Fellowship Programs

Become a CSSR Fellow!

Each year the CSSR selects faculty working on social scientific projects to participate in our Fellowship Programs. These fellowships provide faculty members with the time and resources (either summer stipends or course buyouts) to pursue their research agenda.

Social scientists from any department in the Pamplin College are encouraged to apply. Please contact us for more information.

Contact Us

Center for Social Science Research

Allgood Hall N217

Dr. Gregg Murray, Director
Dr. Elizabeth Culatta, Associate Director

706-737-1710

cssr@augusta.edu

Fellowship Applications

CSSR Fellowship Program

This fellowship provides one course release for each of two semesters over an academic year. Fellows participate in the Center’s seminar series during the Fellowship year and subsequent year. Fellows are also asked to lend their expertise, for instance via invited talks and serving as a resource to subsequent Fellows, as relevant and appropriate. CSSR Fellowship Program

Grant Mentorship Program

The Center for Social Science Research Grant Mentorship Program provides support, including time and consultation support, for Pamplin faculty working in the social sciences to develop an extramural grant proposal. Mentees in this program receive one course release for each of two semesters over an academic year and will work directly with Center staff to develop a grant proposal from conception to submission, learning basic and advanced skills of writing and submitting grants.

Grant Mentorship Program

2026-2027 Fellows

Dr. Chenxi Luo

CSSR  Fellow
Assistant Professor - History 

Dr. Chenxi Luo is an Assistant Professor of History in the Department of History, Anthropology, and Philosophy. Her research focuses on the history of slavery in the Qing dynasty, China’s last dynasty. During her fellowship she will further develop her book manuscript on lived experiences of enslaved men and women, while expanding the theoretical framework of global slavery by centering Qing China in the world history of servitude and dependency. 

Emily Boykin

Vy Nguyen

Dr. Vy Nguyen

CSSR Fellow

Assistant Professor - Psychology

Dr. Vy Nguyen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences. Her research focuses on how social status and identity can predict how individuals perceive and interact with people outside of their social group. During her fellowship, she will examine how zero-sum beliefs — the perception that another's gains is our group's loss — may hinder coalitions between Black and Latino Americans.

Dr. Michael Katz 

CSSR  Grant Mentorship
Assistant Professor - Psychology

Dr. Michael Katz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Augusta University. His research focuses on psychotherapy processes, particularly the measurement of therapist technique use and patients' experiences of crying in therapy. During his fellowship, he will develop an extramural grant proposal that expands an ongoing pilot study examining how profiles of therapist techniques relate to patients' crying experiences in psychotherapy across a larger and more diverse sample.

Michael Katz

Daniel Hartman

Dr. Daniel Hartman

CSSR Fellow

Assistant Professor - Communication

Daniel Hartman (Ph.D., University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2025) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Augusta University. His research sits at the intersection of health and sport communication, testing theory-driven messages to reduce youth risk behaviors in the context of concussions to sports gambling. His work has been featured in Communication & Sport and Health Communication. As a CSSR Grant Mentorship fellow, he is providing dedicated research support focusing on the psychological mechanisms underlying sports gambling risk perception and message design. His current study experimentally tests how framing sports betting outcomes as chance versus skill—and highlighting financial versus health harms—shapes risk perception, reactance, and behavioral intentions among young adult bettors.

Past Fellows

2025-2026 Fellows

Dr. Emily Boykin

Dr. Joseph Bradshaw

Dr. Thom Loyd

2024-2025 Fellows

Dr. Carrie Reif-Stice

Dr. Robert Saunders

2023-2024 Fellows

Dr. Raquel V. Oliveira

Dr. Yufan Yang

2022-2023 Fellows

Dr. Ashley Hopkins

Dr. Lance Hunter

Dr. Carrie Reif-Stice

Dr. Melissa DeVelvis

Dr. Mary Kate Lizotte

2021-2022 Fellows

Dr. Rhucha Samudra

Dr. Eunhye Kim

2020-2021 Fellows

Dr. Gregg R. Murray

Dr. Wendy J. Turner

2019-2020 Fellows

Dr. Mary-Kate Lizotte

Dr. Todd Powell-Williams