology; social dominance; interpersonal relationships; applied developmental psychology; prosocial and play behavior

Park, Lora, Ph. D.

The self, self-esteem, contingencies of self-worth, motivation, interpersonal processes

Pelham, Brett W., Ph. D.

Self-perception; implicit self-regard; social inference

Pelham, William E., Jr., Ph. D.

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder; psychosocial, pharmacological, and combined treatments for ADHD; cognition and motivation in ADHD

Raynor, Joel, Ph. D.

Theory of personality functioning and change; sport and exercise psychology; alcoholism

Read, Jennifer, Ph. D.

Social and individual-level factors in the etiology and treatment of alcohol misuse; affective and cognitive determinants of heavy drinking, PTSD-alcohol use disorder comorbidity

Roberts, John, Ph. D.

Mood disorders; life-stress; self-esteem; psychosocial functioning among HIV+ individuals

Sawusch, James, Ph. D.

Speech perception; attention; auditory memory; computational modeling; psycholinguistics

Sechrist, Gretchen, Ph. D.

Stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination

Seery, Mark, Ph. D.

Stress and coping, the self, motivation, psychophysiology

Simms, Leonard, Ph. D.

Applied and basic psychological assessment, dimensional models of personality and psychopathology, item response theory applications to personality measures, and computerized adaptive testing

Smith, J. David, Ph. D.

Animal cognition; categorization; metacognition and self-awareness; psychology of music and aesthetics

Thompson, Alexis, Ph. D.

Neural adaptations associated with increased vulnerability or expression of drug addicton, anxiety, and maternal behavior; behavioral regulation of pain and analgesia; neuropeptide regulation of monoamines

Wersinger, Scott, Ph. D.

Neural and hormonal regulation of social behavior, including reproductive behavior and aggression

back to top