Who we are

Director

Michael Chmielewski

My program of research broadly covers psychopathology and normal-range personality with an emphasis on structure and assessment in both domains.  I am interested in how psychopathology and personality relate to each other as well as how to best conceptualize and classify both domains (e.g. is psychopathology dimensional or categorical in nature?  How valid and reliable are DSM diagnoses?).  As such, my research is based on a strong measurement foundation and the use of empirically based quantitative models, both of which I view as essential for the continued advancement of psychology as a science.  One of the long term goals of my research is to expand recent quantitative models of psychopathology (i.e. the Internalizing/Externalizing model) incorporating excluded diagnoses and integrating them with normal-range personality traits.

Within this broad research framework I also have several specific lines of research in psychopathology (schizotypy, depression/anxiety, and personality disorders), assessment (e.g. scale and measure creation, measurement error), and personality (e.g. personality stability and change).

Graduate Students

Rui Tang

My name is Rui and I am a doctoral student in clinical psychology under the supervision of Dr. Chmielewski.  My primary interest lies in the assessment of personality and psychopathology.  Specifically, I am interested in the dimensional model of personality disorders and how they are related to the normal personality traits, such as Five Factor Model.  I am also interested in the relationship between culture and personality, such as how acculturation might change personality traits and leads to the development of personality psychopathologies.  Currently I also help manage Dr. Chmielewski's lab.

Publications:  

Cui, Y., Tang, R., Lam, C. Y., Cinciripini, P. M., & Robinson, J. D. (2016).  The influence of personality traits on smokers' affect, withdrawal and cessation intervention outcome.  Addictive Behaviors. 54, 7-11

Wisdom, N.M., Booth, J.E., Tang, R., Miller, B., Collins, R.L., & Pastorek, N.J. (2015).  An examination of cognitive deficits after controlling for respondent validity in veterans with chronic PTSD.  Journal of International Neuropsychological Society, 21, Suppl. 1, 225. (abstract)

Research Assistants

Breanne Hesseltine

Breanne is a 2014 cum laude graduate of St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas.  She majored in Biology and was a member of the Women's Varsity Tennis Team for four years.  She is pursuing post-graduate studies at SMU in preparation for a career in medicine.  Breanne is interested in learning more about psychology and research in personality disorders to better understand the role of psychological components in the individual response to disease.

Andrew Alexander

Andrew is a senior triple majoring in Psychology, Biochemistry, and Applied Mathematics.

Michelle Del Rio

Michelle is currently a junior double majoring in Psychology and Creative Writing. She is the Head of Publicity for Kappa Delta Chi Sorority Inc., the Vice president of Tau Sigma a NHS, and a member of Phi Theta Kappa NHS. She aims to go on to graduate school, as well as to earn her Master's and PhD in psychology. Michelle is very interested in abnormal, personality, and developmental psychology as well as neuropsychology.

 

Jennifer Burson

Jennifer graduated summa cum lade from The University of Texas at Austin in 2014 with a BA in Psychology and a BS in Radio-TV-Film. She then served as a Teach For America corps member for two years, teaching English at a Title 1 middle school in Oak Cliff. She has her M.Ed/ from Southern Methodist University and is currently pursuing her MBA at The University of Texas at Dallas. She currently works as a management consultant with Keyot and plans to pursue a PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.

Alexandra Heck

Brandon Nguyen

Leandra Debono

Ida Vanderboegh

Lanxuan Jiang

Elizabeth Levy

Matti Miller

Sophie Iwasaki