Lab Director
Larry Hawk, Ph.D. (he/they)
Dr. Larry Hawk feels fortunate to work with a great multidisciplinary Behavioral Health team, including collaborators across North America. He received his doctoral degree in in Clinical (Health) Psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1996 and completed his clinical internship and post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Hawk began his career as a clinical psychophysiologist and continues to take a non-reductionistic approach to integrating psychology and biology. Most of Dr. Hawk’s recent and current research focuses on the role of basic cognitive and affective/motivational processes and treatment mechanisms in tobacco/nicotine use. He employs a range of research methodologies, including basic behavioral pharmacology lab studies, intensive real-world assessment, and randomized clinical trials. A parallel line of work focuses on ADHD. Dr. Hawk also enjoys traveling with his wife, cycling, and a range of family-oriented outdoor activities.
Project Manager
CeCe Duerr, M.S.
CeCe received her B.A. and M.S. degrees from Mississippi State University, where she played on the Lady Bulldogs golf team for 4 years. She has been a clinical research coordinator for over 25 years and has worked on many different types of projects, including: childhood weight control, coping skills training for partners of pathological gamblers, a longitudinal study assessing stability and changes in mental health and drinking behaviors, and multiple smoking cessation clinical trials. She is excited to be coordinating studies in the Behavioral Health Lab at UB. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and three cats, as well as going to concerts, traveling, photography reading and hanging out with family and friends.
Graduate Students
Robert Cooper, M.A.
Bobby is a doctoral student in the Hawk Lab. He studied psychology as an undergraduate at SUNY Fredonia with minors in statistics and coaching. He then received his Master’s degree in general psychology at the University at Buffalo before entering the clinical psychology Ph.D. program in the fall of 2020. Bobby’s research interests center around how substance use, particularly nicotine and caffeine, impact cognition, physiology, and behavior. Outside of the lab, Bobby enjoys sports (including running, soccer, and hockey), as well as hiking.
Samantha Johnstone, B.A
Samantha Johnstone is a doctoral student in the Hawk Lab. She received her BA in psychology and completed an honours thesis at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson), with a minor in criminology. Her research interests involve understanding and treating cooccurring substance use disorders and serious mental illness (e.g., schizophrenia), as well as elucidating specific treatment mechanisms (e.g., emotion/cognition). Apart from academia, she enjoys house music, dancing, and horror movies/books.
Staff
Ashlan Hubbard, B.S. (she/her)
Ashlan recently graduated from the University at Buffalo, where she majored in Psychology and minored in Neuroscience. She completed a senior honors thesis with Dr. Ashare studying the presentation of social support and depression among tobacco cigarette smokers with HIV. Ashlan now works as a Research Assistant with Drs. Hawk and Ashare. Her primary research interest includes the exploration of integrative naturopathic treatments for mood disorders. Ashlan is an advocate for environmental conservation and loves to explore the outdoors.
Eugene Maguin, Ph.D.
Gene is a data manager/analyst for multiple projects in the Hawk Behavioral Health Lab. Gene completed his undergraduate B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Kansas State University, earned his PhD in Developmental Psychology at Michigan State University in 1991, and trained as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pittsburgh. He worked as a program manager at the Research Institute on Addictions and as a Research Scientist in the UB School of Social Work before coming to Psychology in 2018. Gene is an avid dancer.
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LeahAnne Humphrey, B.S.
LeahAnne graduated in 2022 with her BS in Exercise Science from the University at Buffalo. After graduating, LeahAnne helped patients reduce their risk for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases through the development and implementation of individualized exercise and lifestyle management programs. Throughout 2022, LeahAnne assisted in writing and publishing a paper about lifestyle interventions that target hyperinsulinemia to normalize hyperglycemia and surrogate markers of insulin resistance. LeahAnne sought out the Hawk lab in May of 2023 to further her research experience and explore her research interests.
Ashley Schenkel, B.A.
Ashley recently graduated with her BA in psychology from D’Youville University and is now a senior staff member in Dr. Hawk’s lab, assisting on the Vaping and Smoking Project (VASP) and the FRIENDS project. Her primary research focus is concentrated in vaping behaviors, specifically concerning risk perception and consequences of vaping, smoking cessation, and comparing smoking to vaping to discover similarities and differences between the two. Her hobbies include reading, watching/playing sports, and mixology!
Collaborators
Coming soon…
Alumni - Where are they now?
Sarah Tonkin, 2022 PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Health Promotion Research Center, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center – Stephenson Cancer Center
Whitney Fosco, 2018 PhD
Michelle Bubnik-Harrison, 2016 PhD
Psychologist, Director of Internship, and Coordinator of the Behavioral Health Program for Military Familes, Child and Family Therapy Clinic, Kennedy Kreiger Institute.
Nicolas Schlienz, 2015 PhD
HRI Scientist, Department of Health Behavior, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
Jessica Rhodes, 2014 PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Westminster College
Rebecca Ashare, 2011 PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, University at Buffalo
Keri Shiels Rosch, 2011 PhD
Assistant Professor, Center for Neurodevelopmental and Imaging Research, Department of Neuropsychology, Kennedy Krieger Institute and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Joseph Baschnagel, 2007 PhD
Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Rochester Institute of Technology
Juliana Read, 2004 PhD
Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center