Meet Our Graduate Students

Alaa Alkhalaiwi

Doctoral Candidate
alalk4@morgan.edu

Education
M.S. in Psychology, Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Saudi Arabia
B.S. in Psychology, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia

Biography
Alaa is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Psychometrics program at Morgan State University.  She has a Master's degree and a Bachelor's degree in Psychology.  Her primary research interest is how technology (video and artificial intelligence) can be leveraged to develop psychometric tools, and adapting instruments for use in different cultures. Her secondary research interest is in mental health promotion.

Undergraduate Courses Taught
General Psychology Discussion

Christopher Amissah

Doctoral Candidate
chami2@morgan.edu

Education
M.Phil. in Social Psychology, University of Ghana, Legon, Greater Accra, Ghana
B.A. in Psychology, University of Ghana, Legon, Greater Accra, Ghana

Biography
Chris is a fifth-year doctoral candidate and a Research Assistant in the CRèMe Lab. His research goal is to develop culturally sensitive measures that adequately address the needs of diverse populations, especially Africans and African Americans. His primary focus is translating, adapting, and validating frequently used psychological instruments in Ghanaian cultural settings. In addition, he is interested in developing alternative mental health instruments that are culturally responsive and relevant to minority groups. Chris' prior research concentration was related to the impacts of psychosocial crises on mental health, and development of psychosocial interventions for marginalized groups in society.

Primary Area of Research Interest
Developing culturally sensitive measurements

Undergraduate Courses Taught
General Psychology Discussion, Psychological Statistics I, Psychological Statistics II

R. Jerome Anderson

Doctoral Student
roand4@morgan.edu

Education
MEd., Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, and Assessment, University of Illinois at Chicago
PhD., Urban Planning, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
JD, Duquesne University
MURP, Urban Planning, University of Pittsburgh
BA, Political Science, University of Pittsburgh

Biography
Jerome is a first-year doctoral student and a Research Assistant in the CRèMe Lab. His primary interest is in finding new applications for use of the Rasch model in social and educational research. His interest in psychometrics and use of the Rasch model was piqued in a course in his MEd. program at UIC, and he has been hooked on Rasch ever since. His published works include an analysis of Liberian child nutrition data using the Rasch model. A secondary research interest is analyzing disparities in educational achievement of students in public school secondary education.

Shamia Boone

Master's Student
shboo7@morgan.edu

Education
B.S. in Psychology, Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland

Biography
Shamia is a first-year master’s student in the Psychometrics program at Morgan State University. Her research interest is in measuring childhood adversity in underrepresented communities. Childhood adversity can cause the brain to over activate the stress response system, which can lead to poor health conditions. Shamia is interested in creating and validating self-reporting surveys that measure childhood adversity, overall health and socioeconomic status in middle aged adults.

Primary Area of Research Interest
Developing culturally sensitive measurements

Undergraduate Courses Taught
Introduction to Psychology and Counseling Psychology

Monet Boyd

Master's Student

Education
B.S. in Neuroscience with a minor in Psychology, George Mason University

Biography
Monet is a first-year master’s student in the Psychometrics program at Morgan State University. She has a deep passion for neuropsychiatry (i.e., knowing why certain functions in the brain causes different behaviors). Her research interest is finding a way to diagnose low socioeconomic status African Americans that are in middle to late adulthood that could be at risk of early onset Alzheimer’s. There are other factors of their daily lifestyle, such as employment status, low income, household environment, and etc, that could potentially affect their cognition capacities that are potentially being misdiagnosed due to stress, anxiety, and depression. She would like to use a minimum threshold through a neuropsychological assessment that can be further examined through neuroimaging to see which regions of the brain is lacking neuronal activity. This could confirm if the data subject has cognitive impairments due to Alzheimer’s Disease-linked neurodegeneration or other mental health disorders. Her long-term goal is to become a neuropsychiatrist or a psychiatrist and raise awareness for mental health in the African American community by making resources readily available for many mental illnesses.

Gloria Buame

Doctoral Student
glbua1@morgan.edu

Education
M.S. in Educational Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia
B.S. in Psychology, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana

Biography
Gloria is a third-year doctoral student. Her research goal is to develop culturally sensitive data collection tools that adequately address the needs of diverse populations, especially International students. Her primary focus is the development of an instrument used to measure international students' self-efficacy in test-taking.

With prior research, she was part of a county research project that collected data on preschool effectiveness in grade school using classroom assessment scoring system and behavioral coding system to observe interactions and engagement between teachers and former preschool students from kindergarten to the third grade.

Primary Research Interests
Self-efficacy in International students' testing and assessment

Undergraduate Courses Taught
General Psychology and General Psychology Discussion

Christopher Green

Master's Student

Education
B.S. in Psychology at Morgan State University
Certification in Electroneurodiagnostics at The Institute of Health Science

Biography
Christopher Green Jr. is a first-year graduate student in the Psychometric masters program. His primary research interest is in neuropsychological assessment for traumatic brain injuries. His interest motivates him to develop a cultural and physical performance sensitive AI based tasks to assess and predict neuronal activity and cognition. Furthermore, he is a research assistant for Dr. Bryant. Christopher’s secondary research interest is physiological and physical performance factors that influence cognition.  While Christopher was earning his bachelors of science in Psychology at Morgan State University, he served as a Program Coordinator for Beat The Streets Baltimore. His activity in the organization brought STEM and wrestling programs to underserved students in Baltimore City. In addition, he is a ABRET registered EEG technician, and has performed neurodiagnostics at Johns Hopkins Hospital and University of Maryland Hospital. He aspires to be a neuropsychologist and an advocate for diversity in STEM.

Credentials
Registered EEG Technician by the American Board of Electroencephalographic Technologist

Sevyn Hightower

Master's Student

Biography

Sevyn's specific research interests include career transitions, diversity, trauma, work/school-life balance, identity crisis, racism in sport and stress management. Through her research, she hopes to bring awareness to the correlation between cognitive factors such as athlete burnout, mental workload, decision making and its relation to performance. Her experience of growing up in a less fortunate region has strengthened her determination to better understand the field of psychology through research.  Her long term goal is to become a Sports Psychologist, that is known as a certified mental performance consultant (CMPC), Create a Psychological assessment or evaluation for athletes and open a gym. She seeks to create a standardized assessment tool aiming to identify these mental barriers.

Janine Jackson

Doctoral Candidate
jajac64@morgan.edu

Education
M.Ed. in Curriculum Design and Instruction, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL
B.A. in English, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL

Biography
Janine is a fifth-year doctoral candidate and Research Analyst in the Center for Predictive Analytics. She has extensive classroom teaching experience as a certified elementary and secondary teacher in Maryland and Washington, D.C. Janine also spent several years as a Lead Teacher and Data Coordinator for select schools in the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (Abu Dhabi, UAE). Her primary research centers around the development and validation of instruments used to measure affective characteristics of teachers as well as non-cognitive measures of student success. Janine is a 2021-2022 White House HBCU Scholar and currently serves as the student member of the Outreach Committee for the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), a member of the Psychometric Society Graduate Student Committee, the Chair of the Jamaica Diaspora Education Task Force Education Leadership Committee, and the Programming and Events Director for the International HBCU Exchange (iHBCUx).

Undergraduate Courses Taught
General Psychology Discussion

Yvette Jackson

Doctoral Candidate
yvlee1@morgan.edu

Education
M.A. in STEM Education, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD
B.S. in Chemistry, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD

Biography
Yvette is a seventh-year doctoral candidate. Her research interests include rating scale development and validation and Identifying rater effects/ rater bias in educational testing and teacher evaluations utilizing latent trait models. In addition, she is interested in conducting research on K-12 teacher attrition and migration rates as well as biases in performance evaluations and educational testing. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, cycling, traveling, taking long walks in the park, and spending time with family and friends.

Anya Jones

Doctoral Student
anjon46@Morgan.edu

Education
B.A. in Psychology, Goucher College, Baltimore, MD
M.A. in Educational Psychology (concentration in Statistical Analysis and Research Methods), Ball State University, Muncie, IN

Biography
Anya is a third-year doctoral student who specializes in qualitative and quantitative educational research. Her past research topics include Attention, Sensation and Perception and Multicultural Education in Nicaragua. Anya is currently a Data Quality Analyst and a former teacher for Baltimore City Public Schools. She is an advocate for equitable education and student wholeness initiatives, and works with organizations such as the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship and the Greater Baltimore Urban League to promote youth empowerment. Anya plans to center her future research around K-12 standardized testing, specifically assessment and diagnostic instruments used for Special Education students.

Banji Kumolalo

Doctoral Student
bakum1@morgan.edu

Education
M.Sc. in Clinical Psychology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
B.Sc. in Psychology, University of Ado-Ekiti, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria

Biography
Banji is a second-year doctoral student and a Research Assistant in the CRèMe Lab. He is a mental health professional with several years of clinical practice in a tertiary health institution. His research goal is to develop culturally sensitive, relevant, and responsive measures that will sufficiently address the need of diverse populations particularly Africans and African-Americans. His primary focus will be on developing new psychological measures for use in the mental health practice in Nigeria as well as validating, and re-validating of existing measures used in mental health assessment and substance abuse treatment assessment processes in Nigeria. His past research endeavor had focused on Psychological Wellbeing, Depression, Anxiety, Suicide, Substance Use/Abuse among diverse populations and different age groups.  His other research interests include Substance Use Prevention and Recovery.

Breanne Martin

Master’s Student
brmar31@morgan.edu

Education
B.S. in Psychology, Morgan State University

Biography
Breanne Martin is a fourth-year master's student. She has previously served as a research assistant and teachers assistant in Morgan State University's Psychology Department. Breanne Martin also has a passion for policy and research. She was an ASCEND research scholar and a member of the Student Research Center (SRC) at Morgan State University. She aspires to research various mental and physical health disparities caused by adverse environmental factors within minority populations. Through her research, she seeks to administer change within impoverished communities by going into health policy-making. Her specific research interests include trauma psychology, health psychology, inflammatory diseases within African Americans, and psychological assessments measuring responses to race and trauma. After she completes her master's degree, she plans to earn a Ph.D. in Psychometrics.

Undergraduate Courses Taught
General Psychology Discussion

Lucy Okam

Doctoral Student
luoka1@morgan.edu

Education
M.Ed. in Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation, University of Jos, Nigeria
B.Sc. (ed.) in Educational Psychology, Guidance and Counselling, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Biography
Lucy is a first-year doctoral student in the Psychometrics program at Morgan State University. Her primary research interest focuses on assessment for learning, particularly for children with learning difficulties. She aims to develop a neural network model embedded in a psychometric model that will help assess underlying processing difficulties of working memory, attention, and visual perception. Also, Lucy is interested in developing psychometric-defined game-based assessments to measure attention and personality. She is interested in a shift from traditional testing to a more alternative assessment that caters to the needs of diverse learners. Her previous research employed a response card as a formative assessment tool to provide a feedback mechanism while instruction is ongoing to improve the academic performance of pupils.

Taj Rollins 

Doctoral Candidate
tarol3@morgan.edu

Education
M.S.W. in Social Work, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD
B.A. in Psychology, Hiram College, Hiram, OH

Biography
Taj is in her sixth year of the program. Her research interests include measuring cultural competency among social workers. Cultural competence is an important element of being a successful social worker. She is interested in creating and validating a self-reporting survey that measures cultural competence of pre-service social workers.

Undergraduate Courses Taught
General Psychology Discussion, Introduction to the Scientific Method, Psychological Statistics I, Psychological Statistics II

Micah Russell

Master's Student
mirus3@morgan.edu

Education
B.A. in Psychology, Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, PA

Biography
Micah is a second-year Master's student at Morgan State University. His research interests are founded in making assessment more accessible to a wider breadth of individuals. He looks to create more engaging and interactive environments in which to assess individuals through the application and use of virtual reality and embodied cognitive techniques. Research interests and experience includes transliminality and visual accuracy and NSF-funded research investigating fire perception.

Tonya Taylor

Doctoral Student
toros4@morgan.edu

Education
M.A. in Counseling Psychology, Bowie State University, Bowie, MD
B.A. in Psychology, Trinity Washington University, Washington, DC

Biography
Tonya is a seventh-year doctoral student. Her research interests include culturally competent psychological assessment and educational testing of minorities. Through her research, she is also interested in addressing the stigma that may be felt by members of communities of color when they seek professional psychological services. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.

Primary Research Interest
Culturally Competent Psychological Assessment and Educational Testing of Minorities

Undergraduate Courses Taught
General Psychology Discussion and Scientific Methods in Psychology

Godwin Chinemerem Umeobi

Doctoral Student
goume1@morgan.edu

Education
M.Sc. in Forensic Psychology from Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu, Nigeria.
B.Sc. in Psychology from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria.
Associate Degree in Psychology from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria.

Biography
Godwin is a second-year doctoral student and a Research Assistant in the Culturally Responsive Measurement (CRèMe) Lab. He is interested in developing culturally specific psychological measures and adapting tests developed in other cultures to sufficiently meet the specific needs of various populations, especially Africans.

Godwin has worked on several projects involving developing and validating survey instruments, data collection (on-site and online), and analysis using SPSS and Process Macro. He aspires to adapt and re-validate frequently used psychological instruments in Nigerian cultural (research and practice) settings. Godwin's initial research areas were security consciousness and anti-social behavior tendency among young adults in southeastern Nigeria.

Area of Primary Research Interest
Developing and adapting psychological tests to best suit the culture of their use.