{"id":189,"date":"2021-09-27T22:50:23","date_gmt":"2021-09-27T22:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/hpsa\/?page_id=189"},"modified":"2026-08-01T00:53:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T00:53:16","slug":"alumni","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/hpsa\/alumni\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumni"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2026<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Rachel Ayala Guzman<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rachel completed her Ph.D. in Health Psychology from ODU in 2026 under the mentorship of Dr. Abby Braitman. Her research interests include health behaviors among emerging adults, particularly how and why college students may be engaging in risky behaviors (e.g., using alcohol) as a form of coping with certain stressors. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Jordan Ball<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jordan completed his Ph.D. in Health Psychology from ODU in 2026 under the mentorship of Dr. Miguel Padilla. His research interests include mental health of college faculty, as well as ways in which faculty can decrease burnout. Jordan is currently a senior institutional analyst at the University of Chicago.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2025<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Samantha Fitzer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samantha completed her Ph.D. in Health Psychology from ODU in 2025 under the mentorship of Dr. James M. Henson. Her research interests include health behaviors among youth and young adults, specifically understanding why individuals engage in risky health behaviors and how we can work to minimize the negative impacts of substance use. Samantha is currently an Operations Research Analyst at the Naval Safety Command.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2024<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Jennifer Shipley<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jennifer completed her Ph.D. in Health Psychology from ODU in 2024 under the mentorship of Dr. Abby Braitman. Her research interests include examining high-risk substance use among emerging adult college students, especially behaviors related to simultaneous use of alcohol and cannabis. Jennifer is also interested in developing and evaluating measures that assess behaviors related to simultaneous use of alcohol and cannabis and conducting advanced statistical analyses, such as longitudinal and multilevel data analyses. Jennifer is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oregon.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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John Mart Delos Reyes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John completed his Ph.D. in Health Psychology from ODU in 2024 under the mentorship of Dr. Miguel Padilla. His research interests include robust statistical methodologies and psychometrics. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Jennika Jenkins<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jennika completed her Ph.D. in Applied Experimental Psychology from ODU in 2024 under the mentorship of Dr. James Paulson. Her research interests include the study of early family dynamics, with emphasis on developmental psychopathology, emotional coping, and transgenerational trauma. Jennika is currently a Lecturer at the University of Rhode Island.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2023<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Lee Golembiewski<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee completed his Ph.D. in Health Psychology from ODU in 2023. His research interests include minority stress and mental health among sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations. More specifically, his research highlights the impact of stigma, discrimination, and internalized homophobia among SGM college students. Lee has a specialization in developmental psychology and is currently an Assistant Professor of Psychology at The State University of New York at Fredonia (SUNY Fredonia).<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Megan Strowger<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Megan completed her Ph.D. in Health Psychology from ODU in 2023. Her research interests include understanding the etiology of problematic alcohol use among young people. In particular, she is interested in the associations between social influences (both in-person and online via social media) and alcohol use. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2020<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Sarah Ehlke<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah completed her Ph.D. in Health Psychology in 2020. Her research interests include substance use among sexual minority women. Specifically, she is interested in the role of sexual minority stressors on alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use among young bisexual women. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Health Promotion Research Center at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Health Psychology at Old Dominion University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah is the director of the SGM Health Behaviors Lab<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Elaine Murphy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elaine Murphy received her Ph.D. in Health Psychology in 2020 under the mentorship of Dr. Michelle Kelley. She defended her Master’s thesis looking at attachment theory and risky driving.  She hopes to extend this research to other prevalent risky behaviors among emerging adults.  Some of her other research interests include community health behaviors and aspects of romantic relationships. She is currently a Lecturer in the Psychology department at Old Dominion University.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2019<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Amy Stamates<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amy Stamates graduated from the Applied Experimental Psychology program in 2019. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and Faculty Affiliate of the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program at the University of Rhode Island. Her research uses various methodological approaches (e.g., experimental designs, ecological momentary assessment) to identify antecedents to and consequences of risky alcohol and drug use patterns among emerging adults.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Julia Thompson (n\u00e9e Zaharieva)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julia Thompson received her Ph.D. in 2019 under the mentorship of Dr. Miguel Padilla. Her research interests include work motivation, survey and test development, and validity of satisfaction surveys. Julia is currently a Senior HR Analyst at Cox Enterprises.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2018<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Brittany Hollis<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brittany completed her Ph.D. in 2018. She also received her B.S. and M.A. in Psychology from Old Dominion University. Her research interests include stress, trauma, and resilience, with a focus on the prevention and treatment of sexual violence among college students and Veterans. After finishing her graduate work, she completed a Women\u2019s Health Research Fellowship at the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion within the Pittsburgh Veterans Health Administration. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Health Psychology at St. Lawrence University.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2017<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Blake Bent<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blake Bent completed his Ph.D. in 2017 under the mentorship of Dr. Philip Langlais. His research interests include decision-making under risk and uncertainty, inter-temporal choice, and the use of heuristic processing in conservation behavior and consumer choice. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Valparaiso University.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2016<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Ashley Linden-Carmichael<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ashley completed her Ph.D. in 2016 under the mentorship of Dr. Cathy Lau-Barraco. As a doctoral student, Ashley received a National Research Service Award (F31) from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Ashley\u2019s program of research focuses on identifying influential and underlying psychosocial predictors and consequences of high-risk drinking behavior with a special focus on the simultaneous use of alcohol and cannabis. Ashley has a particular interest in using innovative methods, such as daily diary designs, ecological momentary assessment, and wearable alcohol sensors to assess problematic alcohol use patterns in real-time. Ashley is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling Psychology and Human Services and Associate Director of the Prevention Science Institute at the University of Oregon.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Adrian Bravo<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adrian completed his Ph.D. in Applied Experimental Psychology in 2016. After graduating, he completed a 3-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Center on Alcohol, Substance Use, and Addiction<\/a>, and is now an Assistant Professor at William & Mary<\/a> His research focuses on examining protective\/risk factors (e.g., substance use motives, substance use protective behavioral strategies, impulsivity-like traits, rumination, and mindfulness) of substance use and mental health across distinct populations (i.e., college students, clinical populations, and military personnel).<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Brynn Sheehan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brynn completed her Ph.D. in 2016. She completed her B.A. in Psychology from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, her M.A. in Justice from the University of New Hampshire, as well as her M.S. in Experimental Psychology from ODU. Her research interests include social dominance, risky alcohol use, and health-related behaviors among emerging adults. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Eastern Virginia Medical School.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Robert Milletich<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robby completed his Ph.D. in 2016. He completed his undergraduate work at Old Dominion University (cum laude) in psychology in 2009. He is currently a Senior Data Scientist for Amazon Web Services.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Ralitsa Maduro<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ralitsa completed her Ph.D. in 2016. She received her M.S. in Experimental Psychology from Old Dominion University in 2014. She received her M.S. in Clinical Psychology from Francis Marion University in 2011. She received her B.A. in Psychology from The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey (magna cum laude) in 2007. She is currently a biostatistican for Sentara Healthcare. Her research interests include parenting, parental involvement, and same-sex parenting.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2015<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Jessica Ladage<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jessica completed her Ph.D. in Applied Experimental Psychology in 2015. Her dissertation examined parental involvement for biological fathers and stepfathers. She completed her undergraduate work at St. Mary’s University in 2006. She previously worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator at Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, Virginia. Jessica also worked as a Public Health Research Coordinator in the Department of Surgery at Washington University, as well as being an instructor at Brown Mackie College in St. Louis, Missouri.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Tyler Mason<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tyler completed his Ph.D. in 2015. Following the HP program, he completed a two-year NIMH T32 postdoctoral fellowship in eating disorders research at the Neuropsychiatric Research Institute in Fargo, ND. Currently, Tyler is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California and Associate Director of the Real-Time Eating Activity and Children\u2019s Health (REACH) lab. Broadly, his research interests include the etiology and treatment of eating disorders and obesity. Specifically, he investigates how the interplay of factors such as affect, executive functioning, and social stressors are associated with unhealthy behaviors in the context of regulatory, control, and goal theories. Much of this research uses ecological momentary assessment to measure the momentary processes that maintain various eating and diet behaviors and physical activity.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2014<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Gabrielle D’Lima<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabrielle completed her Ph.D. in Applied Experimental Psychology in 2014. Her experience over the years as a Biostatistician, Senior Information Analytics Specialist, and Team Coordinator has led to her current work as Manager of Analytics at Optima Health, a service of Sentara Healthcare. Additionally, she has taught undergraduate education for over 10 years and is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor at ODU; she was awarded the College of Sciences Distinguished Teaching Award in 2017. Her research interests include the areas of health behavior change, self-regulation, and alcohol misuse.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Martin Smith-Rodden<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin completed his Ph.D. in Applied Experimental Psychology in 2014. He completed his undergraduate work at Virginia Wesleyan University (cum laude) in sociology. His research interests include Media Psychology, including changes in judgment and decision making after exposure to powerful news images. He is currently Assistant Professor of Journalism at Ball State University. He has previously taught at South University and Virginia Wesleyan University in addition to his work as a photojournalist at the Virginian Pilot.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2012<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Abby Braitman<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abby completed her Ph.D. in 2012 under the mentorship of Matt Henson. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship via NIAAA’s Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F32) and is now an Assistant Professor of Psychology at ODU, affiliated with both the Health and Clinical Psychology concentrations. Her program of research is on risky health behaviors among high-risk groups, and extending the efficacy of known short-lived interventions to curb such behavior.  Her focus is on the etiology of college drinking, using boosters to extend online interventions targeting risky drinking, and examining mechanisms of change (especially protective behavioral strategies).  She also has a strong interest in quantitative methods (specifically longitudinal data analysis). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abby is the director of the Alcohol ETOH Behaviors Lab<\/a>, and her personal webpage can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Jennifer May<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jennifer completed her Ph.D. in Applied Experimental Psychology in 2012. She currently works for Sentara as Manager of Clinical Research Operations. Their clinical research portfolio includes over 200 active studies in neurology, cancer cardiology, vascular, emergency medicine, and other specialties.\u00a0Her personal research interests include the effects of sleep and fatigue on performance.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Mateo Pearson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mateo completed his Ph.D. in Applied Experimental Psychology in 2012. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship under Dr. Katie Witkiewitz, and is currently a Research Associate Professor at the University of New Mexico’s Center on Alcohol, Substance use, And Addictions. He was the founding president of the Research Society on Marijuana (RSMj), if interested in cannabis research, find out more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Viktoria Tidikyte<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viktoria completed her Ph.D. in Applied Experimental Psychology in 2012. Her research interests include group problem solving as well as emotions and creativity. Viktoria is currently an Associate Teaching Professor in the Psychology-Department of Psychological Sciences at Northern Arizona University.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Kristie Johnson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kristie completed her Ph.D. in Applied Experimental Psychology in 2012. She is currently a researcher at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the Behavioral Research Division. Her research interests include traffic safety, specifically seat belt use and driving under the influence, and how public policy can influence the public’s adhesion to safety laws.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2011<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Ashley Doane<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ashley completed her Ph.D. in Applied Experimental Psychology in 2011. Her research focuses on cyberbullying. Specifically, she is interested in antecedents and consequences of cyberbullying, cyberbullying roles, and cyberbullying prevention. She is currently the Chair of the Department of Psychology and Associate Professor of Psychology at Chowan University in Murfreesboro, North Carolina.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Ross May<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ross completed his Ph.D. in Applied Experimental Psychology in 2011. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2009<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Krystall Dunaway<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Krystall completed her Ph.D. in Applied Experimental Psychology in 2009. Her research focuses on issues of cultural competence, as well as student sense of belonging and retention. She is currently a Master Lecturer in the Psychology Department at ODU. Her previous positions include Program Director of Psychology at South University Virginia Beach, Program Evaluation Specialist in the Department of Educational Leadership and Assessment for Virginia Beach Public Schools, and Research Associate and faculty member at the Division of Community Health and Research at Eastern Virginia Medical School.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2007<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Margot Ackermann<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Margot completed her Ph.D. in Applied Experimental Psychology in 2007. She is currently the Research and Evaluation Director for Homeward, a Richmond-based nonprofit that is working to prevent and end homelessness. She is also an adjunct professor at Virginia Commonwealth University.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2026 Rachel Ayala Guzman Rachel completed her Ph.D. in Health Psychology from ODU in 2026 under the mentorship of Dr. Abby Braitman. Her research interests include health behaviors among emerging adults, particularly how and why college students may be engaging in risky behaviors (e.g., using alcohol) as a form of coping with certain stressors. Jordan … Continue reading Alumni<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14421,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/hpsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/hpsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/hpsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/hpsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14421"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/hpsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/hpsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":435,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/hpsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/189\/revisions\/435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/hpsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}