Faculty Research

This page contains a brief description of the current research projects being conducted by faculty and students. If you are interested in working with a specific faculty member, and they are accepting new students, send them an email. You can do this at any time during the semester. Research projects may go through various phases at different times, so there's virtually always one just getting started. Additionally, you can look at faculty webpages to see a more detailed description of their research interests. 

• Impacts of AI on stress, burnout, and employee connection
• Game-based realistic job previews
• Interaction between academic and workplace performance 

• Yes.

Dr. Eva Gibson

Current research interest:

Dr. Gibson's research interests include school counseling, African American students, cultural competency, advocacy, and social justice. Dr. Gibson utilizes a comprehensive approach to research and often engages with community partners, collaborates with others, and often conducts presentations based on project work.

Current Research projects:

• Cultivating antiracist counselors
• Cultivating social class awareness in the counseling profession
• Guiding through groups: A mentoring program for African American boys

Previous projects can be found here.

Not accepting current students at this time.

Dr. Rong Huang

Current research interest:

Dr. Huang’s research focuses on children’s cognitive development, bilingualism, socio-emotional growth, family dynamics, and resilience. She is particularly interested in how disadvantaged environments—such as poverty, family conflict/adversity —impact young children’s cognitive and social outcomes, including executive function, theory of mind, social skills, and aggression. Additionally, her work examines how children adapt and demonstrate resilience in these contexts, and how mechanisms such as supportive parenting and bilingualism can be leveraged to promote resilience in children and families facing adversity.

Current Research Projects:

• Family adversity and children's socio-emotional development in military families

• Joint parenting patterns in low-income families and parenting intervention 

• Adverse childhood experiences and college students' academic success 

 Accepting new students interested in gaining research experience:

• Yes.

Dr. Emily Pica

Current research interest:

• Dr. Pica’s research focuses on ways in which psychology and the legal system interact with each other. Specifically, she focuses on ways to improve eyewitness identification accuracy and factors that influence jurors’ decision making. Additionally, she focuses on how laypeople perceive the wrongfully convicted and the unique experiences faced by wrongfully convicted individuals post-exoneration.

 Current Research projects:

• Exonerees' experiences post-exoneration
• Other projects that are in various stages of the process concerning different aspects of the legal system 

 Accepting new students interested in gaining research experience:

• Yes.

Dr. Adriane M.F. Sanders

 Current research interest: 

• Dr. Sanders' research interests include work-life interaction (particularly in academia), graduate training and pedagogy in the psychological discipline, faculty development, and quality of (work) life. She promotes the use of empirical research to empower folx to make informed decisions about their work life, well-being, health, and safety. 

 Current Research projects:

• Selection decisions (hiring) of the wrongfully convicted (intradisciplinary research with Dr. Pica)
• Health (psychological and physical) and academic success of vulnerable student populations (interdisciplinary research with Drs. Bliss and Gomez in Health and Human Performance)
• Creating an anti-racist and anti-oppressive field of I-O psychology (working with national and international groups of I-O students, academics, and practitioners)
• I love finding unique ways to apply my I-O training to my varied research and professional interests. See my faculty page (linked to my name) for a list of other research and service projects that demonstrate this endeavor. 

 Accepting new students interested in gaining research experience:

• I primarily work with graduate students. However, when my schedule permits, I accept undergraduate students interested in I-O relevant research and internships. Please email me to discuss.
• Additionally, I'm always happy to discuss the field of I-O Psychology, relevant APSU coursework for someone interested in I-O, applying to graduate programs, and I-O career planning.  

Dr. Caitlin M. Shaw

Primary Research Interests

• Applying new methodologies and social psychology theories to broaden understanding about masculinity.
• Examining gender ideologies (e.g., ambivalent sexism) and their downstream consequences. 

Secondary Research Interests 

• Fraternity and sorority life, social exclusion, & sexual well-being

Current research projects

• Developing a modern measure of ambivalent sexism
• Examining the relationship between masculinity norms and gambling behavior
• Evaluating how individuals feel when their dietary restrictions are not accommodated

Accepting students

Yes

Dr. Lara Strate

• Comparative psychometric evaluation of alexithymia instruments (TAS-20, PAQ, BVAQ)
• Multi-institutional study examining wellness across counselor training , from first-semester students through internship and into the first year post-graduation, in collaboration with CACREP faculty across Tennessee
• Collaborative intercountry counseling research 

Dr. LeAnn Wills

• School-based mental health services in Tennessee
• Substance misuse counseling outcomes for school-aged youth
• Social-emotional learning in rural elementary schools