Category: Homepage News

 

Congratulations to the OIBR faculty who recently received awards:

Justin Lavner – Creative Research Medal

Tom Mote – Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Yilang Peng – Charles B. Knapp Early Career Scholar Award

William Pridemore – Named Inaugural Marienthal Professor in Sociology

Glenna Read – Richard B. Russell Award of Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching

Greg Strauss – William A. Owens Creative Research Award

Jennifer Thompson – Non-Tenure Track Faculty Research Excellence Award

 

Ron Simons, Ph.D., Regents’ Professor in the department of sociology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences at UGA passed away on Monday, March 31, 2025. Simons had a long and fruitful collaboration with the Center for Family Research (CFR) over the years, and is leaving behind a profound legacy through his contributions to the field and support of other scholars’ work. He is survived by his spouse, collaborator, and colleague, Leslie Simons, Ph.D.

CFR’s director, Steven Beach, Ph.D., says, Simons “was a researcher’s researcher. He was fully engaged and enthusiastic about his research questions and never forgot the deep values that informed them.”

Simons started his career at Iowa State University and joined the department of sociology at the University of Georgia in 2002 with one year at Arizona State University in 2013. In over two decades at UGA, he brought in millions of dollars in research grants as a principal or co-investigator and produced over 300 peer-reviewed articles.

His work has made a major contribution to understanding the processes by which social experiences become biologically embedded and influence mental and physical health outcomes. Most recently, Simons turned his focus to how these experiences may contribute to dementia and was principal investigator on the project, “Stress, Weathering, and Blood-Based Biomarkers of Alzheimer’s Disease: A Longitudinal Study of Low Income, Aging African Americans,” funded by the National Institute on Aging.

While his highly cited research has had tremendous impact on medical sociology, understanding family influences on the life course, criminology, and the importance of socio-economic status on lifespan development, his presence on campus has been equally impactful. Man Kit (Karlo) Lei, associate professor in the department of sociology, worked with Simons as both a student, and later, as a colleague.

“Ron was my academic role model and a father-like figure,” he said, adding that Ron used his own life, even while going through multiple rounds of chemotherapy, as a teaching tool. “Until the very end, [Simons] remained committed to his work—studying how social factors shape later life, especially for minority groups…I am incredibly proud to have been his student and colleague.”

In the course of his career, Simons’ work has been lauded by numerous awards. Among them, he was selected as a Fellow in the American Academy for the Advancement of Science in 2023, named a Regents’ Professor at UGA in 2020, and chosen for the Southeastern Conference Faculty Achievement Award in 2019. Upon receiving the SEC award, UGA President Jere Morehead said that Simons “has brought great distinction to the University of Georgia.”

He will be greatly missed.

Written by: David Pollock, Center for Family Research

The Owens Institute for Behavioral Research hosted the 2025 Annual William A. Owens Lecture on February 27, 2025, featuring Dr. Steven G. Rogelberg, Chancellor’s Professor at UNC Charlotte. Hosted by Alan Flurry, Director of Communications with the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Rogelberg delivered an engaging talk on “The Surprising Science of Meetings,” offering research-backed insights into improving workplace meetings for efficiency, effectiveness, and employee well-being.

Held at the UGA Richard B. Russell Jr. Special Collections Library, the lecture attracted a diverse audience of faculty, and students, eager to learn from Dr. Rogelberg’s expertise. The event concluded with a reception, providing attendees with an opportunity for discussion and networking.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this insightful event! Stay tuned for details on next year’s lecture.

We are pleased to announce the promotion of Stacie Isbell to Grants Manager at the Owens Institute for Behavioral Research (OIBR).

Stacie has been a dedicated member of the UGA community since 2002 and joined OIBR in November 2021. In her new role, she will oversee restricted accounts for Distinguished Scholars and Affiliates of the Institute, serving as the primary contact for Principal Investigators (PIs). Her responsibilities include ensuring project personnel are paid according to project budgets, sponsors, and state guidelines, as well as monitoring accounts and project spending to maintain audit-ready records.

The Grants Manager position also ensures all grant spending complies with UGA and funding agency guidelines. Stacie will provide monthly project status reports, oversee budget updates, and utilize UGA systems—including UGA Jobs, UGA Financial Management System, UGA Budget Management System, and UGAmart—to manage and approve all grant expenditures.

Reflecting on her promotion, Stacie shared:
“I am grateful for the recent promotion to grants manager. I am truly honored and excited about this new position. I appreciate all your support and confidence in my abilities.”

Stacie’s office is located at 252F Brooks Hall, and she can be reached at sisbell@uga.edu or 706-542-6100.

Please join us in congratulating Stacie on this well-deserved achievement!

We are excited to welcome Rodrigo Medina as the newest member of the Owens Institute for Behavioral Research (OIBR) team! Rodrigo joined OIBR in January 2025 as a Senior Accountant, bringing experience in business and finance.

Rodrigo began his career at UGA’s Center for Continuing Education & Hotel in 2018. He holds an associate degree in accounting and has specialized training in governmental accounting. Currently, he is furthering his expertise by pursuing a bachelor’s degree in technology management, where he combines accounting principles with data analytics.

In his new role, Rodrigo will oversee grant-related post-award functions, coordinate payroll, process payments and purchases, and monitor sub-award and consultant agreements. Additionally, he serves as the departmental p-card holder and petty cash coordinator for both external and internal funded projects.

Rodrigo’s office is located in 252C Brooks Hall, and he can be reached at rm39648@uga.edu or 706-542-2841. Please join us in welcoming Rodrigo to OIBR!

The way parents and their children play together may be the framework for how kids will treat other children, according to a recent study from the University of Georgia.

Figuring out how to approach new social situations is key for toddlers, and research suggests that caregivers play a big part in giving kids a script to draw from.

The new study found the way mothers and toddlers interacted during play predicted how the children later interacted with other kids.

“It’s not just what the mom does when they’re interacting, and it’s not just what the child does when they’re interacting,” said Niyantri Ravindran, lead author of the study and an assistant professor in UGA’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences. “It’s really about how their behaviors are occurring together. That back-and-forth dialogue between the mother and child is contributing to how children are interacting with their peers.”

Caretakers help kids practice for future social situations

The researchers focused on two main types of behavior in 120 toddler-aged children: responsiveness and assertiveness. They followed the children through their preschool days, examining how they interacted with their friends while playing, and later paired them with both new kids, and close friends.

Children who were receptive to the suggestions of their playmate and enthusiastic about playing with them scored high on responsiveness.

Mothers and children had a strong connection if the mother was sensitive to the child’s behavior and the child responded positively. When they showed this dynamic during play, those children were more likely to show the same responsiveness with their friends.

Similarly, when mothers were sensitive and children were assertive during play, those children were more likely to be assertive with kids they didn’t know. While many may think assertive behavior equals aggressive behavior, assertiveness in this study meant that the children took initiative, like inviting another kid to play or coming up with ideas for games.

“You don’t want a child to be completely only compliant and never really taking the initiative,” said Ravindran. “Neither do you want a child who is bossy and never listening to the other kids’ suggestions. Having a balance between those two behaviors could help result in more socially competent children.”

Caregivers play a large role in how children develop social skills and not just because they are their children’s primary role models. How kids and parents interact serves as practice for new social situations.

“You’re going to guide your child, teach them and show them how to do things, but it’s also just as important to follow their lead sometimes,” said Ravindran. “That can really help balance out those behaviors.”

This study was published in Developmental Psychology and co-authored by Nancy L. McElwain of the University of Illinois’ Department of Human Development and Family Studies.

Writer: Sydney Barrilleaux
Contact: Niyantri Ravindran, niyantri.ravindran@uga.edu

 

There’s a common thread between parenting, teaching, statistics, and engineering for Drew Abney.

Growing up in the Chicago suburbs, he always dreamed of being a high school teacher— specifically, a wood shop and engineering design teacher. His mother, however, had a different future in mind for him.

“My mom used to say I should be a psychologist because I was that friend in high school who everyone went to with their problems and talked them through it,” said Abney, associate professor in the Franklin College of Arts & Sciences Department of Psychology. “And when I was working on my master’s degree, I found myself reading a lot of books on cognition, behavior, and neuroscience.”

While working on his master’s in education, Abney took a statistics class that, surprisingly, made his passing interest in psychology seem like a possible career option. It was the first time in his life he felt he excelled at math. He saw how statistics correlated with the research he was reading about, such as quantifying the probability of behavior changes, and began to consider a different path.

“My mom was sort of right, although she thought I was going to be a clinical psychologist. Still, she likes to remind me she always knew I’d do this,” Abney said.

Abney earned a master’s in experimental psychology and a Ph.D. in cognitive and information sciences, studying at the intersection of experimental psychology and computer science. His current psychology research is the culmination of these past skills.

Beginning with his dissertation, Abney has focused on modeling and quantifying human interaction. The interactions between infants and their caregivers led him to developmental psychology, for which he received a James S. McDonnell Foundation grant to study sensory-motor development during infant sleep.

“Every parent worries about sleep and how their child sleeps, and the developmental trajectories of sleep have always been a fascinating area of research that I wanted to get into,” he said.

As luck would have it, a perfect pilot subject came into Abney’s life around that time: his own daughter.

“Before she was born, I was an expert in developmental psychology, but I wasn’t an expert in parenting,” he said. “It was exciting to watch the different developmental milestones play out before my eyes, not just as a psychologist but as a father.”

While he was developing a sleep room for subjects, Abney’s daughter indicated discomfort in the lab. Abney realized that the best way to study infant sleep would be in their natural home environment.

The research team pivoted to recording infant naps over four sessions during home visits in the local Athens community, using a mobile lab setup.

Initially, the work was difficult. Abney and his team were used to conducting studies in a more controlled environment. They were able to make it work, however, with an infrared camera and mobile electrocardiogram (ECG) system.

During these home visits, Abney’s team uses sensors that monitor infant movements during the rest of the day and artificial intelligence to classify babies’ movements. This allows them to analyze and model movement dynamics during sleep and while they are awake. While home visits were not part of the original study design, Abney said they improved ecological validity since they capture better-quality sleep data in infants’ home environments.

In spring 2024, Abney received the university-wide Charles B. Knapp Early Career Scholar Award for his research. He’s also become a rising star in the classroom; since arriving at UGA in 2020, he has won two Outstanding Teaching Awards from the Department of Psychology.

Abney brings these skills to bear in unique ways, and it still goes back to his interest in statistics.

“I really love teaching statistics at the undergraduate and graduate levels, which not all undergraduate students in psychology are excited about and I accept that,” Abney said. “But what I love about teaching statistics is it’s just a great way to build hands-on skills that are translatable to careers right out of the gate with a bachelor’s degree.”

“Human behavior touches just about every field you can think of, whether it’s economics or political science or sociology. [For people] going into the academic study of psychology, I would encourage them to think more outside their disciplines, [for example] about emerging trends in artificial intelligence and how you can use tools from artificial intelligence to study human behavior.”

Article written by Emily Tingle