Faculty Profiles

Riana uses mixed methods in clinical interventions to study racial discrimination and socialization in Black families to reduce racial stress and trauma and improve psychological well-being and family functioning. She investigates how protective familial mechanisms such as parenting and racial socialization operate in the face of risks linked to poverty, discrimination, and residential environment. She is particularly interested in how these factors predict familial functioning and subsequent child psychosocial outcomes, especially when enrolled in family-based interventions. As such, Riana developed a five-session intervention entitled EMBRace (Engaging, Managing, and Bonding through Race) to alleviate racial stress and trauma in parents and adolescents in order to facilitate healthy parent-child relationships, parent and adolescent psychological well-being, and healthy coping strategies.

Current Work:

Dr. Anderson developed and directs the Engaging, Managing, and Bonding through Race (EMBRace) intervention. EMBRace is a 5-session family-based racial socialization (RS) and racial stress and trauma (RST) management intervention designed to reduce parent and adolescent RST and improve familial psychological and physiological well-being and adolescent academic engagement. EMBRace involves skill development regarding content (RS: cultural pride, preparation for bias, promotion of distrust, and colorblindness/egalitarianism/silence about race), process (RS knowledge, stress management, and coping) and delivery (affection, protection, correction, and connection). EMBRace is the first identified RS intervention for adolescents and their parents that uses culturally-specific theories and evidence-based practices to engage in racial encounters and reduce RST.

EMBRace utilizes narrative-sharing, individual and dyadic clinical work, and culturally-relevant experiences to help families engage, manage, and bond through the difficult topic of race in America.

Prior to coming to Michigan, Nick was a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, where he received his PhD in Social Psychology in 2018. He graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in Psychology in 2009.

1. The modeling of the transport and transformation of pollutants in the atmosphere, air quality data analysis and the statistical properties of the US ozone air quality standard
2. Environmental epidemiology studying the impact of air pollutants on morbidity and mortality
3. Climate science and sustainability, including the role of the transportation sector in CO2 stabilization and well-to-wheels analysis of fuels and vehicle technology
4. Consumers’ travel mode choice in the presence of new technology and infrastructure

Julia Lee Cunningham is an Associate Professor of Management and Organizations at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.

Julia’s research focuses on the psychology of narratives, mindsets, and behavioral ethics, with a particular interest in understanding the ways in which narratives shape objective reality and how they can be leveraged to promote thriving in the workplace. Her research has been published in numerous leading academic journals in the fields of management and psychology, and has been featured in a variety of media outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, National Geographic Magazine, The Financial Times, The Washington Post, NPR, and Harvard Business Review.

Julia enjoys developing highly immersive and experiential pedagogy for students and executives, and brings cutting-edge academic research to the classroom and the organizations she works with. She teaches a negotiation course to MBA students and lectures in several executive education programs on leadership development, managing global teams, negotiation, and decision-making at Michigan Ross and Harvard. In 2020, she was recognized as one of the Top 50 Undergraduate Business Professors by Poets and Quants.

In addition to her work in the business school, Julia is dedicated to applying her expertise in behavioral science to address pressing societal challenges. She has extensive experience advising corporations, start-ups, non-profit organizations, and government agencies, and currently serves as a Governing Board Member of the Behavioral Science & Policy Association. Previously, she was a Lab Fellow in Institutional Corruption at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, and a Research Fellow in Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard University. In 2018, she was selected as a Fellow at National Geographic Society.

Website: https://julialeecunningham.com/

Website: Population, Neurodevelopment and Genetics Program (PNG)

Dr. Drogos is an award-winning writer and instructor and has taught courses on children and media, media psychology, social networks, and emerging media.

Katrina R. Ellis is an assistant professor at the School of Social Work. Her research interests include family health interventions, cancer survivorship, racial and ethnic disparities in health, and family management of chronic health conditions. An overarching goal of her research is to support the health of families facing multiple, coexisting illnesses, with a specific focus on African Americans. Dr. Ellis employs a range of qualitative and quantitative methodologies in her work with families, clinicians and community groups. Her published research includes examinations of the influence of co-occurring illnesses on the psychosocial and behavioral health and well-being of cancer survivors and their family caregivers using quantitative dyadic data analysis techniques. She has also published research investigating psychosocial factors that influence the health behaviors and well-being of African Americans. Dr. Ellis’ future program of research includes the design and implementation of interventions to support the quality of life and healthy lifestyle and coping behaviors of cancer survivors, caregivers and family members.

She completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the Cancer Health Disparities Training Program (Department of Health Behavior, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health), the Center for Health Equity Research (Department of Social Medicine, School of Medicine) and Carolina Postdoctoral Program for Faculty Diversity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During her time as a postdoctoral fellow, she worked with community-based participatory research projects in Greensboro and Rocky Mount, North Carolina focused on reducing the disproportionate burden of cancer morbidity and mortality and cardiovascular disease risk among African Americans and on digital health projects to support the wellbeing of peer supporters and families after a cancer diagnosis. Dr. Ellis is also a former Peace Corps Volunteer, having served as a Health Promotion Officer with the Ministry of Health in Fiji.

Website: The Gonzo Lab

Bio-Social Methods Collaborative

Lindred (Lindy) Greer is a Professor for Management & Organizations at Ross and the Faculty Director of the Sanger Leadership Center. Her research focuses on how to lead high-performing teams, with specific interests in leadership skills in conflict management, diversity and inclusion, power-flexing, and the communication of emotions. Lindy has published in management and psychology research outlets such as Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Journal of Applied Psychology, Science, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, among others. She has received awards for her research from the Academy of Management  and American Psychological Association. She is Deputy Editor at Organization Science, has served as an Associate/Senior Editor at the Academy of Management Journal and Organization Science, on the boards of six of the top management and psychology journals, and on the boards of professional associations such as the International Association of Conflict Management and the Conflict Management Division of the Academy of Management. 

Lindy received her B.S. from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and her Ph.D. in social and organizational psychology from Leiden University in the Netherlands. She joined the team at Ross in 2019.

Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Hilton served as Vice President and Chief Information Officer at the University of Virginia from 2006 until 2013. From 2001 to 2006 he was the Associate Provost for Academic Information and Instructional Technology Affairs at the University of Michigan, and served as the Interim University Librarian for one year in 2005. He was a member of the faculty at the University of Michigan in the Psychology Department where he served as the Chair of Undergraduate Studies between 1991 and 2000. He is a three-time recipient of the LS&A Excellence in Education award, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, and recipient of the Class of 1923 Memorial Teaching Award. He has published extensively in the areas of information technology policy, person perception, stereotypes, and the psychology of suspicion.

Dr. Hilton received a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1981, and a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Princeton University in 1985.

Huesmann’s research focuses on understanding the psychological foundations of aggressive behavior and in particular on understanding how the observations of others behaving violently influences the development of a youth’s aggressive and violent behavior and produces a contagion of violence. He specializes in conducting longitudinal studies of youth growing up over many years including the well-known Columbia County Longitudinal Study, the Oak Park Longitudinal Study, the Cross-National Television Study, the Metropolitan Area Child Study in Chicago, and his current Exposure to Violence Study for Palestinian and Israeli Youth. Over the past 55 years, Huesmann has authored over 100 widely cited scientific articles and books including Growing Up To Be Violent (1977), Television and the Aggressive Child (1986), and Aggressive Behavior (1994). He was Director of RCGD from 2006 to 2012 and was Editor of the international journal Aggressive Behavior from 2004 to 2012. He was the 2005 recipient of the American Psychological Association’s award for Distinguished Lifetime Contributions to Media Psychology, the 2014 recipient of the International Society for Research on Aggression’s award for Distinguished Lifetime Contributions to Aggression Research.  In 20110 he was elected a member of the USA National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine’s Forum on Global Violence Prevention. He is a past President of the International Society for Research on Aggression and a life member of Clare Hall College, Cambridge University, UK.

Website: Rowell Huesmann Website

Viktoryia Kalesnikava investigates the pathways toward– and disparities around– healthy aging. She uses mixed methods to examine the joint effects of mental and physical health, and social and built environment on the early onset of chronic diseases and neurocognitive aging. Other research investigates factors related to late-life suicide, using nationally represented survey data. As part of GREMAP, we use machine learning with NVDRS data to examine suicidality around long-term care. Other collaborations include data collection for the study on chronic stress and diabetes, evaluation of YMCA diabetes initiatives, and understanding how debate participation influences student achievement.

Currently, in a project funded by the United States Air Force, Dr. Lee is developing and implementing a technology-based parenting intervention for men in military families. The main goal of this intervention is to promote fathers’ positive engagement with their new babies through the deployment and reintegration cycle. Professor Lee completed a NIMH-funded predoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan and was a postdoctoral research scholar at Columbia University. Her research examining fathers and risk for child maltreatment was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Website: Elizabeth Birr Moje

Website: Harold W. Neighbors, Ph.D.

Website: Richard Nisbett

Suzanne Perkins is a lecturer in the Department of Psychology and a Research Investigator at the Institute for Social Research Research Center for Group Dynamics. Her research focuses on how child maltreatment influences cognitive processing development. Working in developmental psychology as well as cognition and cognitive neuroscience, her work has explored poverty and language development; effects of exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) on child adjustment; violence exposure and the development of school-related functioning, and cognitive therapies for PTSD and major depressive disorder. Dr. Perkins is a former special education teacher who has also specialized in executive functioning and stress disorders in youth. 

Dr. Saleem’s research explores the role of media in interpersonal and intergroup conflicts using social science quantitative methods. In the domain of intergroup conflict, Dr. Saleem has explored the role of media stereotypes in influencing attitudes towards and public policy decisions targeting Arabs and Muslims. Current work in this area explores how media influences immigrants’ ethnic and national identities, acculturation, trust and interest in American government, and relations with majority members. Dr. Saleem is examining the influence of media stereotypes and discrimination on Muslim American adolescents’ social identities using a longitudinal design. Finally, Dr. Saleem’s research has examined how media violence can influence aggression and reduce prosocial behaviors. Dr. Saleem’s work has been published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Child Development, Aggressive Behavior, Journal of Communication, and Communication Research.

Dr. Eleanor K. Seaton is a developmental psychologist and her research is guided by four areas of inquiry that explore race among Black youth. The first area explores racial discrimination experiences and includes measurement, mediators and moderators of racial discrimination experiences. The second area explores the attitudes and feelings that African American youth ascribe to being Black, which is known as racial identity. The third area examines the complex relation between racial discrimination and racial identity among Black youth. A new area of inquiry assesses the interaction of racial discrimination, racial identity and pubertal development among Black children and adolescents. An extension of this area includes a focus on how racial discrimination “gets under the skin” with examination of the relation between racial discrimination experiences and physiological indicators such as cortisol, alpha amylase and C-reactive protein. Dr. Seaton uses quantitative and qualitative approaches embedded in a variety of methodological designs (e.g., daily diary, survey, qualitative) and analytical techniques (e.g., latent class, hierarchical linear modeling). Dr. Seaton’s ultimate goal is to understand how Black youth survive and thrive despite the pervasiveness of racism in the broader society.

For more information, see Dr. Seaton’s faculty website.

Attiya Shaw’s research is focused on data and methods that prioritize user-centered outcomes in transport engineering and urban planning. She is motivated by a desire to better understand transportation system users, and aim to achieve this through improved measurement of behavior and performance. Broadly, her research expertise and interests center around: user-centered data stream integration and utilization, transportation survey design and analysis, behavioral modeling, psychometrics, and human factors engineering. She is also passionate about educational outreach and mentorship.

Professor Roseanna Sommers’s teaching and research interests revolve around the many ways in which the law misunderstands people and people misunderstand the law.

Sommers’s research examines people’s intuitions about legal concepts such as consent, autonomy, and moral responsibility. Her work is part of a growing interdisciplinary field known as experimental jurisprudence, which borrows empirical techniques from the social sciences to clarify core concepts in the law.

Her work asks questions like: How do people determine whether someone is acting voluntarily? How do we think about interferences to autonomy, such as coercion, deception, incapacity, and manipulation? Are our legal doctrines defensible in light of empirical insights from the social and cognitive sciences? Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Psychological Science, as well as in law reviews such as the Yale Law Journal and the Stanford Law Review. She is currently co-leading a study funded by the National Science Foundation on the psychology of compliance.

Prior to joining the Michigan Law faculty, Prof. Sommers taught at the University of Chicago Law School as a Harry A. Bigelow Teaching Fellow. She is the founder and director of the Psychology and Law Studies (PALS) Lab, which conducts original research at the intersection of psychology and law. She also co-organizes the Chicago/Michigan PALS speaker series, a virtual workshop hosted in collaboration with the University of Chicago Law School.