Research Team

Current Students:
Emma Pino, BA

• Thesis: Dispositional empathy and autonomic reactivity during a comfort interaction 
  
• Dissertation: Sleep and cardiovascular reactivity to an acute virtual stressor  

Daniel Stephenson, Ph.D., Staff Psychologist, Federal Bureau of Prisons, LA

• Thesis:The physiology of apology: An investigation into potential sex differences 
• Dissertation: Dispositional optimism and autonomic reactivity during difficult and easy stress tasks  

Casey Cavanagh, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of Virginia Medical School, Charlottesville, VA

• Thesis: Effect of emotion regulation on cardiovascular response to emotion provocation: Re-appraisal versus suppression
• Dissertation: An examination of the buffering effect of positive emotions on cardiovascular reactivity and recovery

Carol Goulet, Ph.D., Director of Behavioral Science, La-Crosse-Mayo Family Medicine Residency Program, La Crosse, WI

• Thesis: Examination of mediational models of the hostility-health link

• Dissertation: Psychosocial factors in predicting breast self examination

Paula Prentice, Ph.D., Student Affairs Leader, Front Range Community College, Denver, CO

• Thesis: Dispositional mindfulness and cardiovascular reactivity to sensory rejection and sensory intake tasks
• Dissertation: Stress and obesity: Facilitation of neuroendocrine and autonomic nervous system recovery from stress while eating comfort foods?

Amanda (Wheat) Whited, Ph.D., Realtor/Broker, Greenville, NC

• Thesis: Attachment, relational functioning, and forgiveness
• Dissertation: Biofeedback training of heart rate variability

Lauren Penwell-Waines, Ph.D., Associate Program Director, Novant Health Family Medicine Residency, Charlotte, NC

• Dissertation: Validation of the Calgary Symptoms of Stress Inventory (C-SOSI) for predicting adherence to a stress reduction technique

Eric Grady, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, Kaiser Permanente, Tracy, CA

• Dissertation: An examination of subjective and physiological responses to smoking cues in young adulthood

Matthew Whited, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Eastern Carolina University, Greenville, NC

• Thesis: Sex differences in cardiovascular reactivity: Influence of the gender relevance of a social task.
• Dissertation: The influence of forgiveness and apology on cardiovascular reactivity to mental stress

Matt and Amanda Whited, Lauren Penwell-Waines, and Jeff Goodie - 2015

Benjamin Parker, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System, Biloxi, MS.

• Thesis: Forgiveness, trauma, and interpersonal betrayal.
• Dissertation: The relation between hostility and social support: Investigating potential mediation or moderation by trait forgiveness, attributional style, and trait empathy.

Melissa DeMore Zettler, Ph.D., Mom; previously at the Kennedy Krieger Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.

• Dissertation: Predictors of child immunization distress: The role of adherence to immunization schedules.

Jill MacLaren, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Dalhousie University and Centre for Pediatric Pain Research, Halifax, New Brunswick, Canada

• Dissertation: Training nursing students in evidence-based non-pharmacological pain management techniques.

Cara O’Connell, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina Medical Center, Chapel Hill, NC

• Thesis: The impact of caloric pre-loading on attempts at food- and eating-related thought suppression in restrained and unrestrained eaters.
• Dissertation: Psychosocial moderators in the relation between CD4 count and physical symptoms among African American women with HIV.

Brandie K. Taylor, M.A., Chief Evaluation Researcher, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, MD

• Thesis: Potential relations between extraversion and cardiovascular reactivity during laboratory stressors.

Danielle Hernandez, Ph.D., Psychologist, Phoenix VA Health Care System, Phoenix, AZ

• Thesis: The effects of rumination and emotional writing on cardiovascular recovery from stress.
• Dissertation: Hostility, forgiveness, and cardiovascular reactivity to stress: Does forgiveness mediate or moderate the relation between hostility and cardiovascular reactivity to anger-eliciting laboratory experiences.

Andria Black Doyle, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, Mind Body Health Associates, Findley, OH

• Thesis: Effects of gender and gender role on cardiovascular reactivity and anger experience during an interpersonal interaction.
• Dissertation: Gender, gender role, and gender-role-orientation of exercise task: Effects on cardiovascular reactivity and confidence.

Jan Boury, Ph.D., Psychologist, Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Westover, WV

• Thesis: The influence of dietary experience on the taste preference for fat in foods.
• Dissertation: Stages of change and altering dietary behavior.

Jeffrey Goodie, Ph.D., ABPP, Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Training, Department of Family Medicine, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD

• Thesis: Using impedance cardiography to examine changes in hemodynamic parameters during heart rate biofeedback.
• Dissertation: Transfer of heart rate feedback training to reduce heart rate response to laboratory tasks.

Angela Lau, Ph.D., Clinical psychologist, Long Beach VA Health Care System, Long Beach, CA

• Dissertation: Psychophysiological responses of older adults to an anxiety-evoking stimulus.

Lynda M. Ciano-Federoff, Ph.D., Professor, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA (deceased 2013)

• Dissertation: Effect of gender and social support on cardiovascular reactivity to a speech task.

Risa Nakase-Richardson, Ph.D., Clinical Neuropsychologist, VA Health Care System and Professor, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL

• Dissertation: Prediction of trauma responses following myocardial infarction.

Scott L. Schauss, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, private practice, Decorah, IA

• Dissertation: A comparison of cardiovascular reactivity to laboratory stressors and day-night blood pressure differences assessed by 24-hour ambulatory monitoring.

James P. Davig, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, Regions Hospital Sleep Center, St. Paul, MN

• Dissertation: Generalizability of cardiovascular reactivity to stress among doctoral students between laboratory and natural settings.

Nicole L. Frazer, Ph.D., Psychologist, Executive Officer, Psychological Health Strategic Operations, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs), Washington, DC

• Dissertation: The relation between cardiovascular reactivity to stress and family history of hypertension: Examination of covert and overt responses to stressors.

Sonia Suchday, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology, Pace University, New York, NY

• Dissertation: Anger expression and its relation to coronary artery disease.

Ty S. Callahan, Ph.D., Clinical Neuropsychologist, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE

• Thesis: The effect of interpersonal context on the cardiovascular reactivity of high and low hostile individuals.

Elizabeth Semenchuk, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, private practice, Lorain, OH

• Thesis: Behavioral, cognitive, and physiological responses to interpersonal challenges among offspring of essential hypertensives.
• Dissertation: Cognitive coping responses and behaviorally-evoked cardiovascular responsivity.

Andria Doyle, Jeff Goodie, Jill MacLaren, Risa Richardson, Kevin Larkin, Jennifer Edens, Ann Logan, Claudia Zayfert, and Jennifer Abel at the 50th Year Celebration (Morgantown, June 2016)

Ann Logan, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, private practice, Morgantown, WV

• Dissertation: Threat cues in high trait anxiety: Specificity of attention and interpretation.

Jennifer Edens, Ph.D., Chief, Behavioral Sciences Programs, Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Washington DC

• Thesis: The moderating effects of three components of social support on cardiovascular reactivity.
• Dissertation: The mediating effect of social support upon fitness in females.

Jennifer L. Abel, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, private practice, Clayton, MO

• Thesis: Stability of cardiovascular reactivity between laboratory and naturalistic settings among musicians.
• Dissertation: The effects of heart rate biofeedback in the presence versus the absence of a stressor.

Claudia Zayfert, Ph.D., Executive Officer, The everMind Group Boston MA

• Thesis: Fear of weight gain in college women: A psychophysiological assessment across menstrual phases.
• Dissertation: Cardiovascular and behavioral responses to positive and negative emotions among expressive and non-expressive males.

Joe Breitenstein, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Luther College, Decorah, IA

• Dissertation: Prediction of anxiety treatment efficacy based upon differences in physiological arousal.

Glenn E. Knowlton, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, Knowlton, O’Neill, & Associates, Fargo, ND

• Dissertation: The effect of therapist voice manipulation in the initial session of progressive relaxation training.

Lynda A. Heiden, Ph.D., Professor and Department Chair, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA

• Dissertation: The role of repression, self-efficacy, and coping self-statements in cardiovascular reactivity to active and passive challenges.