Learn more about our faculty members by reading about and/or listening to them speak about their work.
Infant Safety
Dr. Jessica Day-Watkins studies optimal ways to train caregivers how to arrange safe infant sleep areas to reduce risks for sleep-related death (e.g., Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Learn more about her peer reviewed work and dissemination of this line of research in a free .
Constraints in Creativity: Try them, try them, / And you may [embrace them]!
Dr. Catrinel Tromp studies how creativity can benefit from constraints 鈥 paradoxical as this may sound. The name of her Green Eggs and Ham hypothesis was inspired by Dr. Seuss鈥檚 success in using constraints (fewer than 50 different words) to produce a best-selling children鈥檚 book.
Watch Dr. Tromp鈥檚 research featured in a .
Body Image and Eating Disorders
Dr. Jen King studies body image, multiculturalism and therapy. She was featured on 小优视频鈥檚 Radio Show: Health 411. .
If I tell you that everyone uses this (very bad) tool, should you use it too?
Dr. Cara DiYanni studies how children make decisions about new tools. When models use a bad tool for a task (e.g., one made of pom-poms to crush a cookie), will children do the same? And will they teach someone else to do so also? Dr. DiYanni and her students look at multiple ways to try and convince children to turn cookies into crumbs with a tool made of fuzzballs!!!
The Value of Outdoor Play
Dr. Cara DiYanni is also interested in the developmental benefits offered by outdoor play. She is currently working in conjunction with an outdoor education program in New Jersey to study how playing outside and learning about nature may enhance children鈥檚 self-regulation, self-reliance, curiosity, risk-taking, motor skills, and connection to and appreciation of nature. You can learn more about this work on Dr. DiYanni鈥檚 Psychology Today blog.
The potential effects of defendant emotion
Dr. Wendy Heath studies topics within the area of psychology and law. For example, she has recently been investigating possible reasons why some defendants are wrongly convicted. Dr. Heath also published a book on Research Methods in Psychology, and was the recipient of 小优视频鈥檚 Iorio Faculty Research Prize in 2015. Read one of her articles here on the potential effects of defendant emotion.
Serving children with autism in Ukraine
Dr. Chrystina Dolyniuk is an expert in disabilities and is interested in cultural factors and people鈥檚 perceptions of disability. Dr. Dolyniuk received two Fulbright Specialist Awards (2011 & 2014) to provide consultation to the Ukrainian Catholic University, conduct research on autism, and provide support and training to parents and professionals serving children with autism in Ukraine. Learn more here.
Gambling Research
鈥淐hance is strong everywhere; always let your hook hang: In which whirlpool you least expect it, there will be a fish.鈥 - Ovid
Dr. Mack Costello studies gambling, behavioral health, and experimental and statistical behavior analysis. .
Bullying, Cyberbullying, Islamophobia, and Schools: What Can Be Done?
Dr. Nadia Ansary鈥檚 research concerns bullying within schools and the bullying of religious minorities, especially American Muslim youth. Read some of her media interviews on , , and ways of . You can also read about what and more on her work on .
Teaching Social and Language Skills to Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Dr. John Brown studies procedures that can be used to teach socially-relevant skills to individuals with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities. Specifically he studies interventions, such as script-fading, that are used to promote the use of language skills in natural environments.