People

Primary Investigator

Tim CavellTimothy A. Cavell, Ph.D. | Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Tim Cavell is a Professor in the Department of Psychological Science at the University of Arkansas. His research focuses on parent- and mentor-based interventions for children at risk, and he has published over 60 articles and chapters as well as two books, Working with Parents of Aggressive Children: A Practitioner’s Guide (APA, 2000) and Anger, Aggression, and Interventions for Interpersonal Violence (Erlbaum, 2007). His newest project focuses on strategies school districts can use to provide school-based mentoring to military-connected youth. His work has been funded by the Institute for Education Science (IES) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Because of his expertise in youth mentoring, Dr. Cavell serves on the Research Advisory Council for Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the National Mentoring Resource Center. He was Director of Clinical Training at the University of Arkansas for 12 years and is currently Chair of the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology Programs (CUDCP). He is also currently a member of APA’s Board of Professional Affairs.

Graduate Students and Staff

Jake Steggerda, M.A. | Jake is entering his third year of study at the University of Arkansas. He completed his bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Wheaton College in Illinois. He is currently engaged in clinical training at Community Clinic in Fayetteville and Rogers. Jake’s primary research interests include examining how self-perceptions are related to psychosocial outcomes for children, peer relationships within important social contexts such as the lunchroom, how schools can best support students from military-connected families, youth mentoring, and psychometric measure evaluation. He is currently working on an adaptation to the Lunch Buddy mentoring intervention that would provide a single-session intervention focused on targeting maladaptive self-perceptions in children experiencing chronic peer victimization. In his free time, Jake enjoys music, chocolate, fantasy football, hiking with his wife and dog, and relaxing.

T. Forest Moore, M.A. |

Undergraduate Research Assistants

Kiersten Saderup | Kiersten is currently a senior majoring in Psychology at the University of Arkansas. Her research interests include neural relations to psychopathology and adolescent trauma therapies. Outside of the lab and university, Kiersten works as a behavioral technician. When she can find free time, her favorite thing to do is sleep or sit outside in a hammock.  

 

 


Ka’Nessa Johnson | Ka’Nessa is a current sophomore pursuing a Bachelor’s in Psychology with a General Business Minor. She is from Van Buren, Arkansas and is the oldest of 8 children! This is her first semester in the CRAV lab, and she is excited to begin research to further prepare for her Honors Thesis. In her spare time, Ka’Nessa enjoys reading, writing poetry, singing, and roller skating (which is still a work in progress)!

 

 

Jillian Axsom | Jillian is from Kansas City, MO. She is a senior majoring in Public Health with a minor in Substance Use Disorders. Jillian is passionate about destigmatizing the topic of addiction and how to decrease drug abuse within our country, specifically among adolescents. This year, Jillian plans to apply to master’s in social work programs in hopes to become a children’s counselor. In her free time, Jillian loves to spend time outside, play with her dog, and paint!

 

 

Melissa Brown | Melissa is a current junior majoring in psychology at the University of Arkansas. She is originally from Poway, CA but grew up in McKinney, TX. This is her first semester in the CRAV lab and she is looking forward to building her knowledge in psychology and getting hands on research experience. In her free time she loves to cook and figure skate

 

Madison Debenport | Madi is currently a junior undergraduate student majoring in psychology with a business minor at the University of Arkansas. Although this is only her first year assisting the lab as an undergraduate research assistant, she is looking forward to giving her time to this hands-on experience in psychology research. She was raised in Fort Worth, Texas with three younger siblings. Madi enjoys playing soccer, running, and hanging out with friends.

 

Allison Laszewski | Ally is joining the CRAV lab this semester as a senior majoring in Psychology with a minor in Biology. She is passionate about health care and helping children. During summers in her hometown of Round Rock, Texas (near Austin), she worked in a group home for autistic adults and in a behavioral center for autistic children. Ally is a volunteer mentor for two autistic students through the Empower Program at the University of Arkansas. She loves working out and spending time outdoors, especially hiking with her dog, and plans to attend PA school after graduating in May.

 

Lab Alumni

Meredith Scafe, M.S.W., Ph.D.  Meredith graduated with her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Arkansas and is now a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Kansas Medical Center in the Clinical Child Psychology track. She provides inpatient and outpatient assessment and psychotherapy services to youth and families who present with a variety of psychosocial stressors. Her clinical interests include addressing trauma, mood disorders, and disruptive behavior disorders in children and adolescents. Her research program focuses broadly on promoting youth outcomes by examining ways to increase access to supportive adults and services. She is also interested in quality improvement research that evaluates ways to promote patient and provider outcomes.  In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her two dogs, cooking with her husband, Crossfit, and anything outdoors.

SamSamantha Gregus, Ph.D., Wichita State University |  Sam earned a B.A. in psychology from the University of Akron in 2010. She earned an M.A. in clinical psychology from the University of Arkansas and completed her pre-doctoral internship at the Nebraska Internship Consortium in Professional Psychology at Boys Town in Omaha, NE. Sam’s primary research interests involve developing, implementing, and evaluating prevention programs in school- and community-based settings for at-risk youth. Sam’s dissertation is focused on developing a competency-based framework to guide elementary school teachers in their efforts to support chronically bullied children. In her free time, Sam enjoys skiing, football season (Go Steelers!), and spending time with her adorable Brussels Griffon, Dexter.

Freddie A. Pastrana Rivera, Ph.D., University of Southern Mississippi |  Dr. Pastrana received his BA from Arizona State University and MA/Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Arkansas. At CRAV, he investigated approaches to identify and support youth experiencing peer relational challenges. He served as an intern, research associate, and postdoc at the Medical University of South Carolina, and is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Intervention Research at Ohio University. Freddie focuses on school and community approaches to serve at-risk youth and families. He is interested in contextual factors linked to youth risk and resilience and in strategies to enhance functioning in children exposed to early adversity, victimization, trauma, and loss. Freddie’s work also aims to reduce health disparities for underserved families via service delivery adaptations and multidisciplinary support and integration.

Juventino Hernandez Rodriguez, Ph.D., University of Texas Rio Grande Valley | Juventino (Juve) graduated from the University of Arkansas and is now a professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. As a graduate student, he was an APA MFP Fellow. Juve is interested in cultural and contextual processes on Latino youth’s mental health. He is also interested in developing, implementing, and evaluating culturally sensitive school- and community-based preventive programs, particularly towards helping at-risk minority youth. His clinical interests are in evidence-based psychosocial therapies for children and families in community-based settings. He enjoys cooking, playing basketball, and spending time with his partner and their cat.

J.T. Craig, Ph.D., Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth | Curriculum Vitae  James (J.T.) Craig joined the CRAV lab in the fall of 2010.  James completed his undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of Kansas.  At KU his research focused on the treatment efficacy of motivational interviewing with adolescents as well as the treatment of pediatric obesity.  James is excited about furthering the research of the CRAV lab and looks forward to working with mentorship and victimization during his graduate career.  James completed his post-doctoral fellowship at Boys Town Center for Behavioral Health in Nebraska. In his spare time James enjoys tennis, yoga, and watching college basketball.

Debbie Gomez, Ph.D., University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

Melissa A. Faith, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital | Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Faith earned a B.S. in psychology and B.A. in English from the University of Florida. She earned an M.A. in clinical psychology and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from University of Arkansas. In addition to the clinical psychology training she received during her graduate school tenure, Dr. Faith also received specialized training working with youth who have hematological and oncological illnesses during her predoctoral internship at University of Mississippi Medical Center and her pediatric hematology/oncology-focused postdoctoral fellowship at University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Dr. Faith is currently assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UT Southwestern Medical Center and pediatric clinical psychologist at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. She conducted and contributed to a number of studies on peer victimization risk factors and interventions, relations between sibling relationship quality and peer adjustment, and relations between parenting behaviors during sibling conflict and children’s peer adjustment while in the CRAV lab. Her current program of research focuses on relations among parenting (e.g., emotion socialization beliefs and practices, parental coping factors that impact parenting behaviors), sibling adjustment and sibling relationship quality, and peer adjustment in the pediatric oncology and pediatric oncology survivor populations. She also has an interest in sibling adjustment after bereavement related to pediatric cancer. For fun outside of psychology, Dr. Faith enjoys teaching ballet, making fondant/gumpaste-covered cakes, and learning new arts and crafts (Updated May, 2014).

L. Christian Elledge, Ph.D., The University of Tennessee, Knoxville |

Dr. Elledge earned a M. S. degree in experimental psychology with a developmental specialization from Florida Atlantic University and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Arkansas. He was the recipient of the Ruth L. Kirstein National Research Service award through the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which funded his 3-year individual postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Kansas in the Clinical Child Psychology Program. Currently, Dr. Elledge is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Tennessee. His current program of research focuses on (a) identifying relationship characteristics and interpersonal processes that confer developmental risk or protection for aggressive and bullied children, and (b) developing preventative intervention strategies that effectively enhance these children’s social contexts and interpersonal relationships toward reducing later dysfunction. Dr. Elledge has particular interest in developing school-based interventions that can promote or enrich the peer relationships of these at-risk youth. One prominent line of his empirical research has focused on the application of school-based mentoring as a form of selective prevention for children who are aggressive or chronically bullied.  He continues to collaborate with Dr. Cavell and members of the CRAV lab on several on-going research projects.

Emily Mayfield, Ph.D.  |

Emily is a Psychologist in the US Air Force.  She is a Captain and stationed at Misawa AB in Japan, and recently returned from a deployment to Afghanistan.

Kenya Malcolm, Ph.D.  |

Chad Parsons, M.A.  |

Amy D. Seay, Ph.D.  |

Lauren Mutignani, Ph.D. |

Allison B. Smith, Ph.D. |

Past Undergraduate Research Assistants

  • Emma Aspenson
  • Jennifer Branch
  • Reagan Broach
  • Jayde Bryson
  • Ally Burton
  • Samantha Butler
  • Grace Cho
  • Hannah Coffman
  • Hannah Crider
  • Caira Dortch
  • Mallory Eddy
  • Oyunaa Enkhtur
  • Kirsten Flippo
  • Christina Goudreau
  • Paige Griswold
  • Megan Guinn
  • Kelsie Hammons
  • Allison Harris
  • Taylor Henschell
  • Tyneshia Hill
  • Jessica Hobbs
  • Chance Holland
  • Molly Keltner
  • Grant King
  • Carly Krieger
  • Savana Kuhn
  • Jonathan Lawson
  • Gabrielle Lewis
  • Maylee Loften
  • Cydnee Mathis
  • Cady Milan
  • Mallory Moon
  • Jayne Mota
  • Mallory Murphy
  • Stell Mutoni
  • Kayla Nichols
  • Hannah Norton
  • Ashley Oeffinger
  • Alisha Pace
  • Amber Pham
  • Colleen Poplawski
  • Paige Quinlan
  • Paige Ramos
  • Ashlin Smith
  • Amanda Verhaak
  • Desmond Webb
  • Lindsay Winemiller
  • Ishan Vengurlekar
  • Hali McMillan
  • Jasmine Blake
  • Karli Spann