Applied Social and Community Psychology Graduate Students
Ali Babij
After graduating from Willamette University with a B.A. in Psychology in 2015, Ali entered the Applied Social and Community Psychology program in Fall 2016. She is a member of Dr. Jeni Burnette’s Mindset lab and is mainly interested in the self-regulation of eating and exercise behaviors and how these intersect with body image and body shame. Ali also currently works as a TA for Abnormal Psychology courses.
Matthew Bahnson, M.A.
Matthew Bahnson entered the program in Fall 2017, after working in Marketing Research. Matthew holds an M.A. in Social Sciences from University of Chicago and a B.A. in Psychology/Human from University of Northern Iowa. He currently works on a research project in the College of Engineering about Engineering Identity and its connection to recruitment and retention in engineering graduate programs. His research interests include the STEM Identity, identity formation, sexual health, minority sexual and gender identities, and research methods.
Noely Banos
Noely entered the program in fall of 2017, after completing her Masters of Experimental Psychology form the Western Carolina University. Her research interest includes the development of healthy masculine identity and understanding the factors that contribute to the increase of pro-social behaviors.
Christine Brugh
Joel Keith Cartwright
Joel entered the Applied Social and Community Psychology program at North Carolina State University in the fall of 2014. After separating from the U.S. Army, he received a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology followed by a Master of Science in Psychology from North Carolina State University. Joel is currently a research associate in the Violence and Victimization Research Program of the RTI International Center for Justice, Safety, and Resilience. He also serves as President of the International Association of Forensic Mental Health Services Student Board, an officer in the Military Psychology Interest Group (division 19 of the American Psychological Association) and campus representative for the American Psychology-Law Society (division 41 of the APA). Joel’s research interests include violence risk assessment and correlates of violence within people involved in the criminal justice system and military populations.
Reina Evans
Reina entered the program in Fall 2017, after graduating from St. Edward's University with a B.S. in Behavioral Neuroscience. She previously worked at the Center for Autism and Related Disorders as a behavioral therapist. Over the past year she has been studying the effects of sex education on sexual risk and sexual satisfaction in college students. Overall, she is interested in developing and evaluating interventions to combat mental and physical public health issues that affect the lives of adolescents, with a focus on early parent-child communication, positive sex outcomes, and gender differences.
Melinda Hodnett
Melinda entered the program in Fall 2016. A Raleigh native, she earned her B.S. in Psychology from Appalachian State University in 2015. Her current research focuses on sexual harassment in smartphone dating applications. Melinda teaches Psychology of Gender and conducts research with the NC Department of Health and Human Services.
Kristyn Kamke, MS
Kristyn entered the Applied Social and Community Psychology program in Fall 2015, after receiving an M.S. in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University Maryland. She is a research assistant in Dr. Laura Widman’s Teen Health Lab interested broadly in sexual health. In particular, she is focused on the promotion of positive sexuality in sexual health education and the ways in which gender norms shape sexual health in teens. Soon, she will begin data collection for her dissertation project: applying a web-based sexual health and communication intervention (Project HEART, developed by Laura Widman) to a sample of girls with unstable housing and/or problem behaviors receiving community-based services in Raleigh.
Travis Knight, MA
Travis entered the program in Fall 2011. Originally from rural eastern North Carolina, he graduated from North Carolina Central University in 2009 with a B.A. in Psychology and in 2011 with a M.A. in General Experiment Psychology. He is interested in health behavior change, particularly factors related to health and well being in young men. He is a student in Dr. Joe Simons-Rudolph’s MMRG Lab.
Abby Nance
Abby Nance entered the program in 2015. She is interested in mixed methods approaches to measuring childhood trauma and teaching and trauma sensitive teaching in higher education. She is 2017 (SOTL) Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Institute grant recipient, a Teaching Assistant at NC State and a Research Intern at the Center for AIDS research at UNC Chapel Hill where she is working on the Social and Behavioral Instruments (SABI) Database.
Kasey Orvidas
After graduating from the University of Minnesota with a B.A. in Psychology and Sociology in the Spring of 2015, Kasey entered into the Applied Social and Community Psychology program in the Fall of 2015. Kasey is a member of Dr. Jeni Burnette's Mindset Lab and is currently most involved in research regarding health behavior change (e.g. exercise and healthy eating). She is also an academic advisor in the undergraduate psychology office and a nutrition coach.
Kristen Pender, MS.Ed
Kristen entered the program in Fall 2016. Originally from South Florida, Kristen received an MS.Ed in Community and Social Change from the University of Miami in 2016 and a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Central Florida in 2014. Kristen's research interests lie broadly in counter-storytelling and the intersectionality of race/ethnicity, sexuality, and gender identity. Kristen is a graduate research assistant in the Hope Lab where she studies racial identity and sociopolitical activism among Black youth and emerging adults. She is also a scholar in the Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity (IMSD) program.
Heather Perkins
Heather entered the program in the fall of 2014, after completing her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Cincinnati. She has participated in various research projects examining the role of engineering identity on graduate student success, how to counter scientist stereotypes in the classroom, and how to measure science identity and interest. Her primary research interest is identity and identity processes, as applied to STEM education and online communities.
Melissa Peters
Melissa entered the program in Fall 2013. She currently teaches Abnormal Psychology. Melissa’s research interests center on feminism, intergroup processes and social identity theories, and what leads those with power and privilege to move beyond sympathy to identification with those with less power and privilege. Specifically, she is interested in what factors may lead to attitude change and how education (e.g., WGS courses) may facilitate this process.
Betty-Shannon Prevatt, MA
Betty-Shannon entered the SoCo program in 2014 after discovering her love of teaching while serving as an adjunct professor at Meredith College. She received a Master’s in Clinical Psychology in 2001 and has worked in various settings, including owning a private practice focused on reproductive mental health. She volunteered with a nonprofit serving women and families effected by postpartum mood disorders. Betty-Shannon’s research interests broadly encompass perinatal mental health. More specifically, her current projects examine facilitators of perinatal wellness, access to perinatal mental health resources in NC, and differing experiences with the adjustment to parenthood. She has taught Abnormal, Health, and Applied Psychology at the undergraduate level at NCSU.
Hilary Rampey
Hilary entered the program in 2012, after graduating with a BA in Psychology & Philosophy from Furman University (Greenville, SC). She has been a TA for PSY 220 and PSY 230. Hilary is a member of the Stereotypes Lab, as well as a diversity training facilitator for the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI). Her research interests include issues of gender in areas such as leadership, sense of community, and sense of responsibility for communities.
Kristen Riddick M.A.
Kristen entered the Applied Social & Community Psychology (SoCo) program in Fall 2016 after graduating with a B.A. in psychology from East Carolina University in 2014 and a M.A. in psychology from North Carolina Central University in 2016. She is a member of the Hope Lab and the NCSU Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity (IMSD) program. Kristen’s research interests include Black communities-based social action, gendered racial socialization, and community-based sexual/health and well-being education programs for women and girls of color.
Grace Srigley, MS
Grace entered the program in fall 2010 after graduating from the University of North Carolina Asheville with a B.A. in Psychology and distinction as a University Research Scholar in 2009. She earned a Master’s in Psychology in 2013 and is currently researching police officer training for domestic violence response to complete her dissertation. In addition to research, she is also passionate about teaching and has taught Personality, Abnormal Psychology, and Learning and Motivation. Outside of academia, her favorite activities involve exploring mountains and waterfalls.
J Stewart
J entered the SoCo program in the fall of 2016. Her research interests broadly encompass sexuality with a focus on school sex education reform. More specifically, she explores topics such as sexual minority development, sexual communication, and behavioral health effects of stigma around sexuality. She received a BFA from the University of Delaware in 2009 and completed a post-bacc psychology program at CUNY Hunter College in 2015. Currently, J is an RA for Dr. Laura Widman in the Teen Health Lab.
Angela Stoica, MPH
Angela entered the program in 2015 after receiving her Master's in Public Health (2013). She worked as a researcher for several years at a public health firm, and is currently an RA in the Innovation & Tech lab. Angela is interested in researching campus sexual assault, and currently interns at the Women's Center on campus to examine mechanisms for sexual assault prevention.
Mckenzie Stokes
Mckenzie entered the program in Fall 2017 after completing her B.S. in Psychology and B.A. in African-American Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University. Her research interests revolve around the role of family structure, dynamics, and demographics on minority youth and adolescent development.
Fanice Thomas
Fanice graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from Metropolitan State University, MN in May 2015 and entered the Applied Social and Community Psychology (SoCo) program in Fall 2016. Fanice is a member of Dr. Jeni Burnette’s Mindset Lab and also works as a teaching assistant in the Psychology department. Her research interests are in social and health psychology, with a focus on how exposure to Western culture impacts diet and exercise behaviors, biases towards fatness, and implicit and explicit attitudes relating to body image in non- Western populations.
Geena Washington
Geena entered the Applied Social and Community Psychology Program in Fall 2016, after graduating with a B.S. in Psychology from Kennesaw State University. She has served with AmeriCorps NCCC and State/National. Through her service experiences she has developed research interests regarding community engagement within minority groups. Geena currently works as an Academic Advisor for the Academic Support Center at NCSU.
Jeffrey L. Wilkins, MA
Jeffrey entered the program in the fall of 2011. Jeffrey received a BA in Psychology from North Carolina State University and a MA in Psychology from North Carolina Central University. He is an Adjunct Instructor at North Carolina Central University. His teaching areas include experimental psychology and research methods/statistics for the behavioral sciences. Jeffrey’s areas of research include evaluating the role of virtual communities in promoting psychological well-being for individuals with chronic medical conditions and how various forms of online communications effect user global perspective and worldview. Jeff’s hobbies include video gaming, gardening, and fishing.
Samantha Zottola
Samantha entered the Applied Social and Community Psychology program at North Carolina State University in the Fall of 2017. She received a Master’s in Clinical Psychology from Cleveland State University in 2015. After graduating she spent a year and a half working as a Psychometrist for a Juvenile Court in Ohio. There she conducted testing for delinquency, competency, bindover, and child custody evaluations. Her research interests include the impact of mental health status on the validity of violence risk assessment and assessing risk in populations for which there are few established measures. She is also interested in improving access to treatment and treatment outcomes in incarcerated populations.