Hello and welcome to my webpage.  I am a professor of psychology at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, Rhode Island., where I have been a faculty member since 1998.  I advise graduate students in our Clinical and Behavioral Science Ph.D. programs and those interested in graduate study can find out more about graduate study and our department here  (http://www.uri.edu/artsci/psy/). 

My background and current research interests are listed below, with additional information available by following the navigation bar to the left.

Prior to joining the faculty at URI, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies (http://www.caas.brown.edu/) where I maintain an appointment as a visiting professor in community health.

I did my graduate work in Social Psychology at the University of Missouri at Columbia (http://psychology.missouri.edu/home.php), under the very able mentorship of Professor Kenneth Sher (http://web.missouri.edu/~sherk/) and my undergraduate coursework at Arizona State University (http://psych.la.asu.edu/). 

My main research interests include: alcohol-related preventive interventions in college student populations; the etiology of alcohol use and misuse; and longitudinal data analyses.  Teaching interests/syllabi, as well as other work- and non-work related stuff can be found following the navigation bar on the left.  Please visit often so I can pass the "Mark Wood Cowboy Fun Show" and "Mark Wood - Electric Violinist" on the Google Hit List...

Research Interests

Preventive Interventions

My research in this area takes a harm reduction perspective – attempting to reduce alcohol related problems during a developmental period of enhanced risk (e.g., emerging adulthood).  Ongoing projects include both individual (Transitions) and environmental-level (Common Ground) approaches as described further under Current Projects.

Etiology

My current and previous research on the etiology of alcohol use and misuse largely focuses on relations between psychological (e.g., alcohol expectancies, drinking motives, personality), social (e.g., peer influences, perceived norms), and familial (e.g., family history of alcoholism, parental involvement) factors and alcohol use and misuse among college students and young adults.  Recently, these interests have also extended to include investigations of relations between genotypic variation, psychosocial factors, and alcohol use and misuse. I have also conducted laboratory studies on the acute effects of alcohol consumption on aggressive behavior and stress response.

Longitudinal Data Analyses

I am interested in the application of advanced data analytic techniques with longitudinal data, especially during emerging adulthood.  For published examples of these approaches, click here.