Category: Faculty Partner Research

Xinran Lehto; Libby Richards – Urban environments pose significant barriers to physical activity and public health, often due to a lack of motivation, insufficient adaptability to environmental factors, the uniformity of features in existing fitness apps, and limited opportunities for meaningful interpersonal interaction. This project proposes an AI-powered Walkability Assistant — a mobile application designed to foster healthier, more active lifestyles by addressing these challenges through personalized, adaptive, and community-oriented solutions.

Zoe Taylor; Sharon Christ – Depression is a pivotal mental health concern for Latine adolescents, with research showing they are more likely to report symptoms of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation compared with their non-Latine peers. However, rural Latine children in emerging communities may be especially vulnerable to mental health disparities given these communities often have fewer resources.

Sooyeon Jeong – “…He says people don’t want to spend a lot of money on a robot car that appears to lack confidence. But if you wanted to build, say, a robot comedian, some neuroticism might help. And neurotic personalities might put some people more at ease.”

Ellen Ernst Kossek – BUSINESS INSIDER (subscription required) – Economic Researchers say flexible work helps starts compete with big firms for young talent.

AJ Schwichtenberg; Annabelle Atkin – Roughly 20% of adults identify as neurodivergent – an umbrella term used to describe cognitively atypical individuals. Neurodivergent identities manifest in several forms including autism, attention dysregulation hyperactivity disorder/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, and other cognitively atypical trajectories.

Heather Servaty-Seib – Telephone booths inspired by Japan’s “Kaze no Denwa” or “Wind Phone” in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture — a disconnected phone set up for people to speak to loved ones lost in the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake — are now appearing in various parts of the world.

Kristine Marceau – Adolescents are particularly susceptible to peer influence and at higher risk of engaging in problematic behaviors through peer interactions, but also vary in the extent to which they are influenced by their peers. Resistance to peer influence, the tendency to refuse undesired peer pressure, is one key factor for this variation.

Kristine Marceau – Previous studies robustly link childhood peer victimization experience to the timing of substance use initiation. However, no study has investigated the contributions of genetic and environmental factors to this link.

David Purpura – Early language environments are considered to support children’s language development; however, it is unclear to what extent early language environments relate to skills other than language abilities. We examined (1) whether the preschool language environment is associated with children’s school readiness skills, and (2) whether children’s vocabulary skills explain these associations.

Kameron Moding; German Posada – Prenatal care provides an opportunity for the promotion of healthy parent and neonatal outcomes, but there are gaps in understanding the consequences and antecedents of prenatal care experiences during pregnancy. The objective of the current study was to provide insight into the mediational processes of sociodemographic and pregnancy characteristics on neonatal health and postpartum maternal wellbeing outcomes through prenatal care experiences.