Undergraduate Research

Areas of Study:  conservation biology, ornithology (the study of birds!), ecology, environmental science, and general biology.

Research Interests with Students: I am a field biologist which means I work outside! My research focuses on avian ecology and conservation. I have projects that include many aspects of bird ecology such as migratory songbird use of ridge habitat and the impacts of window-strike collisions on migrating songbirds. I am open to students developing their own research ideas as well, and I am happy to discuss projects that could be a good match for a student.

If any students are interested in learning more about conservation and birds and getting involved in research, then please contact me.

Areas of Study: Family Violence, Victimology, Human Trafficking (Sex, Labor, & Organ Trafficking), Profiling the Serial Offender, Criminology, White Collar Crime, Ethical Issues in Criminal Justice, Social Justice specifically focusing on injustice in the Criminal Justice System such as wrongful convictions and racial bias.

Research Interests with Students: intimate partner homicide, racial injustice in the CJS such as racial bias in sentencing—especially with the death penalty, human trafficking, the success of Drug Accountability Court over incarceration, and the impact of abuse on juvenile delinquency.

Areas of Study: Probability and Statistics, Financial Mathematics, Applied Math, Data analysis

Research Interests with Students: Finance is full of data and it is an area where many questions are unanswered. I think I can help students get started with setting up models for real worlds data, such as data in finance.

Areas of Study: Spectrophotometry, Science Curricula

Research Interests with Students: determining equilibrium constants from spectrophotometric data; improving achievement of student learning outcomes in science classes through the development of new curricula, including videos and simulation

Areas of Study: Dialectology, sociolinguistics, communities of practice, community language studies

Research Interests with Students: Appalachian dialects, speech of communities of practice and groups such as the LGBTQ+ community and the Latine community, Spanglish, individual speech features of the Northwest Georgia region

Areas of Study: Microbiology; bacteriology

Research Interests with Students: I am open to student ideas. I enjoy working with students to come up with a project that takes into account their interests. Some of my past student research projects have included: testing bathroom hand dryers for bacterial contamination, detecting Legionella and other bacteria in various DSC water sources, and testing bacterial susceptibility to various antibiotics and household cleaners.

I work with research in education, predominantly focused on mathematics curriculum and instruction.  I also work with education more broadly some such as care and community in the classroom.

Areas of Study: Abstract Algebra, Linear Algebra, Representation Theory

Research Interests with Students: Open to student ideas, but prefer research topics related to abstract algebra, linear algebra, mathematics education, or the history of mathematics.

My scholarship centers on several issues connected to language teaching and learning, including using a variety of methodologies for teaching language/culture, developing students’ linguistic and intercultural understandings through children’s literature and study abroad programs, and helping educators investigate their own teaching practices.

Areas of Study: Rhetoric and Composition

Research Interests with Students: digital literacy, multimodal composition, second language writing