Please note that each tenure/tenure-track EDP faculty member conducts research with students, even if that faculty member does not have a formal research lab that appears on this page.
The HAMMER Lab
The Help-seeking And Multicultural Measurement Evaluation Research (HAMMER) Lab, directed by Dr. Joseph H. Hammer, focuses on two things. First, we study what stops and helps people from seeking professional help when they need it. Second, we use cutting edge statistical methods to evaluate how well or how poorly a given psychological instrument measures the thing it claims to measure, with special attention to how valid instruments are across different cultural groups (e.g., Black people and White people, Christians and Atheists). The Lab Team consists of PhD, MS, and undergraduate students. The Team meets every Tuesday during the fall and spring semesters from 4-5pm in Dickey Hall Room 203. Prospective student members of the Lab are welcome to drop by a meeting.
Active Kids, Better Learners Lab
Healthier students do better in school. The Active Kids, Better Learners Lab, directed by Dr. Alicia Fedewa, promotes physical activity in school-based settings in grades K-12. Students working in the Active Kids Lab will examine a number of questions pertaining to how activity affects student achievement and behavioral outcomes. Variables of interest include type, length, duration, and intensity of the physical activity intervention; teacher behaviors such as verbal or physical involvement in the activity intervention; and student outcomes such as on-task behavior, compliance to teacher requests, fluid intelligence, and standardized achievement outcomes. The Lab team consists of PhD, EdS, and undergraduate students in education and psychology.
P20 Motivation and Learning Lab
The P20 Motivation and Learning Lab, directed by Dr. Ellen Usher, aims to examine academic motivation in a variety of contexts and to identify practices that best promote and sustain the motivation students need to acquire skills essential for success and well-being in the 21st century. The lab addresses the critical issue of student and teacher motivation, which includes variables such as self-efficacy, achievement goals, interest, engagement, and self-regulation, and achievement outcomes in preschool through post-graduate (P-20) settings in Kentucky and beyond.
Psychosocial Research Initiative on Sexual Minorities (PRISM) Lab
The Prism Research Lab is dedicated to promoting the well-being of sexual minorities. Our research focuses on lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender, queer, questioning, same-gender loving and same-sex partnered individuals. This research initiative was founded by Sharon S. Rostosky, Ph.D., Department of Educational, School and Counseling Psychology, and Ellen D.B. Riggle, Ph.D., Department of Gender and Women’s Studies and Department of Political Science, at the University of Kentucky. Members of the Prism research team come from many departments throughout the university, as well as from other universities.
Relationships, Intimacy, and Sexual Enrichment (RISE) Research Team
The RISE^2 Research Team (Relationships, Intimacy, and Sexual Enrichment | Race, Intersectionality, and Social justice Engagement) focuses on sexual health, broadly defined to include pleasure and prevention. We explore sexuality related topics among Black people and other groups, from a sex-positive and culturally competent perspective. We also study healing racial trauma, social justice, and leadership from an intersectional perspective – all with a love ethic. As a Qualitative research team, students are trained to understand their subjectivities and social locations and how they impact and are impacted by the research we conduct. We prioritize the voice and stories of the participants in our analyses. We are a hands-on, collaborative team with members from both the MS and PhD programs.