Senior Advisors
Senior advisors ensure the clarity of web content and guarantee that all the information we provide is reliable.
An advisory committee has been put in place for this purpose.
General Advisors
Carrie-Ann Miller is a Licensed Social Worker. She is a double alumna of Stony Brook University and has served as the Director of WISE since 2004. As such she has increased the number of students and the breadth of the program. She created the Student Leadership Council which receives leadership training and has significant input into the program. She is the co-director of TechPREP as well as one of the founders of the Coalition for Outreach and Education Programs (COOP).
Doreen Aveni holds a certificate in Academic Advising from Stony Brook’s Academic and Pre-Professional Advising Center. She is the recipient of the 2008 Campus Life Award for Most Outstanding Advisor. She earned a BA in English from Vassar College and attended NYU Film School. She has worked on campus since 2002 and has been with WISE since 2004.
Social Media
Kent Gustavson, PhD (Classical Composition, Stony Brook University) is an acclaimed author, speaker, educator, and musician. He is highly regarded for writing the definitive biography of music icon Doc Watson, Blind But Now I See. The book won the Next Generation Indie Book Award in 2011, and currently has 50,000 copies in circulation. As an in-demand public speaker, Kent speaks nationally on a myriad of music related topics, as well as independent publishing, executive coaching, motivational speaking, and most importantly for our project, social media education.
Sociology
Catherine Marrone, PhD (Sociology, Stony Brook University) has focused on a number of issues within the field of Medical Sociology that include social inequality in health and the Sociology of Aging. Her course, The Sociology of Human Reproduction, addresses global issues related to Infant and Maternal Mortality, fertility rates (and demographic changes) and the cultural consequences of new forms of Reproductive Technology.
Writing
Kristina Lucenko, PhD (English Literature, University of Buffalo) is the Associate Director of the Program in Writing and Rhetoric at Stony Brook University, where she teaches a range of writing-intensive courses. Her interests lie in life narratives, documentary film, science writing, new media, and service learning.
Epilepsy
Jill Miller-Horn, MS MD (Drexel University) is a pediatric neurologist at Stony Brook University Medical Center. She has a special interest in epilepsy research and has board certification in Psychiatry and Neurology — Special Competence in Child Neurology . Additionally, she is a part of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at Stony Brook University Medical Center.
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
Megan Tudor is a PhD candidate in Clinical Psychology at Stony Brook University. She will soon begin her clinical internship at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, OR. Megan’s research focuses on various systemic (or “big picture”) factors that can influence the functioning of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and their family members. Specifically, she has published findings on the influence of sleep problems and pain on this population and, currently, she is conducting her dissertation on how various familial factors may affect the well-being of siblings of youth with ASD. Megan has provided evidence-based family therapy for youth and college students on the autism spectrum in various clinics, including SBU’s Krasner Psychological Center and the NYU Child Study Center. Megan is an advocate for the quality of life of individuals with developmental disabilities and chronic illnesses and aims for her research, clinical work, and college courses to reflect a strong sense of respect and care for these individuals and their families.
Depression
Fikri Birey is a PhD candidate in Genetics at Stony Brook University. Fikri’s research centers on glial cell biology in the context of neurological disorders, with a particular focus on Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Although MDD has garnered widespread attention from the scientific community, the underlying maladaptive mechanisms at the cellular level remain poorly understood. The dysfunction of glial cells (90% non-neuronal cell population of the brain) has recently begun to emerge as a new hallmark of depression. Fikri’s research on animal models of depression has revealed novel glial disturbances that provided mechanistic clues to the emergence of depressive behavior. He believes that a definition of MDD at a glial level will help unravel its etiology and provide novel therapeutic targets for antidepressant development.
Daniel Klein, PhD (Clinical Psychology, State University of New York at Buffalo) is interested in developmental psychopathology and adult psychopathology, particularly mood disorders in children, adolescents, and adults. His research explores the intergenerational transmission of depression; the roles of temperament and emotional reactivity, and early adversity in the development and course of mood disorders; the long-term course and continuity of mood disorders; the classification of mood disorders; comorbidity between depression and other disorders; and the psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacological treatment of depressive disorders.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Joanne Davila, PhD (Psychology, UCLA) is a Professor or Psychology and the Director of Clinical Training in the Department of Psychology at Stony Brook University. She has published widely in the areas of adolescent and adult psychopathology and interpersonal functioning. Her current research focuses on the interpersonal causes and consequences of depression and anxiety disorders, risk factors for the early development of romantic relationship dysfunction in adolescents, the role of attachment representations in interpersonal functioning, and well being among LGBT individuals. She is a licensed psychologist who practices integrative evidence-based therapy to treat anxiety, depression, and interpersonal problems.