RISE Lab - Research Collaborators
Toni Schmader, Ph.D.
Professor & Canada Research Chair,
University of British Columbia
Lab Website
Dr. Toni Schmader holds the Canada Research Chair in Social Psychology at the University of British Columbia. She received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She spent 10 years on the faculty at the University of Arizona, and has held a visiting position at Harvard University.
Her research examines the interplay between self and social identity, particularly when one’s social identity is accord lower status or is targeted by negative stereotypes. In exploring these issues, her research draws upon and extends existing work on implicit gender bias, social stigma, social justice, social cognition, intergroup emotion, self-esteem, and motivation and performance. Her research has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Mental Health.
Kristen Salomon, Ph.D.
Professor, University of South Florida
Kristen Salomon: Dr. Salomon is a professor of Psychology at the University of South Florida. She also is the director of the cardiovascular psychophysiology lab, where she conducts extensive research on cardiovascular responses to stress, the psychological and social factors that moderate these responses, and how these work together to contribute to risk for cardiovascular disease. The lab has focused on various sources of stress over the years, including depression, PTSD, discrimination, and sexism, examining both reactivity to and recovery from these stressors.
Keith Maddox, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Tufts University
Lab Website
Dr. Keith Maddox is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of the Tufts University Social Cognition Lab. Dr. Maddox is the recipient of a number of grants and awards, including grants from the National Science Foundation, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, and the Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, and an SPSP Distinguished Service Award.
His research examines social cognitive aspects of stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination – seeking to understand topics such as: cognitive representations and stereotypes of African Americans based on variation in skin tone and other phenotypic characteristics; how stereotypes and prejudice influence perceptions of those who claim to be the targets of discrimination; stereotype threat among members of socially marginalized groups; and the role of social categories in spatial representation.
Eddie Melcer, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, UC Santa Cruz
Lab website
Dr. Melcer is an Assistant professor in the Department of Computational Media at the Jack Baskin school of engineering- University of California, Santa Cruz.
He is also independent game developer, and Director of the Alternative Learning Technologies and Games (ALT Games) Lab. Dr. Melcer’s work examines how different forms of physical embodiment and interaction (e.g., tangibles, augmented reality, DIY custom interfaces, and so forth) impact the learning process and related social/emotional factors in educational games.
Hessam Yazdani, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Howard University
Lab website
Dr. Hessam Yazdani is an assistant professor of civil engineering and the director of the SIGMa Lab at Howard University. Dr. Yazdani specializes in experimental and computational materials science, geotechnical engineering, reliability analysis, machine learning and optimization.
