Faculty and Staff

Grad student registration, admissions, & inquiries, doctoral committee composition, grad program milestones & procedures, BBH conference room reservations for grad students, grad school policies, comprehensive dissertation proposal and final oral defense scheduling.

Steven Branstetter has research interests in nicotine addiction, smoking behaviors, and individual and contextual influences on tobacco use in adults and adolescents.

Orfeu Buxton directs the Sleep, Health & Society Collaboratory at Penn State.

Sonia Cavigelli conducts interdisciplinary research on the causes and consequences of individual differences in stress- and fear-related behavior and physiology.

Anne-Marie Chang's research involves the inter-relationships of sleep physiology and behavior, circadian rhythms, cardio-metabolic health, cognitive function and genomics.

The goal of Eric Claus' research is to identify neural and cognitive mechanisms that support behavior change in substance use disorders.  In addition, he uses neuromodulation techniques to modify functioning in relevant circuits in order to reduce

Marie Cross is interested in how positive psychological factors, including positive emotion and different types of smiles, are associated with health and health-relevant outcomes.

Beth Edwards' research interests focus on the use of harm reduction approaches to health interventions, particularly tobacco use and sexual health. 

Deborah Ehrenthal, MD, MPH, is director of the Social Science Research Institute and professor of biobehavioral health. Her research is focused on the social and healthcare factors that shape the health of women and children over the life course.

Christopher Engeland is interested in how stress, age, gender, and hormones affect immunity, inflammation, and health.

Lindsay Fernández-Rhodes is a trained epidemiologist with experience in the areas of Genetic, Epigenetic, and Social Epidemiology.

JoAnn Foley has been teaching at the college level since 1994 and has taught classes ranging in size from 5 students to 170 students.

The goal of Thomas Gould's research is to use genetic, pharmacological, behavioral, and molecular biological techniques to study the neurobiology of learning and memory and the effects of addiction on it.

In her research, Dr. Graham-Engeland investigates the impact of psychological stress on physical health and the psychological, physiological, and behavioral mechanisms underlying stress and health connections.

Margeaux Gray's translational sleep research is focused on nonpharmacologic interventions to improve sleep quality and continuity, with topics of emphasis including the interaction among sleep, pain, and attention, and sleep fragmentation's impact on daytime function.

Joseph Gyekis teaches undergraduate courses in the department of Biobehavioral Health, with a strong focus on research methods and applications, as well as a variety of topics related to drugs, genetics, and epidemiology.

I am a postdoctoral scholar in Dr. Idan Shalev's lab. My work will be funded by his NIEHS-NIA grant (U01ES030949) on "The Comparability and Reproducibility of Telomere Length Measurements for Population-Based Studies.

Will Horton’s primary research interest is understanding the intersection between circadian rhythms and drug abuse, especially nicotine.  He is particularly interested in how molecular/genetic changes lead to differences in behavior and vice versa.

Diane works with students as they choose courses, consider minors or other engagement opportunities, strive to meet BBH BS graduation requirements, and discuss career/graduate school exploration. 

Jillian’s current research examines biopsychosocial influences on health and well-being, with a specific focus on exploring these associations in everyday life using ecological momentary assessment and integrating these methods into clinical trial design and analysis.

Amy is an undergraduate academic adviser for BBH students.  She helps students with course registration, career/graduate school exploration, and graduation requirements for BBH.

My research examines the dynamic interplay between stress and affect (emotion/mood), to better understand ways to facilitate resilience against disease indicators.

Helen Kamens focuses on identification of genetic and environmental mechanisms that contribute to complex behaviors with a special emphasis on alcohol and tobacco use.

As a social and behavioral scientist, Stephen Kodish is interested in the design, implementation, and evaluation of interventions aimed to improve the health and nutrition of vulnerable populations globally.

My research examines structural factors, including the nursing workforce, that influence health and well-being across the lifespan to reduce rural health disparities through policy and practice innovations.

Kari Kulger's primary research interest includes the development of effective and efficient behavioral interventions targeting a wide range of health behaviors among various populations and contexts.

Stephanie Lanza's career is devoted to advancing prevention research in behavioral health through the development and application of innovative quantitative methods. She focuses this work in two key areas.

The goal of Nina Lauharatanahirun’s research is to use computational modeling, behavioral economic paradigms and functional neuroimaging (fMRI/EEG) to understand the neural and behavioral mechanisms underlying health risk behaviors across the life

Sheree Logue directs the Biomarker Core Laboratory (BCL) which is a fee-for-service facility offering biomarker research support for all departments in the College of Health and Human Development as well as other researchers at PSU. 

Heather Low is an undergraduate academic advisor for BBH students.  She helps students with course registration, career/graduate school exploration, and graduation requirements for BBH.

Kyle Murdock focuses on the neurological, biological, and behavioral pathways through which emotions and interpersonal relationships may impact health outcomes using innovative/multidisciplinary research methods.

As a long-time clinician, educator and administrator in international and domestic health and social service settings, Dana Naughton is strongly committed to teaching and mentoring the next generation of health and global health practitioners.

Dr. Rhubart is a rural sociologist and demographer with expertise in rural population health, spatial inequality, and the structural and social determinants of health.

Brandi Rollins is a developmental, behavioral scientist with expertise in the influence of dysregulated eating and self-regulation processes (e.g.

Joshua Rosenberger’s research focuses on the utilization of technologies as a methodological tool for the promotion of sexual health among men.

Dr. Rosinger's overall research program is designed to understand how humans meet their water needs, how this relates to adaptation, environmental changes, and water insecurity, and the resulting health, hydration, and disease consequences.

Mike Russell's research focuses on connections between stress, affect, and health behaviors in the day-to-day lives of adolescents/young adults, using advanced statistical modeling and ambulatory assessment methods.

Sue Rutherford Siegel is a genetic researcher who examines interactions between the genetic and genomic basis of variation, the environmental interactions and the resulting behavioral and health outcomes of an individual. 

Hannah Schreier’s lab focuses on how experiences during childhood and adolescence (e.g., growing up in poverty; child maltreatment) influence inflammatory and metabolic markers of chronic disease risk.

The focus of Idan Shalev's research is to identify mechanisms underpinning the biological embedding of stress and its effect on biological aging.

Colby is primarily responsible for course scheduling, processing enrollment forms/grade changes, final exams, course substitutions, classroom reservations, degree audits, transcripts, & securing textbooks.

Joshua Smyth's focus is on the application of the biopsychosocial model, with particular interests in ambulatory assessment and mHealth, understanding stress, affect, behavior and health in everyday life, and innovative interventions.

Amy Snipes examines socio-behavioral factors in health. Her primary research focuses on the role of culture in understanding pesticide exposures, occupational injuries and other health disparities experienced by Latino immigrant farmworkers.

Derek Spangler’s research utilizes mobile sensors to investigate the dynamic physiological (e.g., autonomic nervous system) and behavioral (e.g., body motion, self-report) features of real-world stress and their impacts on health.

Michele Stine's background is in health education and psychopharmacology.  As a member of the undergraduate faculty, her work has focused primarily on course and curriculum development.  She has served as a General Education Faculty Scholar and the Faculty Ad

Rob Turrisi's research focus is in the application of behavioral decision-making in brief interventions to reduce underage substance misuse and cancer. This research is primarily funded by NIAAA and NCI.

Matt offers expertise and guidance in the execution of ELISA, Multiplex, and MSD analysis for the BCL.

David Vandenbergh's research group is interested in finding better ways to identify the genetic components of addiction-related behaviors.

Linda Wray is a gerontologist and social epidemiologist by training.