麻豆

Dr. Anderson's research focuses on personality and situational causes of impulsive and thoughtful aggression and on the development of violent beliefs, as well as violence prevention. She has also published on personality characteristics associated with interpersonal aggression, acculturation effects and how gender interacts with social factors in influencing behavior. She is the Past-President of the Society for the Psychology of Women (Division 35 of the American Psychological Association), which is an intersectional feminist psychology organization. Dr. Anderson has greatly enjoyed working with McNair scholars at 麻豆 over the past 28 years.

With a background in immunology and previous research on diabetes and obesity in aging, I aim to expand my work by studying the effects of natural compounds on cellular senescence. Senescence, a state in which cells lose their ability to divide and function properly, increases with age and plays a crucial role in aging and age-related diseases. Many regional foods and traditional dietary practices are believed to help slow down senescence. One of my research objectives is to explore and understand whether natural compounds and some specific food/food groups can influence the cellular and immunological senescence markers.

Dr. Charmichael specializes in voice disorders, dysphagia, neuroanatomy & neurophysiology, and craniofacial anomalies. Her research has focused on respiratory dysfunction related to voice and swallowing deficits in neurogenic populations, psychosocial aspects of cleft lip/palate, electrical stimulation, myofascial release, and most recently, long COVID. She is also interested in researching the need to increase diversity of graduate applicants through the use of holistic admissions.

My current research explores culturally responsive self-care strategies tailored for BIPOC communities, integrating BIPOC-centered counseling approaches to foster holistic wellbeing. Centering counseling frameworks like multicultural competence and trauma-informed care, I examine how ancestral wisdom, community rituals, and identity-affirming practices counteract intergenerational trauma and systemic oppression. A key focus incorporates emerging evidence on astrology and human design as complementary tools鈥攁strology for aligning personal rhythms with cosmic cycles to enhance emotional regulation, and human design for decoding innate energy types to guide decision-making and boundary-setting. These methods, when embedded in counseling, empower BIPOC clients to reclaim agency, blending spiritual empowerment with evidence-based techniques like radical self-care and narrative therapy for sustainable mental health resilience.

Dr.  Patton鈥檚 research focuses on trauma-informed approaches in social work education, youth violence, and the academic success of historically marginalized students. Her earlier work examined risk, protective factors, and desistance among violent female adolescents, using quantitative and ecological frameworks to understand pathways toward resilience. More recently, her scholarship has expanded to explore trauma-informed pedagogy, student resilience, moral courage, and advocacy preparation within social work programs, particularly at Hispanic-Serving Institutions and in online learning environments. Dr. Patton also conducts qualitative and mixed-methods research related to mentoring, doctoral education, and the integration of emerging tools such as generative AI in social work education. Through her research and mentorship, she is committed to supporting social work scholars in developing strong research skills, critical inquiry, and pathways toward social justice鈥搊riented careers.

My research is informed by my previous clinical experiences as a bilingual Speech-Language Pathologist in public schools. These experiences shaped my focus on bilingual language development and the need for culturally responsive assessment practices that truly reflect a child鈥檚 bilingual and bicultural abilities. I approach my work through a sociocultural lens, exploring the intersection of bicultural identity and child language development. My primary goal is to advocate for more equitable referral and diagnostic processes, ensuring bilingual children are accurately identified for school-based speech and language services. I aim to transform how we support linguistically diverse students with developmental language delays and their families.

My research interests include examining the mental health issues of college populations, such as interventions intended to provide support for college students from traditionally marginalized groups, veterans transitioning out of the military, or home from deployment, survivors of childhood trauma, substance use, and other pertinent mental health concerns of college students. I am also interested in research on brain processes related to learning, cognition, stress and aging. 

As an ecologist, I am interested in the interactions that organisms have with each other and with their environment. Much of my work focuses on ants and their interactions with plants, fungi, and bacteria. Through this work, I have explored microbial communities, plant and ant chemistry, and ant social immunity (how ants defend against disease). I also study ant foraging behavior, food preference, and nutrition. In the past, I have studied habitat restoration in strip mine lakes and tallgrass prairies. I am always looking to broaden my research program to understand more about our natural world and to apply biological knowledge to real world challenges.