Faculty Research Interests

I primarily specialize in research related to gender, work, and family. The bulk of my research is on work-family conflict and the division of paid and unpaid labor in households. I am particularly interested in health outcomes associated with various aspects of work-family balance. A second area of research examines the effectiveness of high impact practices, such as experiential classroom simulations, in achieving student learning outcomes. While not a primary area of focus, I have also conducted research on how culture and identity shape food patterns and meanings.

My primary interests are in the fields of American federalism and state and local policy agendas. Recently I co-edited the book Teaching Federalism: Multidimensional Approaches (2023), which was published as part of Edward Elgar’s Teaching Methods series. Prior to that I researched how the American federal system has affected the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in four co-authored publications. I am currently co-editing The Health of Democracy in Federal Political Systems: Consolidating, Thriving, or Backsliding? which draws upon papers presented at the 2023 International Association of Centers for Federal Studies Annual Conference in Philadelphia.

Much of my state politics research focuses on Pennsylvania. I have co-edited Pennsylvania Politics and Policy: A Commonwealth Reader, Volume 1 (2018) and Volume 2 (2019). I am currently doing research for Governing the Commonwealth: Politics, Policy and Executive Power in Pennsylvania. The book examines how recent Pennsylvania governors have used their formal and informal powers to influence public policy across a range of issues including education, the environment, and social welfare.

My research focuses on the neurobiology of social behavior and how hormones play a role in regulating those behaviors. Together with Widener undergraduate biology majors, I work on projects ranging from brain and behavior studies in songbirds, stress physiology in fish, to testing gene therapy treatments for nervous system disorders in rodents. All of my projects are conducted at Widener, some of which are done in collaboration with researchers at larger institutions.

My research interests include forest phenology/climatology, sustainable development, and tropical ecology.

My research interests include the treatment of rape victims by the criminal justice, medical and legal systems, the transformation of rape crisis centers, and the experiences and struggles of rape victim advocates, and Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners.   In addition, I have conducted research on the effect of marijuana legalization on crime rates, mock jurors’ understanding of sentencing instructions, and students’ fear of crime on campus.

My research interests include modern Chinese history, race and ethnicity, and transnational history. I have published a number of book chapters, journal articles, and book reviews in these fields. I am currently working on a book manuscript on the history of Muslims in China.

My research is focused on high-energy variability in active galactic nuclei. Some galaxies have super massive black holes at their centers, which are actively pulling in matter. As gas falls into the black hole, it heats up and emits tremendous amounts of light. High-energy radiation (such as X-rays and gamma-rays) comes from the innermost regions near the black hole.

I study how these objects vary in brightness over time and use analysis techniques to put constraints on the physical parameters and geometry of the central black hole.

I am interested in the development of fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster). The embryonic Drosophila central nervous system similar to the human spinal cord is a paradigm for understanding the cellular processes and genetic pathways regulating the formation and maintenance of a diverse population of nerve cells.

My research interests include investigating the role of RNA degradation in Drosophila development, investigating the impact of wounding in the Drosophila embryonic central nervous system, and investigating the effect of protein degradation on the activity of different transcription factors in neuronal fate decisions during nervous system development in Drosophila.

• Prose Craft
• Fiction Writing
• Narratology 
• U.S. Literature
• Genre Fiction 
• Radical Print Culture

Using the model organism Drosophila melanogaster, I involve many undergraduate students in my research on how alternative splicing affects lipid metabolism in an effort to better understand gene regulation mechanisms related to obesity. I am also interested in the effect of diet and supplements on lifespan and fitness in both male and female fruit flies. Additionally, I collaborate on a project to identify regulatory genes involved in sexual dimorphism in the jumping stick Stiphra sp.

I research transatlantic modernism and feminist science fiction. My central interest is in how experimental literature encodes and enacts social change.

I have a variety of research interests that mostly focus on prospective teacher education. The four main foci include mathematical knowledge for teaching teachers (MKTT), the professional development of mathematics teacher educators, prospective teachers' knowledge of fractions, and task development for mathematics content courses for prospective teachers.

• Protein dynamics
• Polymer dynamics
• Fluorescence spectroscopy
• Metal enhanced fluorescence

My teaching both influences, and is influenced by my research. My research interests include social inequality (race/ethnicity, gender, and class), race and ethnicity, as well as the sociology of knowledge. My publications have appeared in the Journal of Historical Sociology and the Ashgate Research Companion to Black Sociology. The trajectory of my research will continue to focus on social inequalities and education, particularly with regard to racialized and gendered stratification of knowledge. While my current research focuses on how race and gender structure the reproduction of knowledge within U.S. Sociology, this work is centered in a global perspective that investigates how race and gender pattern the construction of knowledge in a globalized society. Further, my future research will explore the reproduction of racialized knowledge in public high schools and the application of critical pedagogy therein.

My mathematical interests lie broadly in topology and knot theory. Imagine a tangled loop of string with its ends joined together—that’s a mathematical knot, and it opens the door to a rich world of intriguing problems and patterns. I’m especially passionate about working with undergraduate students on research projects, both in knot theory and in areas inspired by their own mathematical curiosities.

My research uses C. elegans, a microscopic roundworm with a sequenced genome and simple nervous system, to ask questions about how nervous systems develop and function. I am particularly interested in how molecules that connect synapses, called cellular adhesion molecules, regulate synapse development and neural circuit function. 

Many cellular adhesion molecules are known to contribute to neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders, but there are many unanswered questions about the basic biology of how these molecules help build and maintain the synapse. If we better understand the role that cellular adhesion molecules are playing at the synapse, the better equipped we will be to develop treatments for neurological disorders. In my lab we use a combination of genetics, molecular biology, and behavioral assays to tackle these questions. 
 

I earned my doctoral degree in Sociology at Western Michigan University where I studied Michigan’s medical cannabis community during the state’s shift to a legal adult-use market. Being among the first to document the experiences of cannabis patients in a post-prohibition state, my research has helped re-center patients' voices in academic conversations of cannabis as medicine. I continue to research the social dynamics of cannabis with attention to medicalization, inequalities, stigmas, and evolving cultural norms.

I am primarily interested in digital rhetoric and rhetorical theories, but I approach my research from an interdisciplinary perspective drawing from media studies, media ecology, information and data science, library and archival sciences, and cultural studies.  

My dissertation examines hashtags on Twitter and what their role is as a rhetorical tool beyond linking or connecting. Importantly, I am interested in mundane social media, or social media that serves a purpose that may seem frivolous or unimportant at first glance. Rather than focusing primarily on well-known hashtags or hashtags that serve a social justice function, I'm interested in hashtags that do not trend as rhetorical devises and hashtags that are used for individualized pleasure. I am also interested in how algorithms and digital infrastructure impact what role hashtags can play as rhetorical tools given recent inquiries into the biases present in computer coding.

Separate from hashtags, I am also interested in exploring how social media perpetuates neoliberal, consumerist cooptation of other cultures under the guise of feminist self-care. Specifically, I'm interested in hygge, or the Danish ethic of coziness and well-being, that has transformed into an Instagram phenomenon based in the consumption of "comfort items." I'm interested in the tension between social media as well-being promoter and social media as well-being destroyer.

My research interests are in the fields of high performance computing, nanoscience and nanotechnology, magnetism, and computational physics. Basically, my passion is to use the computational power to help calculate physics phenomenon on a very small scale (e.g. nanoscale).

My educational research focuses on the roles of peer-mentoring and undergraduate assistants in the teaching and learning of scientific concepts.

In collaboration with Dr. Liyun Wang (University of Delaware, Mechanical Engineering), I also study skeletal growth and repair and the function of the pericellular matrix in the bone response to load.