Student Research Opportunities
Many Social Science faculty are actively engaged in research with students, constructing honors contracts, working on undergraduate research projects, and/or contributing to the CUNY Research Scholars Program (CRSP) and the Social Science Summer Intensive Research Program (SIRP). Following is a list of Social Science faculty that are currently working on research projects with students. If you are interested in learning more about their work, please contact the faculty member directly or submit your information via this form.
Criminal Justice
Dr. Emily Pelletier
Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice
Professor Pelletier has research interests in juvenile justice and youth policy, often with a focus on the defense of youth in delinquency court. She has an academic background in law, public policy, and criminal justice, which shape her research interests. Much of her research involves examining policies that impact youth in the juvenile justice system and looking for trends among these policies. Professor Pelletier looks forward to working on research projects with students who have an interest in these areas. At Queensborough, she teaches CRIM 101, 106, 203, and PLSC 101, and encourages students in these courses to develop honors contracts rooted in their own interests and curiosities that grow from the course.
Dr. Celia Sporer
Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice
Professor Sporer’s research interests cover a wide variety of criminal justice related topics, mostly focused on criminal justice education and first responders. Professor Sporer has a particular interest in understanding how to improve criminal justice education to prepare students for a wide assortment of careers in the field. She also has a keen interest in understanding Emergency Medical Service Providers as a subset of first responders that are often not well studied. Professor Sporer has mentored students in the past as part of SIRP, CRSP, and honors contracts. Professor Sporer is currently working on several projects that explore the impact of COVID on EMS providers, understanding the role of research in criminal justice education, the death penalty, the relationship between the selection of criminal justice as a major and long-term career goals, Holocaust education in the criminal justice curriculum, as well as several other projects. Professor Sporer is eager to provide students at all levels of research experience the opportunity to work on all aspects of current projects, as well as to help develop new research projects.
Education
Dr. Jody A. Resko
Assistant Professor of Education and Psychology
Professor Resko has taught part-time at CUNY since 1996, and full-time at QCC since 2018. She earned her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from CUNY Graduate School and University Center. For over 15 years she taught at Yeshiva University & Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She is dedicated to collaborative interdisciplinary teaching and research endeavors. Her research projects are mainly centered around various aspects of teaching and learning and associated psychological constructs including student motivation and resiliency. She is a past recipient of a Pedagogical Research Challenge Award for her work on Negative Math Attitudes in Pre-Service Teachers in collaboration with Professor Mathieu Sassolas (Math Department). She is currently collaborating with Professor Leslie Ward (Library Department) on a PSC-CUNY funded research project examining student engagement using Open Pedagogy and the UDL framework. Professor Resko is dedicated to working with her students and is actively involved in Undergraduate Research and several college- and CUNY-wide programs, including SIRP, CRSP, and Undergraduate Research Day.
Philosophy
Dr. Mark Zelcer
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Professor Mark Zelcer has been at QCC since 2019. He has advanced degrees in philosophy and political science, all from CUNY. Professor Zelcer’s primary research interests are in the philosophy of science and mathematics, ancient philosophy and Plato’s political philosophy, philosophy of religion and Jewish thought, and military ethics. Professor Zelcer has research programs in each of these areas now, and he is especially interested in interdisciplinary collaborative research that is philosophical but draws on mathematics, science, politics, and military issues.
Psychology
Dr. Azadeh Aalai
Associate Professor of Psychology
Dr. Aalai is an Associate Professor with Tenure in the Social Sciences department. She presently is working on a book about the psychology of bystander behavior during the Holocaust. She has also done research on Holocaust education as a pathway towards transformational learning in higher education. Her other research interests include the effects of mass media and social media on consumers, gender-related research, pathways towards conflict resolution and peacekeeping, and work on the psychology of aggression, mass violence, and genocide. She is also a regular contributor for Psychology Today.
Dr. Patrick Byers
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Professor Patrick Byers has a Ph.D. in psychology from CUNY and has taught at Queensborough since 2018. His research background in psychology includes experimental studies on children’s developing understanding of concepts, applied research for the U.S. Department of Education, and theoretical/philosophical work. In his recent work, Professor Byers analyzes written and spoken language in order to learn about how people make sense of their worlds and each other’s behavior. His current project examines the deep mastery of human psychology that is a necessary prerequisite for telling and interpreting stories, and which allows us to see fictional characters as convincingly lifelike.
Dr. Qin Li
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Professor Li teaches introductory, personality, and developmental psychology, and she will soon be teaching the first Positive Psychology course offered at QCC. Her research centers broadly on creativity, with her current focus being expertise and art. In addition to creativity, she is also open to exploring related topics in positive psychology.
Dr. Jody A. Resko
Assistant Professor of Education and Psychology
Professor Resko has taught part-time at CUNY since 1996, and full-time at QCC since 2018. She earned her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from CUNY Graduate School and University Center. For over 15 years she taught at Yeshiva University & Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She is dedicated to collaborative interdisciplinary teaching and research endeavors. Her research projects are mainly centered around various aspects of teaching and learning and associated psychological constructs including student motivation and resiliency. She is a past recipient of a Pedagogical Research Challenge Award for her work on Negative Math Attitudes in Pre-Service Teachers in collaboration with Professor Mathieu Sassolas (Math Department). She is currently collaborating with Professor Leslie Ward (Library Department) on a PSC-CUNY funded research project examining student engagement using Open Pedagogy and the UDL framework. Professor Resko is dedicated to working with her students and is actively involved in Undergraduate Research and several college- and CUNY-wide programs, including SIRP, CRSP, and Undergraduate Research Day.
Sociology
Dr. Julia Rothenberg
Associate Professor of Sociology
Professor Rothenberg received an MFA in painting at Queens College and a PhD in sociology from CUNY Graduate Center. Her research interests include sociology of the arts and culture and what artistic expression can tell us about society and history. She has been teaching a sociology of the arts class at QCC for almost a decade and has mentored many students in their own research projects. Most recently, students in her sociology of the arts class studied the impact of the pandemic on community-based arts organizations in New York City. Professor Rothenberg also teaches and conducts her own research in urban sociology. She has published and presented her work on the role of the High Line Park as an engine of gentrification, community activism, and green space in Long Island City, Queens and the role of universities in real estate development. Professor Rothenberg looks forward to working more closely with students whose research interests dovetail with her areas of expertise.
Dr. Amy Traver
Professor of Sociology
Professor Traver’s research interests include: student success in community colleges; adoption and foster care in the United States; the relationship between America’s rural and urban areas; and the role of material culture in both migration and the construction of place. She has published peer-reviewed research articles on these topics in a variety of journals and edited volumes, and she has served as co-editor on a number of scholarly publications. Professor Traver enjoys working with students on existing research projects, having partnered with students in publication, presentation, and through CRSP and honors contracts.
