This is What Science Looks Like at NC State

NC State’s research blog, the Abstract, has initiated a series of posts that highlight the diversity of researchers involved in science and technology at our university. Featured CHASS faculty include:

Lori Foster Thompson, a professor of psychology who specializes in industial-organizational psychology — the science of work. Thompson says her particular focus area concerns “how to combine that science with the possibilities afforded by emerging information and communication technologies to empower and enable the well-being and development of people, and the nations they comprise, through satisfying, meaningful, productive work that plays to and builds on their unique strengths.” Foster Thompson is an NGO representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council for the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Her research has been covered by outlets from Marketplace to Scientific American.

Ann Ross, a professor of anthropology who studies human bones. “I use my expertise to help law enforcement solve crimes,” she writes. “I have worked on issues ranging from war crimes in Eastern Europe to political violence in Latin America to identifying remains in the wake of natural disasters. I also examine human remains to help us learn more about historic and prehistoric cultures; bones can tell us things that were never written down.”

Lynsey Romo, an assistant professor of interpersonal and health communication. Romo says she studies communication about uncomfortable issues, particularly surrounding money, weight, and healthy but deviant behaviors (e.g., not drinking alcohol) in hopes of helping people talk about these matters more effectively. Most recently, her research about educating girls about financial investing was featured in Time.