Current UCF TRT Faculty
Dr. Mindy Shoss is the director of the Targeted Research Training Program and a Professor of Psychology in the Industrial-Organizational Psychology doctoral program at the University of Central Florida. Dr. Shoss is a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) and a Fellow of the Global Labour Organization (GLO). Dr. Shoss conducts research at the intersection of occupational health psychology and the future of work. Recent projects have focused on job insecurity, work hours insecurity, and worker adaptation to AI and robots. Dr. Shoss has authored over 100 journal publications and book chapters, and her work has been featured in Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other popular outlets. Dr. Shoss currently serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. Dr. Shoss was recognized by NIOSH, the American Psychological Association, and the Society for Occupational Health Psychology with the Gwendolyn Puryear Keita Award for Social Justice and the Welfare of Working People. Dr. Shoss, with assistance from the other core TRT faculty, provides leadership, direction, management, and administration of the program.
Cynthia Mejia, PhD, Dean, Professor, TRT Deputy Director for Industry Collaboration
Email: Cynthia.Mejia@ucf.edu
Cynthia Mejia is a Professor and Dean at UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management. Dr. Mejia is the Deputy Director for Industry Collaboration of the UCF Targeted Research Training Program (TRT), part of the NIOSH-sponsored Sunshine Education & Research Center for hospitality worker safety, health, and well-being. She has over two decades of industry experience in food & beverage and hotel operations management, primarily working for luxury hotel brands both in the U.S. and in Singapore. Dr. Mejia’s areas of research include human resource management, cross-cultural organizational management, technology acceptance, and hospitality education.
Valeriya Shapoval, PhD, Associate Professor, TRT Core Faculty, Rosen College of Hospitality Management
Email: Valeriya.Shapoval@ucf.edu
Dr. Valeriya Shapoval joined the faculty of the Rosen College of Hospitality Management in August 2016. She received her Ph.D. in Hospitality Management and a Certificate in Big Data Analytics from the University of Central Florida. She also has an MPS in Applied Statistics from the School of Industrial Labor Relations, Cornell University (2005). Dr. Shapoval has over 12 years of experience in the industry in the USA and internationally. She was part of multiple consulting projects and funded grants with companies like Mazda USA and Tourism Master Plan Bonaire, among many others. Dr. Shapoval’s research interests lie in organizational psychology, emotions, workers’ psychological well-being, and tourism. Her dissertation focused on organizational injustice and its effects on hotel employees’ emotional labor and job satisfaction. She continued extensively studying and publishing in those areas using multilevel modeling, structural equation modeling, experimental design, and Big Data analytics. She has many keynotes and conference presentations, the latest keynote being by invitation of Yale University on her research about the occupational health of hotel housekeepers.
Affiliated Faculty
Kristin Horan, PhD, Assistant Professor, Former TRT Core Faculty, Department of Psychological Science, Kennesaw State University
Email: Kristin.Horan@kenessaw.edu
Kristin Horan is Assistant Professor of Psychological Science at Kennesaw State University. She worked with Targeted Research Training as a Deputy Director and Core Program Faculty during her time at the University of Central Florida and continues to collaborate with Targeted Research Training. Her research interests focus on intervention methodology, safety and health needs of vulnerable occupations and populations, and the relationship between health and work.
Chelsea LeNoble, PhD, Assistant Professor, TRT Core Faculty , Department of Psychology, University of Central Florida
Email: Chelsea.LeNoble@ucf.edu
Dr. Chelsea LeNoble is an Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Industrial-Organizational Psychology doctoral program at the University of Central Florida. Her research focuses on issues at the intersection of work and societal resilience. Dr. LeNoble studies the implications of burnout in occupations critical to society, developing theory and interventions designed to advance human resilience in work and non-work domains of life. She most often conducts this work in interdisciplinary research teams, ascribing to the National Science Foundation notion of CONVERGE: the greatest challenges facing society cannot be solved by one discipline alone. Upon completing her M.S. and Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology at Florida Institute of Technology, Dr. LeNoble worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at Clemson University and Prisma Health, leading projects on healthcare leadership development and clinician resilience to burnout. This work earned her ongoing faculty affiliations with the Clemson University School of Health Research and the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine – Greenville. Dr. LeNoble’s work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Office of Naval Research, and Natural Hazards Center. In addition, she has consulted with academic, industry, military, and non-profit organizations, providing expertise in survey design, analysis, and reporting.
Deborah Breiter-Terry, PhD, Emeritus Professor, Former TRT Deputy Director
Dr. Deborah Breiter Terry is a retired Professor. Prior to stepping away from full-time teaching she was a faculty member in the Tourism, Events and Attractions Department at the University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management and deputy director of the Targeted Research Training program. She earned her B.A. from Bennington College in politics and economics, her M.P.S. from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, and her Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in Educational Administration for Higher Education. Dr. Breiter Terry’s research focuses on hospitality and event management, including work on quality management, hotel management practices, and convention management. Her publications have appeared in leading academic journals in hospitality and tourism management including Tourism Management, Event Management, The Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research. Dr. Breiter was been awarded the Professional Achievement Award for Education by the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) in 2007, the Professional Achievement Award by the Greater Orlando chapter of Meeting Professionals International (MPI) in 2009 and the Stevenson Fletcher Award by the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education in 2005 for her development of convention and conference education. She has conducted research for the Orange County Convention Center, Kissimmee Convention and Visitors Bureau, PCMA and MPI. Prior to teaching in higher education, she worked in the hospitality industry for 12 years in positions ranging from wait staff to hotel general manager and she continues to work with several professional organizations.
- Mark Ehrhart, PhD, Professor, Director of the I/O Psychology PhD Program, University of Central Florida
- Nathan Bowling, PhD, Associate Professor, Associate Director of the I/O Psychology PhD Program, University of Central Florida
- Michael Chetta, PhD, Director of the I/O Psychology MS Program, University of Central Florida
- Dr. Shawn Burke, PhD, Research Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Central Florida
- Shiyang Su, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Central Florida
- David Fukuda, PhD, Professor, Division Chair of Kinesiology at the University of Central Florida
Current TRT Graduate Students
Hannah Crandell (UCF TRT Trainee) Industrial and Organizational Ph.D. Program, University of Central Florida
Email: hannah.crandell@ucf.edu
Hannah Crandell is a PhD student in the Industrial and Organizational Psychology program at the University of Central Florida. Her research interests include occupational health and well-being, technology in the workplace, and vulnerable workers. Her thesis examines the role of fringe benefits in the recruitment of deskless workers.
Adam Jacobs (UCF TRT trainee) Industrial and Organizational Ph.D. Program, University of Central Florida
Email: adam.jacobs@ucf.edu
Adam Jacobs is a third year PhD student in the Industrial and Organizational Psychology program at the University of Central Florida. His research interests include worker well-being, occupational health and safety, and advancing technology in the workplace. His thesis examines how working with service robots influence employee engagement in organizational citizenship behaviors.
Alberly Perez (UCF TRT Trainee) Industrial and Organizational Ph.D. Program, University of Central Florida
Email: al106250@ucf.edu
Alberly Perez is a second year Ph.D. student in the Industrial and Organizational Psychology Program at the University of Central Florida. Her research interests include employee well-being, technology in the workplace, future of work, and counterproductive work behavior.
Boram Kim (UCF TRT Trainee) Industrial and Organizational Ph.D. Program, University of Central Florida
Email: boram.kim@ucf.edu
Boram Kim is a fourth year PhD student in the I/O Psychology PhD program at the University of Central Florida. Based on her professional experiences, her research interests include navigating interpersonal relationships and employee experiences of technology in the workplace.
Ady Cohen (UCF TRT Trainee) Industrial and Organizational Ph.D. Program, University of Central Florida
Email: boram.kim@ucf.edu
Ady Cohen earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Forensic Science from Syracuse University where she also played Division One Women’s Ice Hockey. She earned a master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from UCF. She is excited to join the TRT program and the I-O Psychology doctoral program at the University of Central Florida this year.
Affiliated UCF TRT Graduate Students
Past TRT Graduate Students
Katherine Ciarlante, Ph.D. ’22
Dr. Ciarlante was a TRT trainee from 2019 to 2022. She presented TRT research at national conferences, including SIOP and AOM, and co-authored research papers published in the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, and Technology, Mind, and Behavior. Her dissertation research was supported by a Pilot Project Research Training grant funded by the Sunshine Education and Research Center (ERC) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).