Research Interests
I feel that social skills are vital for communicating and interacting with others effectively. With the advances in technology for communication purposes, you wonder if the skills for effectively communicating verbally face-to-face are becoming a lost art. Individuals are constantly communicating through text, email, and social networks with very little human interaction verbally, and are becoming complacent with non-verbal forms of communication as the norm. Often individuals who struggle with social/emotional communication in school do not receive support upon graduating from high school. Some of these individuals transition to college and find it challenging. As part of a future research program I wish to study social/emotional skills of young adults in college. It is my desire to find out the prevalence of young adults who struggle with social/emotional communication in college and the effect it has on their college experience as well as their overall progress. I feel that identifying these individuals early on (e.g. In a Freshman Seminar Class) could assist in developing a program to address and support social/emotional issues these individuals may be facing. It is my desire to undertake research opportunities with a local neurologist to study autism/Asperger's syndrome as they relate to social interaction for individuals at the collegiate level.
