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Family and Consumer Sciences

Faculty Research Interests

Fashion Design and Merchandising

  • Jennifer Banning

    Highest Degree: PhD, Louisiana State University

    Research Areas:

    • Scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL)
    • Sustainability
    • The social, cultural, and historical aspects of dress

  • Yoon Ma

    Highest Degree: PhD, Iowa State University

    Research Areas:

    • Social responsibility in the fashion industry(consumption, manufacturing, and retailing)
    • Industry 4.0 Technologies in the fashion industry
    • Collaborative robots and automation system in fashion manufacturing
    • Consumer behaviors

  • Xun (Catherine) Sun

    Highest Degree: PhD, University of Missouri

    Research Areas:

    • Retail automation technology, Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) in retail and consumer contexts
    • Big data and business analytics in fashion
    • Organizational change and digital readiness
    • Human capital and workforce development
    • Scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL)

  • Ui-Jeen Yu

    Highest Degree: PhD, Iowa State University

    Research Areas:

    • Financial analyses in merchandising performance.
    • Fashion retailing technology and innovation.
    • Social and psychological aspects on clothing and behavior.
    • Luxury brand marketing and retailing.
    • Wearable technology applications.

Food, Nutrition, and Dietetics

  • Amy Bardwell

    Highest Degree: PhD, Auburn University

    Research Areas:

    • Community based food systems
    • Local food movement
    • Consumer behavior in food and beverage
    • Rural tourism

  • Jennifer Barnes

    Highest Degree: PhD, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

    Research Areas:

    • Dietary interventions in chronic disease, particularly kidney failure
    • Nutrition education in college athletics

  • Julie Schumacher

    Highest Degree: EdD, Illinois State University

    Research Areas:

    • Community nutrition interventions to alleviate food insecurity
    • Nutrition education in East Africa
    • Educational technology for dietetics education

  • Erol Sozen

    Highest Degree: PhD, Auburn University

    Research Areas:

    • Food allergies, food safety, and consumer food choice behaviors in food service.
    • Environmental sustainability in the food and beverage sector.
    • Consumer behavior in food service, including perceptions of menu labeling, service quality, and tipping behavior.

Human Development and Family Science

  • Tammy Harpel

    Highest Degree: PhD, Purdue University

    Research Areas:

    • Lived experiences of endometriosis & reproductive health disorders.
    • Experiences of college students and sexual minority and nonbinary individuals with reproductive health issues.
    • Scholarship of teaching and learning (transformative learning in family science courses).
    • Various types of technology (medical, social media) and the pregnancy experience.

  • Luke Russell

    Highest Degree: PhD, University of Missouri

    Research Areas:

    • Diverse family structures (single-parent, post-divorce, stepfamilies, cohabiting families)
    • Promoting resilience, health, and well-being in families
    • Chronic illness and families
    • Social institutions (health care systems, schools, government agencies) and families

  • Chang Su-Russell

    Highest Degree: PhD, University of Missouri

    Research Areas:

    • Socialization of young children in challenging social contexts
    • Scholarship on teaching and learning

Interior Design

  • Elke Altenburger

    Highest Degree: PhD, University of Missouri

    Research Areas:

    • Socio-physical educational environments
    • Design education
    • Inclusive intergenerational environments

  • Connie Dyar

    Highest Degree: MS, Illinois State University

    Research Areas:

    • Building codes and standards that impact the well-being of occupants
    • Feminist theory applied to power of women in interior design
    • Physical and psychological wellbeing of older populations

  • Gabriela Fonseca Pereira

    Highest Degree: PhD, Oklahoma State University

    Research Areas:

    • Housing solutions for aging-in-place
    • Gerontechnology
    • Virtual environments and aging simulation for interior design

  • Reem Bagais

    Highest Degree: PhD, Texas Tech University

    Research Areas:

    • Home design's impact on children’s emotional and social growth
    • Play environment that foster social skills
    • Inclusive environments that support interaction across different generations
    • Ecological & Theoretical Foundations in Environmental Psychology field

Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher Education

  • Sally Arnett

    Highest Degree: PhD, Southern Illinois University Carbondale

    Research Areas:

    • Improve the content and practices of career and technical education teachers

  • Micheal Rowley

    Highest Degree: PhD, University of Oklahoma

    Research Areas:

    • Family and Consumer Sciences Pedagogy & Andragogy
    • History of Home Economics
    • Home Economics and Gender
    • Public Policy, Gender, and Education in Career and Technology Education