Faculty

Office: Curtis Hall 202

Phone: 716-839-8257

Email: demer@daemen.edu

Office: Curtis Hall 201

Phone: 716-839-8256

Email: jhanna@daemen.edu

I am a psycholinguist with a background in cognitive science, cognitive psychology, and linguistics. After my graduate training, I was a postdoctoral fellow at SUNY Stony Brook, working on ways to study comprehension during conversational interaction using head-mounted eye tracking technology. During my career, I have set up two eye tracking laboratories, one for use in experiments that use computer-based displays and one for use in experiments where participants are in face-to-face, conversational settings.

Courses Taught

• • PSY 103 – Introduction to Psychological Science
• • PSY 215 – Cognitive Psychology
• • PSY 216 – Behavior Modification
• • PSY 217 – Sensation and Perception
• • PSY 333 – Statistics for Psychological and Social Sciences 
• • PSY 353 – Research Methods in Psychological Science
• • PSY 335 – Junior Seminar in Psychological Science (Psycholinguistics)
• • PSY 354 – Advanced Research Methods in Psychological Science
• • PSY 391 – Psychology and Culture
• • PSY 444 – Senior Thesis in Psychological Sciences

The course I most love to teach is Introduction to Psychological Science; I find it particularly rewarding to introduce students to the science of psychology, whether they will end up a major or not, and to explore with them the theories and data that speak to how and why we think and behave the way we do.
My research focuses on the sources of information that contribute to moment-by-moment language comprehension, including linguistic factors (such as syntax and semantics), as well as factors that come from the context of being involved in a conversation(such as the common ground between interlocutors, their spatial perspectives, their eye gaze, or even their gestures). I have also conducted eyetracking reading experiments that looked at how prior discourse context affects within-sentence ambiguity resolution.

Educational Background

• Bachelor of Arts, Vassar College, 1991 (Cognitive Science)
• Master of Arts, University Rochester, 1999 (Brain and Cognitive Sciences)
• Doctor of Philosophy, University Rochester, 2001 (Brain and Cognitive Sciences)
• NIH National Research Service Award Postdoctoral Fellow, SUNY Stony Brook, 2001-2004

Selected Articles and Presentations

• Hanna, J.E., Brennan, S.E., & *Savietta, K.J. (2020). Eye gaze and head orientation cues in face-to-face referential communication.  Discourse Processes, 57(3), 203-223. 
• Hanna. J.E., Poepsel, D.L., & Lupien, S.P. (November, 2019).  Evaluation of SPSS training within a Psychological Sciences statistics course versus an introductory research methods course.  Poster presented at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Northeast Conference for Teachers of Psychology.  Manchester, NH.
• Brennan, S.E., & Hanna, J.E. (2017). Psycholinguistic approaches: Meaning and understanding. In E. Weigand (Ed.), Language and Dialogue: A Handbook of Key Issues in the Field (pp. 93-108). New York, NY: Routledge. 
• Brown-Schmidt, S. & Hanna, J.E. (2011).Talking in another person's shoes: Incremental perspective-taking in language processing. Dialog and Discourse, 2, 11-33.
• Brennan, S.E. & Hanna, J.E. (2009).Partner-specific adaptation in dialogue. Topics in Cognitive Science(Special Issue on Joint Action), 1, 274-291.
• Hanna, J.E. & Brennan, S.E. (2007). Speakers' eye gaze disambiguates referring expressions early during face-to-face conversation.Journal of Memory and Language, 57, 596-616.
• Hanna, J.E. & Tanenhaus, M.K. (2004). Pragmatic effects on reference resolution in a collaborative task: evidence from eye movements. Cognitive Science, 28, 105-115.
• Hanna, J.E., Tanenhaus, M.K., & Trueswell, J.C. (2003). The effects of common ground and perspective on domains of referential interpretation. Journal Of Memory and Language, 49, 43-61.

Funding

• NSF HCC-Small:Establishing and breaking conceptual pacts with dialog partners. Co-PI on collaborative grant with D. Byron (joint review by Information and Intelligent Systems/Human Centered Computing and Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences/Perception, Action, and Cognition). 10/2007-9/2010; No cost extension through 9/2011; NSF approved extensions through 3/2013; Supplement Awarded to J.E. Hanna 6/2012.
• NIH National Research Service Award Postdoctoral Fellow, SUNY Stony Brook, 2001-2004. Title: The use of perspective during referential communication. Sponsor: Dr. Susan E.Brennan.

Office: Curtis Hall 204
Phone: 716-839-7277
Email: kkhan@daemen.edu

I am a behavioral neuroscientist with training in neuropsychopharmacology. I earned my Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences from the University of Minnesota at Rochester, where I began working with the zebrafish animal model. From there I continued working with zebrafish and earned my M.A. and Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology, with an emphasis in Brain and Behavioral Psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi. There, my focus was on studying the environmental and pharmacological influences on stress-related behavior in zebrafish. Before coming to Daemen University, I completed my postdoctoral training in the Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa, working with mouse models to study neurodegenerative diseases.

My primary research interests are in studying the individual differences in the susceptibility or resiliency to affective (e.g., depressive) disorders. I use a zebrafish animal model to examine the neurobiological basis of stress behaviors via behavior analysis and physiological assays. The most rewarding thing about research for me, is the ability to develop unique questions and carry out experiments to answer previously unanswered questions. I really enjoy mentoring young scholars through research and teaching them tools which they can use to develop & answer their own research questions.

I teach several courses in psychology, including Introduction to Psychological Sciences, Research Methods courses, Biological Bases of Behavior, and Drugs & Behavior. My instruction style is interactive, and I always strive to provide multiple viewpoints to a particular topic or subject matter.

Selected Publications

• Khan, K. M., Balasubramanian, N., Gaudencio, G., Wang, R., Selvakumar, G. P., Kolling, L., Pierson, S., Tadinada, S. M., Abel, T., Hefti, M. & Marcinkiewcz, C. A. (2023). Human tau-overexpressing mice recapitulate brainstem involvement and neuropsychiatric features of early Alzheimer’s disease. Acta neuropathologica communications, 11(1), 57.
• Khan, K. M., Bierlein-De La Rosa, G., Biggerstaff, N., Pushpavapathi, S. G., Mason, S., Dailey, M., Marcinkiewcz, C. A. (2023). Adolescent ethanol drinking promotes hyperalgesia, neuroinflammation and serotonergic deficits in mice that persist into adulthood. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 107, 419-431.
• Khan, K. M., Collier, A. D., Meshalkina, D. A., Kysil, E. V., Khatsko, S. L., Kolesnikova, T., Morzherin, Y. Y., Warnick, J. E., Kalueff, A. V., Echevarria, D. J. (2017). Zebrafish models in neuropsychopharmacology and CNS drug discovery. British Journal of Pharmacology, 174, 1925-1944.
• Khan, K. M., Echevarria, D. J. (2017). Feeling Fishy: Trait Differences in Zebrafish (Danio rerio). In J. Vonk & A. Weiss (Eds.), Personality in Non-human Animals (pp. 111-127). New York, NY: Springer.

Office: Curtis Hall 205

Phone: 716-566-7854

Email: slupien@daemen.edu

Courses Taught

• PSY 103 – Introduction to Psychological Science
• PSY 210 – Social Psychology
• PSY 301 – Psychology of Human Sexuality and Sexual Health
• PSY 335 – Junior Seminar in Psychology (Self and Self-Esteem)
• PSY 353 – Research Methods in Psychology
• PSY 354 – Advanced Research Methods in Psychology
• PSY 391 – Psychology and Culture
• PSY 444 – Senior Thesis in Psychology

Selected Publications

Office: Curtis Hall 206

Phone: 716-839-8347

Email: dpoepsel@daemen.edu

Dr. Dennis Poepsel is an Associate Professor in the Daemen University Department of Psychological Sciences. Dr. Poepsel holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from William Jewell College, a Master of Science in Psychology from the University of Central Missouri, and a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Arkansas. During his graduate training at the University of Arkansas, Dr. Poepsel was under the mentorship of Dr. David A. Schroeder, a leader in the field of prosocial behavior for over 40 years. Before coming to Daemen, Dr. Poepsel held temporary, one-year Assistant Professor positions at Truman State University and Centenary College of Louisiana.

Dr. Poepsel’s research specialization is in Social Psychology. In particular, his greatest interests lie in studying prosocial/helping behavior. The form this research has taken over the years has varied while retaining a primary question: what can be done to motivate others to do what is best for everyone rather than what is best just for the self? In graduate school, Dr. Poepsel’s focus was set on understanding why it is difficult to get groups to cooperate with each other, and under what circumstances can cooperation be promoted. This led him to research the influence of perceived justice during intergroup interactions and how perceiving that one’s group has been treated fairly by another group (or by a larger system) can lead to more cooperative behaviors. His current interests have included studying prosocial personality traits and how these traits may work with, or against, more sadistic personality traits in motivating everyday behavior.

Dr. Poepsel’s primary interest lies in teaching undergraduates about psychology and introducing them to what this science has to offer. Whether it's as a student in one of his classes, or as a research assistant, Dr. Poepsel is committed to opening up students’ eyes to how they function (for good or bad!) within a complex, social world. 

Over the years, the most satisfying aspect of Dr. Poepsel’s career has been mentoring students in both his and their own research projects. Consistently these projects have been submitted for publication and/or presentation at national research conferences.

Courses Taught

• PSY 103 Introduction to Psychological Sciences
• PSY 210 Social Psychology
• PSY 218 Theories of Personality
• PSY 318 Heroes, Healers, and Do-Gooders: The Psychology of Helping and Altruism
• PSY 335 Junior Seminar in Psychology (Stereotypes and Discrimination; Prosocial Behavior)
• PSY 353 Research Methods in Psychology
• PSY 354 Advanced Research Methods in Psychology
• PSY 444 Senior Thesis

Selected Publications

• Poepsel, D. L., Lupien, S., & May, L. (2022, March). Implicit versus Explicit Anthropomorphization Depends on Target and Reference. Presented at the Annual Eastern Psychological Association Conference, New York, NY.
• Emer, D., & Poepsel, D. (2021). Under the radar: Everyday sadism predicts both passive-aggressive harms and beneficial actions after accounting for prosocial tendencies. Personality and Individual Differences, 168, Article 110321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110321
• DeBono, A., Poepsel, D., & Corley, N. (2020). Thank god for my successes (not my failures): Feeling god’s presence explains a god attribution bias. Psychological Reports, 123, 1663-1687. doi: 10.1177/0033294119885842
• Poepsel, D. L., & Schroeder, D. A. (2017). Cooperation. In Paul Joseph (Ed.) The SAGE Encyclopedia of War: Social Science Perspectives. (pp. 393-395). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483359878.n158

Email: kzelazny@daemen.edu

Kerry Zelazny is a full-time instructor in the Daemen University Psychological Sciences Department. Kerry holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University at Buffalo (UB) as well as a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Central Florida. He also holds a Master of Arts in Psychology from UB, where he focused his training in the Clinical Psychology area's graduate program. While enrolled in graduate school, Kerry conducted research, coursework and training in the areas of mental illness, psychological assessment, and psychotherapy. He worked for several years at UB in the Personality, Psychopathology and Psychometrics Lab under Dr. Leonard Simms, as well as in the Depression Research and Treatment Lab under Dr. John Roberts.

Kerry's research has focused on personality traits and their relationship with different disorders, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety disorders, and depressive disorders. In particular, his research has examined modern classification schemes that help us understand the symptoms of these disorders and how problems like PTSD and personality disorders are best defined.

While at UB, Kerry also trained for several years in both the measurement and treatment of mental health problems. This included work at ECMC's Child Psychiatric Unit (conducting group therapy with children), the VA Hospital's Geriatric Evaluation and Management Unit (performing assessment and behavioral treatment for Veterans with dementia), and at UB's Psychological Services Center (providing supervised assessment and psychotherapy to community members and college students). Some of the therapies Kerry has received training in include CBT, ACT, DBT, Assertiveness Training, and Couple's Therapy. Kerry also specialized in the detection and measurement of pathological personality traits, which was also a focus of his research.

Since graduate school, Kerry has focused his career on teaching. His teaching method includes a heavy emphasis on drawing together scientific research with practical, everyday experiences. One of the things Kerry loves about teaching psychology classes is that much of the material is fun to learn, and much of it relates to both every-day-life and career experiences outside of the classroom. He particularly enjoys helping students find their own personal connections with the course material – a goal that he believes can help students perform better in the class and to also use what they've learned long after graduating from Daemen. While at Daemen, Kerry has taught Introduction to Psychological Science, Psychology of Mental Illness, and Counseling Psychology. Other courses Kerry has taught (at other area schools like UB) include Developmental Psychology, Psychopathology of Development, Social Psychology, Personality Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Anxiety Disorders, Mood Disorders, Personality Disorders, and Advanced Research Methods.

In his free time, Kerry likes to read science fiction (like the Wheel of Time), hike and camp, play board games, and hang out with his family and friends. He is a proud father (of his daughter Ezri), Marine Veteran, and Mario Kart champion.

Email: aburden@daemen.edu

Phone Number: 716-839-8563

Office Location: Lobby Curtis Hall