Anna Luerssen

Dr. Anna Luerssen is an Associate Professor of Psychology who joined the Lehman community in 2013. She teaches courses on Social Psychology and Motivation and Emotion and conducts research on romantic relationships. In particular, she is interested in how personality variables (e.g., self-esteem) and situational factors (e.g., external stress) influence the ways that people interact in their relationships. Dr. Luerssen is currently working on a large laboratory study with colleagues at the University of Michigan and will bring on undergraduate research assistants to code video and audio data recorded while couples go through a series of stressful experiences. In the fall, she will also resume an experiment exploring the exchange of affection and compliments in romantic partnerships. Here, research assistants will run participants through a laboratory paradigm and help with data entry and scoring. Additionally, all students who work with Dr. Luerssen attend weekly lab meetings, during which students present and analyze scholarly articles related to the research and she leads professional development tutorials such as applying to graduate school and using Excel.

 

 

Mia Budescu

Dr. Mia Budescu is an associate professor of Psychology with a PhD in developmental psychology. Dr. Budescu’s research focuses on stress and resilience among youth experiencing homelessness, with an emphasis on the impact of stigmatization. This research consists of data collection in the community (at drop-in centers and shelters), data entry, literature searches, and some data analysis. Students working with Dr. Budescu will have an opportunity to learn how to use Excel, R and SPSS. Students are expected to work on projects for at least 3 – 5 hours a week and attend weekly or bi-weekly meetings. In these meetings, we will discuss articles related to the research topic, and discuss issues related to data collection or management. Students who are considering applying to PhD programs or pursuing a career in research will also have the opportunity to work on manuscripts/publications and present their research at scholarly conferences.

 

 

Jennifer Van Allen

Dr. Jennifer Van Allen, Ed.D. is an Assistant Professor of Literacy Education who teaches graduate level literacy courses to teachers. She previously taught and served as a classroom teacher and literacy coach in elementary grade classrooms and schools. Dr. Van Allen’s research interests include digital literacies, open education, and literacy teacher preparation in the 21st-century. Her current research seeks to understand the effects of how open pedagogy on teacher candidates’ pedagogical practices. She supports technology integration efforts at schools within New York City by providing professional development and working directly with teachers. Much of Dr. Van Allen’s research is practice-based and seeks to explore solutions to complex problems of practice in education. Participatory action research involves researcher and participants working together to understand a problematic situation and change it for the better. She is seeking student researchers as collaborators who want to examine practical applications of technology within their classrooms and schools through participatory action research. Thus, student researchers will work closely with Professor Van Allen as a co-investigator involved in all aspects of iterative cycles of research, action, and reflection.

 

 

Eileen Markey

Eileen Markey is an Assistant Professor of Journalism and Media Studies. An investigative journalist who has covered New York City for more than two decades. She is the author of A Radical Faith: The Assassination of Sr. Maura, a biography of Maura Clarke, one of four US women killed by U.S. trained forces in El Salvador in 1980, which drew on deep archival research, public records, Freedom of Information Act requests to the FBI, CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency and State Department and qualitative interviews in four countries. She is the editor of Without Compromise: The Brave Journalism that First Exposed Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani and the American Epidemic of Corruption, an anthology of the work of Village Voice investigative reporter Wayne Barrett. Markey has written for The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, The Daily Beast, Jacobin, The Village Voice, WNYC New York Public Radio, Citylimits, and The New Republic. She continues to write about social movements, urban public policy and New York’s housing crisis. She has begun research on a book about the community organizing in the Bronx in the 1970s and 80s that fought racist redlining, resisted municipal abandonment and forced an alternative to the austerity politics of New York’s fiscal crisis.

 

 

Amanda Sisselman-Borgia

We are investigating the impact of trauma and discrimination on the well-being and daily functioning of youth experiencing homelessness (YEH), including their engagement with HIV preventives (PrEP). We are collecting and analyzing preliminary data to develop and adapt interventions to improve YEH engagement with HIV preventive tools and to help improve YEH executive functioning. Students on my research team participate in data collection and the building of survey and interview tools, conduct focus groups and interviews with participants, and analyze qualitative and quantitative data. Students also have the opportunity to prepare manuscripts for publication and to present at campus-wide, local, regional, and national conferences focused on social work and behavioral and prevention sciences.