Dr. Zibei Chen is a poverty scholar with a research agenda centered on understanding causes and consequences of living in a fringe economy and developing evidence-based interventions that promote financial capability and economic prosperity among the poor, racial minorities, and other financially disfranchised groups. Some of her current research projects include investigating the role of income volatility in using alternative financial services, examining the impact of financial stability and asset building programs, and exploring the intersection of finance and health.

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Dr. Jennifer M. First is an assistant professor in the College of Social Work at the University of Tennessee and an external associate at the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine. She is an interdisciplinary social scientist, studying how people prepare and cope with climate change and severe weather events (e.g., tornadoes, floods, extreme heat), with an emphasis on examining and addressing social inequities. She has worked on various topics related to climate change and disasters, including risk communication, protective decision-making, mitigation and adaptation equity, health and well-being, assessment, and measurement. Her research approach is collaborative and community-driven, integrating physical, natural, and social sciences with community stakeholder engagement. She employs various convergent research methods, including surveys, interviews, case studies, remote sensing, visual tools (e.g., mapping, photography), historical data, experiments, and model building.  

Dr. First’s work has been supported by funders such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Integrated Heat Health Information Systems (NIHHIS), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Natural Hazards Center, and Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment.

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Story: Dr. Jen First Receives Federal Grant

 

Dr. Gitau engages in research focusing on working with immigrants, refugees, and international engagement. Her work involves grassroots projects in collaboration with rural communities in Kenya. The core of her research centers on advocating for marginalized communities, promoting cultural competence, emphasizing international engagement, and advancing social justice.

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Dr. Held’s research agenda centers on mental health among Latinx and immigrant communities. Informed by clinical practice experience in the U.S. and Central America, she designs quantitative and qualitative studies to investigate immigration-related experiences of trauma, resilience, and integration, as well as mental health service utilization. She has specifically examined Latinx and other immigrants’ stress specific to exclusionary immigration policies in the U.S. and how that stress correlates with depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Toward improved well-being and thriving, Dr. Held is invested in strengthening culturally responsive behavioral health service provision capacity.

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Dr. Linden has a three-year grant from IDEXX to study veterinary student mental health, wellness, and DEI. She is the co-editor of the first veterinary social work textbook (Springer, 2022) and is on the leadership council of the University of Tennessee Center for Veterinary Social Work. Dr. Linden is also the project director for the CVSW International Access to Veterinary Care Community of Practice.

 

Dr. Lucio’s research focuses on risk and protective factors impacting youth development. Recently he has published several articles and newsletters, including A call to action: Unifying school social work practice models (Children & Schools, In Press), Using data to make evidence informed decisions in school social work (International Journal of School Social Work, in Press), and Mental health and schools: The impact of school social workers (NASW Practice Section, Fall/Winter 2023), Additionally, he serves as the Advocacy and Legislative action co-chair for the School Social Work Association of America and Chair for the School Social Work Specialty Practice section of the National Association of School Social Workers.

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Dr. Mason conducts randomized clinical trials testing digitally delivered treatment for psychiatric disorders, including substance use disorders and major depressive disorder.

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Primarily a qualitative researcher, Dr. Lori Messinger has conducted case studies, ethnography, grounded theory approaches, and basic content analysis. She also has experience with mixed methods on team-based projects. All of her work is informed by a critical theory approach to research questions and analysis.

Her funded research projects have been supported by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), Lambda Legal, the North American Case Research Association, the Gill Foundation, the Small Change Foundation, the Arcus Foundation, and the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), where she served as a CSWE Senior Scholar. She has also received funding for social work education-based projects from the Roddy Foundation, the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, and internal grant funds from several universities.

Dr. Messinger has also co-edited a textbook and a casebook with Columbia University Press on social work practice with LGBTQ+ populations.

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Dr. Wang primarily focuses on dementia caregiving, aging, and health disparities. She has a particular interest in examining the stress and health outcomes among older spousal dementia caregivers. Her secondary research interest involves identifying mechanisms that can explain health disparities among racial/ethnic minority dementia caregivers, with a specific focus on African Americans.

 

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Dr. Stacia West is an associate professor at The University of Tennessee College of Social Work and the co-founding director of the Center for Guaranteed Income Research at the University of Pennsylvania. An internationally recognized expert on unconditional cash transfers and anti-poverty policy, Dr. West’s work routinely appears in top tier scientific journals including Nature Mental Health and the Journal of Urban Health. She received the Society for Social Work and Research Social Policy Researcher Award for an Emerging Scholar in 2021, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, CNN, The New Yorker, and various other media outlets.

Lisa Zottarelli’s work focuses on how complex vulnerabilities interact with hazard exposure. She conducts research on the social dynamics of disasters and extreme weather events, examining issues such as public preparedness and institutional response. Currently, she is working in risk communication and protective decision-making during extreme heat events. She brings interdisciplinary training in sociology and public health to teams that include researchers from medicine, engineering, and the social sciences.

She has a second area of research that focuses on examining and assessing post-secondary programs and services to support college students. Recently, she has conducted research on basic needs insecurities among college students, institutional assessment of basic needs programs to support college student persistence, and the communication of rights, programs, and serves to pregnant students.

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