FACULTY ACHIEVEMENTS

The following achievements underscore our faculty’s commitment to advancing knowledge and contributing to the broader academic and professional community. We’re proud to share how their wide-reaching impacts are felt on a global level and continue to broaden the impact of Anne’s College.

Dr. Motoko Akiba, professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, was selected as the editor-in-chief of the American Educational Research Journal (AERJ).

Dr. Damon Andrew, dean of Anne’s College, received the 2024 Garth Paton Distinguished Service Award from the North American Society for Sport Management. The award is among the most prestigious given by the leading sport management organization.

Dr. Timothy Baghurst, professor of Athletic Coaching and director of FSU COACH, was a co-recipient of the 2024 NAKHE (National Association for Kinesiology in Higher Education) Engaged Scholar Program Award. As part of the program, Baghurst will be serving as a mentor to Dr. Simon Quick, a lecturer at the School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Sciences at the University of Essex in England.

Dr. Cameron Beatty, associate professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, was selected as a 2024-25 fellow of the University of California National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement.

Dr. Eileen Bischof, associate clinical professor in the School of Teacher Education, received a $545,592 grant from the Florida Department of Education for her project titled “Critical Initiatives in Visual Impairments (CIVI).”

Dr. Megan Buning, Athletic Coaching teaching faculty member, provided mental skills training to the Major League Baseball Elite Development teams in Vero Beach, Florida, in summer 2024. The Elite Development Invitational is a multi-day, 18-under training camp that features intense on-field softball development and gameplay and various off-field development sessions covering college recruiting, mental health, and women in sports.

Dr. Sonia Cabell, associate professor in the School of Teacher Education, published a book titled “Strive-for-five Conversations: A Framework that Gets Kids Talking to Accelerate Their Language Comprehension and Literacy.” She also co-authored “Using strive-for-five Conversations to Strengthen Language Comprehension in Preschool Through Grade One,” published in The Reading Teacher

Dr. Vanessa Dennen, professor of Instructional Systems and Learning Technologies, was honored as one of two 2024 Fellows by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT). Dennen also received a book award from the AECT Division of Distance Learning for her co-edited volume, “Global Perspectives on Education Innovations for Emergency Situations,” and collaborated with graduate students and alumni on numerous publications.

Dr. Kani Diop-Lo, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science, authored the postface of a book, the 2024 edition of “La Parole aux Negresses” translated into English as “Speak Out, Black sisters: Black Women and Oppression in Black Africa.”

Dr. James Du, associate professor in the Department of Sport Management, was named a North American Society for Sport Management Research Fellow. Du also received an Outstanding Reviewer Award from the International Journal of Sport Management for providing outstanding constructive, collegial, and timely reviews that helped maintain the journal’s high standards.

Dr. Frank Fincham, eminent scholar of Human Development and Family Science, was honored as a Highly Ranked Scholar by ScholarGPS, with his scholarly contributions placing him in the top 0.05% of all scholars worldwide and in the top five overall for the Human Development and Family Studies area. He and postdoctoral researcher Heather Maranges co-authored “Psychological Perspectives on Divine Forgiveness: Seeking Divine Forgiveness” and “Psychological Perspectives on Divine Forgiveness: 3. Trait Self-Control is Associated with Well-Being Through Seeking Diving Forgiveness,” each published in Frontiers in Psychology

Dr. Veronica Fleury, associate professor of Special Education, accepted a fiveyear term as a principal member of the Institute of Education Sciences’ (IES) Early Intervention and Early Childhood Education Research Peer Review Panel.

Dr. Erica Harbatkin, assistant professor of Education Policy and Evaluation, received the 2024 American Educational Research Association Innovative School Transformation and Reform Emerging Scholar Award.

Dr. Robert Hickner, Linda Grizzard Owens Professor in the Department of Health, Nutrition, and Food Sciences, received a $271,607 grant from Louisiana State University and the National Institutes of Health for his project titled, “Effects of Daily Low Oxygen Exposure on Weight Status, Body Composition, and Metabolic Health.” His co-principal investigators include FSU College of Arts and Sciences, Medicine, and Law faculty.

Dr. Timothy Kellison, associate professor in the Department of Sport Management, edited a book titled “Sport Stadiums and Environmental Justice,” which was named by Routledge as one of its 12 must-read open access books.

Dr. Yeo-eun Kim, assistant professor of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems, was invited to serve on the editorial board for two journals: the Journal of Educational Psychology, and the Journal of Experimental Education. She also authored “Situating Cost Perceptions: How General Cost and Motivational Regulation Predict Specific Momentary Cost Dimensions,” published in Educational Psychology. Additionally, Kim was the lead author of “An Interdisciplinary Review of Self-Regulation of Learning: Bridging Cognitive and Educational Psychology Perspectives,” published in Educational Psychology Review, in addition to numerous other publications.

Dr. Kadir Kozan, assistant professor of Instructional Systems and Learning Technologies, led a team of students including Chaewon Kim, Veronica Brewer, Alex Barrett, and Jaesung Hur, to a third-place finish at the International Board of Standards for Training, Performance, and Instruction’s (IBSTPI) inaugural competition for instructor resources.

Dr. Huan “Hailey” Kuang, assistant professor of Measurement and Statistics, received a $150,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support her project titled “Developing an AI4Food (Artificial Intelligence for Food Science) Research and Education Initiative.” The overall research goal is to develop an AI-enabled portable sensor to rapidly detect antimicrobial-resistance (AMR) in food supply chains.

Dr. Matthew Lenard, assistant professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, and a team from the RAND Corpora- tion received $67,199 from Blueprint Labs for their project titled “Non-cognitive and Long-term Effects of KIPP Charter Schools.” Researchers will partner with KIPP Atlanta to conduct a pilot study that evaluates long-term and behavioral student outcomes, including college enrollment and labor market outcomes.

Dr. Lenore McWey, professor of Marriage and Family Therapy, received a $154,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health - Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development for her project titled “Parents’ Safety Nets, Child Protective Services Involvement, and Child Outcomes.” This research project investigates the relationships between parents’ safety nets, involvement with Child Protective Services, and subsequent child outcomes.

Dr. McWey and Dr. Melissa Radey from the FSU College of Social Work received $320,710 from the Florida Institute for Child Welfare for their project “Understanding Safety Nets & Service Use Among Child Welfare System (CWS)-Involved Caregivers to Improve Service Provision: A Mixed Methods Examination.”

Dr. Ravinder Nagpal, assistant professor of Health, Nutrition, and Food Sciences, received a $216,000 grant from The Peanut Institute Foundation for his project titled “Effect of Peanut Butter on Gut and Metabolic Health in School-Aged Children.” This study aims to investigate the impact of peanut butter consumption on the gut microbiome and metabolic health markers in school-aged children.

Dr. Nagpal also received a $95,044 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to explore how lentil and chickpea intake in healthy young adults modulates gut microbiome and metabolome function, leading to improved gut epithelial barrier function (permeability/ leakiness) and inflammation, reduced markers of cardiometabolic health, while improving gut transit time and reducing gastrointestinal symptoms.

The National Watermelon Promotion Board awarded Nagpal $73,645 for a project titled “Effect of Daily Fresh Watermelon Consumption on Gut and Cardiometabolic Health in Young Adults with Overweight and Obesity.”

Dr. Michael Ormsbee, director of the Institute of Sports Sciences and Medicine, and doctoral graduate Liliana Renteria-Laskin received a $15,000 grant from the National Strength and Conditioning Association for their project titled “Firefighter Thermoregulatory Responses in Active Fire with Betaine Supplementation.” Additionally, Ormsbee, master’s alumnus Kieran Paterson, and Elisa Angeles from FSU Athletics were awarded a $93,864 grant from Dairy Management Inc. for their project “The Effect of Pre-sleep Milk-derived Protein to Support Sleep Quality and Recovery in Elite Female Athletes.” The project aims to measure how pre-sleep, milk-derived protein consumption will influence sleep quality and recovery scores.

Ormsbee also co-authored “Cold Ambient Temperature Does Not Alter Subcutaneous Abdominal Adipose Tissue Lipolysis and Blood Flow in Endurance-Trained Cyclists” published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. HNFS alumni Patrick Saracino, Daniel Baur, and Brandon Willingham contributed. Additionally, Ormsbee co-authored “International society of sports nutrition position stand: ketogenic diets,” published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition

Dr. Debra Osborne, professor and co-director of Psychological and Counseling Services, received the Presidential Award at the National Career Development Association (NCDA) annual conference.

Dr. Lara Perez-Felkner, professor in the Higher Education program, received a National Science Foundation grant to boost FSU initiatives to retain, recruit and develop talented STEM faculty. She also co-authored a groundbreaking new book, “Latin* Students in Engineering: An Intentional Focus on a Growing Population”, which explores the experiences and challenges of Latin* students in engineering. Ciera Fluker, a 2023 higher education Ph.D. alumna from FSU, and Sarah Rodriguez, associate professor of engineering education at Virginia Tech, are co-editors.

Perez-Felkner also co-authored “Computing Education Interventions to Increase Gender Equity from 2000 to 2020: A systematic Literature Review,” published in Review of Educational Research. The study offers a comprehensive analysis of strategies aimed at promoting gender equity in computing education. The research team meticulously reviewed 168 studies, identifying 48 that met rigorous inclusion criteria.

Dr. David Pifer, assistant professor of Sport Management, received a $97,121 grant from a University of Florida subaward from the National Science Foundation to support his project titled “Is Unrealistic Optimism Good or Bad? Two Naturalistic Studies.” This longitudinal project will quantify unrealistic absolute optimism (UAO) in minor league baseball players and college applicants by comparing self-reported probabilities of future career success (e.g., making it to the Majors or being admitted to a top university) to the probabilities generated by machine learning algorithms trained on historical data.

Additionally, Pifer and his team received a grant from the Center for Research in Intercollegiate Athletics and the Atlantic Coast Conference for their project “An Analysis of Transfer Portal Movements and Their Effects on the Athletic Performances of ACC Revenue Sports and Student-Athletes.”

Dr. Qinchun Rao, professor of Health, Nutrition, and Food Sciences, was awarded a three-year, $226,005 grant from Florida A&M University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a project titled “Food Safety and Quality Lab at the Florida State University.” Rao also received a $73,645 grant from the Almond Board of California to identify the potential allergenic protein(s) in almond hulls and assess the allergenicity risk of almond hulls as a novel food ingredient. Additionally, Rao received the Laboratorian of the Year Award from the Florida Association of Food Protection and was appointed President of the Chinese American Food Society for the 2024-25 term.

Dr. Jenny Root, associate professor of Special Education, was invited to join the editorial board of Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities as associate editor. Root, a team of FSU alumni, and doctoral candidate Deidre Gilley co-authored a publication titled “Peer-Delivered Modified Schema-based Instruction in Word Problem Solving for High-School Students with Intellectual Disability” published in Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities Root also co-authored an article titled “Research should focus on improving mathematics proficiency for students with disabilities,” published in the Journal of Special Education

Dr. Prashant Singh, associate professor in the Department of Health, Nutrition, and Food Sciences, received a $150,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture – National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop novel digital PCR assay for the beef industry to measure the amount of salmonella contamination in samples. Singh was also awarded a $142,552 grant from Florida Sea Grant’s 2024-2025 Biennial Applied Science Competition for his project titled “PCR lateral flow assays for the rapid onsite authentication of economically impactful seafood species.”

Dr. Christopher Small of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies published a book chapter entitled “Creating Mirrors of Reflection and Doorways of Opportunity: Engaging and Supporting Elementary Black Males in Language Arts” in “Black Males in Secondary and Postsecondary Education.”

Dr. Christopher Solís, assistant professor in the Department of Health, Nutrition, and Food Sciences, was awarded a $747,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health for his project titled “Post-translational mechanisms of cardiac adaptation during unloading.” Solís also earned the Caroline Palavicino-Maggio Early Career Award at the Second Brazilian Scientific Journey on Mitochondrial Deregulation. This recognition highlights his dedication and innovation in cardiac muscle adaptation to mechanical stress, paving the way for breakthroughs in understanding the link between intracellular changes and physical performance.

Solís was also selected for a year-long NIH grant writing training program. The program, Future Faculty of Cardiovascular Sciences (FOCUS), is hosted by the University of California at San Diego.

Dr. Bret Staudt Willet, assistant professor of Instructional Systems and Learning Technologies, and ISLT graduate students co-authored “The Design and Effects of Educational Data Science Workshops for Early Career Researchers,” published in the Journal of Formative Design in Learning He also co-authored “Initial Discussions of ChatGPT in Education-Related Subreddits,” published in the Journal of Research on Technology in Education.

Staudt Willet and ISLT doctoral graduate Dan He co-authored “Educators’ Invisible Labour: A Systematic Review,” published in Review of Education

Dr. Joseph Watso, assistant professor in the Department of Health, Nutrition, and Food Sciences, and his team in the Cardiovascular and Applied Physiology Laboratory had their article “Acute Nasal Breathing Lowers Diastolic Blood Pressure and Increases Parasympathetic Contributions to Heart Rate Variability in Young Adults” selected for APSselect, a monthly collection from the American Physiological Society that showcases some of the best recently published articles in physiological research.

Watso also received a $15,400 subaward for a collaboration with the Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory on a project titled, “Hyperbaria and Muscle Sympathetic Outflow.” He had a wealth of articles published in journals including Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, JCEM Case Reports, JAMA, Cell Physiology, the American Journal of Physiology – Heart and Circulatory Physiology, Journal of the American Heart Association, and others.

Dr. Annie Wofford, assistant professor of Higher Education, co-authored “Do I Even Belong? Internships as Gendered Career Socialization Experiences in Engineering,” published in the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. Wofford was also named Associate Director for the Equity in Graduate Education (EGE) Consortium, a national research-practice partnership and learning community that cultivates sustainable models for equitable change in graduate-level admissions, mentoring, and selection systems.

Dr. Qiong (Joanna) Wu, associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science, authored “The Degree of Fluctuations Maternal Depressive Symptoms in Early Childhood is Associated with Children’s Depression Risk: Initial Evidence and Replication Between Two Independent Samples,” published in Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology and “Fluctuations in maternal depressive symptoms, anxiety, and anger and children’s depression risk in middle childhood” published in Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology.

Dr. Svenja Wolf, assistant professor of Sport Psychology, co-authored a publication titled “Everything is Cool when You’re Part of a Team? The Effects of outcome interdependence on Appraisal, emotions, and Performance under Pressure,” published in Psychology of Sport and Exercise

Dr. Yanyun Yang, professor of Measurement and Statistics, received a $129,658 grant from the Florida Department of Education to support graduate interns at Florida State University.

Dr. Qian (Jackie) Zhang, associate professor of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems, received the American Psychological Association Division 5’s Anne Anastasi Distinguished Early Career Contributions Award.

GROUP PROJECTS, AWARDS, AND RECOGNITION

Dr. Timothy Baghurst and Dr. Megan Buning of FSU COACH hosted a coaching clinic at the University of West Florida. Buning spoke on leveraging mindfulness to improve performance, while Baghurst spoke on how to make athletes, coaches, and sports administrators more creative.

Dr. Sonia Cabell, associate professor in the School of Teacher Education, Dr. Beth Phillips, professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning systems, doctoral students Rhonda Raines and Brielle Babcock, and research faculty Stephanie Brown from the Florica Center for Reading Research were awarded a $59,358 grant from Great Minds for their project “Teacher Report of Implementation of Wit and Wisdom in Kindergarten Classrooms.” The project aims to better understand how kindergarten teachers implement a widely-used content-rich literacy curriculum.

Dr. Leqi Cui, Dr. Ravinder Nagpal, and Dr. Prashant Singh from the Department of Health, Nutrition, and Food Sciences, received a two-year $147,900 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for their project titled “Impact of Structural Modification Techniques on Pea (Pisum sativum L.) Protein’s Ability to Modulate Human Gut Microbiota.”

Dr. Veronica Fleury, associate professor of Special Education, and Dr. Beth Phillips, professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems, and colleagues from other universities received a nearly $2 million grant from the Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Special Education Research for their project, titled “Enhancing Early Literacy for Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.” This four-year project aims to develop and evaluate a caregiver-delivered adaptive shared reading intervention to enhance early literacy for preschool children with autism spectrum disorder.

Dr. Amal Ibourk, Dr. Shengli Dong, Dr. Yanyun Yang, and Dr. Stephanie Zuilkowski were selected as associate editors for the 21-member editorial team of the American Educational Research Journal (AERJ).

Dr. Justin La Favor, Dr. Anand “Sunny” Narayanan, and Dr. Michael Delp of the Department of Health, Nutrition, and Food Sciences co-authored an article published in the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology journal. Outlets like The Guardian, Newsweek, and the BBC have picked up the team’s research, which assessed the impact of galactic radiation and weightlessness on male sexual health. They found that galactic cosmic rays and microgravity can impair the function of erectile tissues, with effects potentially lasting for decades.

Dr. Michael Ormsbee, Dr. Joseph Watso, Dr. Kyle Smith, and doctoral student Brett Cross from HNFS were awarded a grant of $77,588 from Compound Solutions for their project titled “Tributyrin Supplementation: Time Course and Efficacy to Improve Health and Performance.”

Dr. Jenny Root and Dr. Addie McConomy co-authored an article titled “’For Whom’ and ‘Under What Conditions’ is MSBI Effective? A Conceptual Replication with High School Students with Autism,” published in Exceptional Children, the flagship research journal of the Council for Exceptional Children. Co-authors include special education program alumni Sarah Cox and Kathryn Davis.

Dr. Myriam Rudaz, Dr. Frank Fincham, and Dr. Thomas Ledermann of the Department of Human Development and Family Science co-authored “Presence of Meaning in Life Mediates the Effects of Gratitude and Caring for Bliss on Flourishing in College Students: a three-wave Longitudinal study,” published in the Journal of Positive Psychology.

Dr. Gloria Salazar and Dr. Ravinder Nagpal from HNFS, and Pradeep Bhide from the FSU College of Medicine received a $600,000 grant from the Florida Department of Health for their project, “Modulation of the gut-vascular axis by E-cigarette and menthol.”

Dr. Qiong (Joanna) Wu, Dr. Ming Cui, and Dr. Penny Ralston from the Department of Human Development and Family Science were awarded a $120,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for their project titled, “Understanding race-related health disparities among rural, Low-SES mothers and children.” The project investigates mothers and their young children in rural, low-income areas who disproportionately face health disparities.