Kiernan Callister

Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services

Psychology Department

Kiernan Callister is an undergraduate senior in the Psychology program. Since January 2022, Kiernan has been consistently engaged in behavioral analytic research across two laboratories and multiple projects, as well as briefly assisting on a school psychology research project. Kiernan's research journey began during Sophomore year as a volunteer research assistant in Dr. Amy Odum’s behavior analysis laboratory. Kiernan first assisted in a project investigating the self-administration of nicotine vaping in a rodent analog. Since beginning in this laboratory, Kiernan has engaged in assembling operant chambers, programming, configuring computer software, laboratory caretaking, manuscript writing, presenting research in several scenarios, data and statistical analyses, and training current graduate students. In early 2023, Kiernan was promoted to senior research technician within the laboratory. Kiernan served as a teaching assistant in Dr. Odum’s undergraduate student laboratory, became the lead of an additional research project examining the inclusion of female subjects in research within the field of psychology, assisted on an awarded grant, and most recently assisted in the development of a study examining the impact of nicotine vaping on the development of dementia in rats. Kiernan presented research to legislators at Research on Capitol Hill in January 2024, and is currently interviewing for three Ph.D. programs with hopes of passionately continuing to conduct behavioral analytic research.