Culture and Well-Being Lab Member Bios

Lab Director:

Lisa M. Edwards, Ph.D.

(University of Kansas, 2003)

Research & Professional Interests:

Dr. Edwards’ research focuses on positive    functioning and well-being among  racial/ethnic minorities in the United States. Specifically, she examines the influence of cultural resources (e.g., familismo and ethnic identity) on well-being among Latino adolescents, racially diverse college students, and multiracial individuals. She is particularly interested in how youth and adults utilize strengths to promote positive functioning in addition to buffering the negative effects of discrimination and other bicultural stressors. 

Current Lab Members:

Brittany Nicole Barber, B.A. (DePauw University, 2006)

Research & Professional Interests:  Treatment of young children with behavior and emotional problems, positive psychology, stress, coping, and well-being among Latino adolescents, family systems

Marisa B. Green, B.A. (Winona State University, 2006)

Research & Professional Interests: Health psychology, holistic health, influence of cultural factors on persons' lives, mixed methods research, counselor competency, and interracial families & relationships

Keyona Jarrett, B.A. (Illinois Wesleyan University, 2006)

Research & Professional Interests: Stress, self-concept, and discrimination issues within racial/ethnic minority communities

Amy E. Kowalski, B.A. (Illinois Wesleyan University, 2006)

Research & Professional Interests: racial identity, racism, implicit processes, school programming, intersection of racial/ethnic minority status and low-income, stress and coping skills of women and racial/ethnic minorities

Rebecca C. Mayor-Bernet, M.A. (Marquette University, 2006)

Research & Professional Interests: Coping and adaptive functioning, health psychology, motivational interviewing, geropsychology

Shirley Newcomb, B.A. (Iowa State University, 2007)

Research & Professional Interests: Biracial and multiracial identity development, risk behavior in minority populations, stress and coping of minority populations, multicultural counseling.

Previous Lab Members:

Noah E. Adrians, B.S. (University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh)

Research & Professional Interests: Addictive behaviors, family violence, multicultural counseling, and family therapy. 

Elizabeth P. McCadden, B.A. (University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004)

Research & Professional Interests: Women and gender, LGBT counseling, multicultural counseling

Matthew R. Weyer, B.A. (University of Iowa, 2005)

Research & Professional Interests:  Educational psychology, second language acquisition, curriculum design for multicultural classrooms, testing and assessment