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RISE Initiative

Featured projects

Bully Blocker

photo of bully blocker team (Deborah Hall & Yasin Silva): BullyBlocker (funded by NSF) not only identifies threats, it combines that information with risk factors (also called states of vulnerability) that have been shown to increase the probability of bullying, such as whether a person has recently moved schools, their socioeconomic status or their race. The app calculates the probability that an adolescent is being bullied based on keywords and risk factors, then alerts the app user — who most likely would be a parent or guardian, helping them to be aware of what is happening in their child's life.


 

 


Understanding resilience factors during the COVID-19 pandemic

photo of covid test tube(Faculty: Kristin Mickelson, Mary Burleson, Thao Ha, Deborah Hall, Masumi Iida, Sarah Lindstrom Johnson, Ashley Randall, Nicole Roberts; Students: Bailey Braunstein, Maggie O’Brien): This group is interested in understanding resilience factors during the COVID-19 pandemic. An initial study of 1,010 nationally representative US adults was conducted in late April 2020 to understand how individuals are engaging social distancing practices, as well as well-being during stay-at-home guidelines. Specifically, we are applying the PERMA model of well-being to understand how individuals can thrive during these unprecedented times. We currently have 7 manuscripts in preparation or under review from this initial study and plan to apply for an ISSR grant to conduct a follow-up with this sample.