Research

Dr. Henk presenting

Apparel Merchandising & Product Development (AMPD)

  • Dr. Laurie Apple (lapple@uark.edu) Research Interests: Focused on production based technology. It includes functional design, new sizing specifications for the apparel industry and body image/body satisfaction using 3D body scanning technology. The use of body scanning technology for apparel production directly impacts the standards of the apparel industry. 3-D body scanning examines of the overall human condition including body image and body mass and its effect on individuals and family well-being. Functional design is essential for performance aspects of apparel. 3D Body Scanning Technology for Apparel Fit; 3D Body Scanning Technology for Body Image and Satisfaction Among Junior High and High School Students; 3D Body Scanning Technology for Effective Assessment of Students participating in Nutritional Programs
  • Lance Cheramie (cheramie@uark.edu) Research Interests: Sustainability issues and policies in the apparel and textile industry; Public Policy- Corporate social responsibility, sustainability issues and policies in the apparel and textile industry. Merchandising- Apparel industry retail organizations and supply chain management. Consumer Behavior- Symbolic attributes of apparel related products; the sociological and psychological aspects of fashion, decoration, and image; and services marketing
  • Dr. Eunjoo Cho (ejcho@uark.edu) Research Interests:  Successful branding and marketing strategy capturing consumer psychology, expading the entrepreneurial ecosystem to enrich rural community well-being, and impact of firms' social responsibility programs on consumers' perception and consumption.
  • Stephanie Hubert (skhopper@uark.edu)  Research Interests: Using product development technology, including 3D body scanning technology as well as design and patternmaking software, in the apparel production process to create designs for customers with specific needs not necessarily met by the current ready to wear market. Customers include, but are not limited to, pageant contestants, dancers and customers with unique physical attributes. 
  • Dr. Lona Robertson (ljrobert@uark.edu) Research Interests: Tourism, consumer shopping behaviors, shopping interests and the impact of obesity on body image
  • Dr. Kathy Smith (kasmith@uark.edu) 
    Research Interests: The use of technology, both hardware and software, in merchandising and product development within the apparel industry. Areas of focus include social media and production based technology. Production Based Technology Including Aesthetics, Design, Product Development. Merchandising and Social Media Technology. Pedagogy in Higher Education Curriculum 
  • Dr. Leigh Southward (csouthwa@uark.edu) Research Interests: Made in USA, faculty dress, pedagogy

Human Development & Family Sciences (HDFS)

  • Dr. Jennifer Becnel (becnel@uark.edu) Dr. Becnel's research examines adolescent and young adult severe obesity and high risk behavior (i.e., alcohol, illicit substance use, and high risk sexual behavior). She also examines perceptions of physical appearance and self-esteem in relation to obesity.
  • Dr. Mary Elizabeth Garrison (megarris@uark.edu) Dr. Garrison is a professor in HDFS and the director of the School of Human Environmental Sciences. Her research focuses on family and community resilience including emergency management and health. She is also interested in food literacy and the transition to college and students’ success in college.
  • Dr. Laura Herold (lkherold@uark.edu) Dr. Herold is a clinical assistant professor in HDFS. She leads the Birth through Kindergarten teacher licensure program and specializes in early literacy development and language acquisition. Through program development, teaching, and research, she works to improve access to experiences that promote appropriate development in the early childhood years. Recent projects include the development of a study abroad course to Italy, focused on the Reggio Emilia approach. She is a member of an international research team to understand how cultural and political differences influence infant transitions into childcare, and she recently developed a pop-up children's library to both bring books to local neighborhoods lacking in access to environmental print and serve as a teaching tool for early childhood teachers in training.
  • Dr. Timothy Killian (tkillian@uark.edu) Dr. Killian is an associate professor and assistant director of human environmental sciences with responsibilities to the faculty in HDFS. His research focuses on late-life and how families adjust to late-life. His past research has examined intergenerational transfers of monetary and caregiving resources. More recently, he has partnered with other faculty members to examine emergency preparedness of older adults. Some of Dr. Killian’s recent publications have been in Activities, Adaptation, and Aging, Disaster Medicine and Public Health Awareness, and Gerontology and Geriatrics Education. Dr. Killian has recently received funding from the Mather Institute for his research. He is also currently serving a two-year term as faculty chair of the Great Plains Gerontology Masters program.
  • Dr. Weiya Ma (weiyama@uark.edu) Dr. Ma is an assistant professor in HDFS. He led the first study finding that acoustic attributes evoke emotional responses in very young children. He has guided the most comprehensive longitudinal study to date on the relation between music training and children’s communicative development and directed the first experimental study demonstrating that infant-directed speech facilitates word-learning. His cross-cultural studies of language development led to a standardized tool for measuring communicative development. Published in 2009, it is the second most cited article published in the Journal of Child Language.
  • Dr. Shelly McNally (smcnally@uark.edu) Dr. McNally is the executive director of education programs at the Jean Tyson Child Development Study Center. Her research focuses on teacher-child relationship quality in early childhood.  She is partnering with Dr. Herold in the development of an international study abroad course for students focusing on multiple perspectives of early childhood education in Italy with an emphasis on the Reggio Emilia approach.
  • Dr. Zola Moon (zmoon@uark.edu) Dr. Moon is a clinical assistant professor in HDFS. Her research focuses on rural populations, especially with respect to the environment, disasters, migration, and health. Her specialty is spatial and statistical analysis of social data. She has particular interests in entrepreneurship among Latin American migrants in rural communities, effects of workplace education programs on immigrant and refugee workers in the rural US, and how climate change impacts on marginalized populations and migration.
  • Dr. Jacquelyn Wiersma Mosley (jwiersma@uark.edu)  Dr. Mosley is an associate professor in HDFS and focuses on alcohol use in adolescent and young adult romantic relationships. Her research also examines intimate partner violence and sexual assault on college campuses. She has recently received NIH funding for her research. 
  • Dr. Amanda Williams (alw077@uark.edu) Dr. Williams is an assistant professor in HDFS and her research aims to understand how family, community, and virtual contexts shape the experiences of diverse groups of youth and emerging adults. She is particularly interested in health, development, and attainment outcomes. She has done theoretical advancement work integrating developmental science with geographic methodologies to study youth displacement. She has consulted on mixed-method research of adolescent and emerging adult identity development in the context of international humanitarian athletics. Her research on technology use in families received best paper award (2011) and was second most downloaded article (2016) in Family & Consumer Sciences Research Journal.

 

Human Nutrition & Hospitality Innovation (HNHI)

  • Mechelle Bailey (mlb13@uark.edu) Research Interests: Pediatric nutrition focusing on children with special health care needs, metabolic/genetics needs and neonatal intensive care units.
  • Dr. Jae Kyeom Kim (jkk003@uark.edu)
  • Dr. Kelly Way (kway@uark.edu) Research Interests: Consumer behavior, tourism, festivals, marketing and branding.
  • Dr. Sabrina Trudo (trudo@uark.edu) 

    Research Interests: Plant foods and cancer prevention including dietary modulation of biotransformation enzymes and carcinogen metabolism, development of dietary biomarkers, gene – diet interactions: both nutrigenomic (animal models) and nutrigenetic (in humans), diet effects on colonic miRNA expression, cancer stem cells, and comparison of the effects from intact vegetable feeding versus their purified putative chemopreventive compounds.  Obesity Research: Role of bioactive plant compounds in decreasing obesity-mediated cancer risk, role of plant foods and their constituents in childhood obesity prevention, and virtual reality as a means to prevent childhood obesity.