Our Team
Our research team is comprised of faculty, staff, and graduate students at The Ohio State University, North Dakota State University, and New York University.
Laura S. Dahl, Ph.D., is the Research Director for the College Impact Laboratory at The Ohio State University and the Principal Investigator for ACREO. She was previously an assistant professor in the School of Education at North Dakota State University. She earned her doctorate in Higher Education and Student Affairs from The Ohio State University, where she previously worked as ACREO’s Research Director. Prior to attending Ohio State, Dr. Dahl coordinated a living learning community for women in engineering at Rutgers University's Douglass Residential College as Director of Research and Advising for Undergraduate Women in STEM.
Her research examines how collegiate environments can influence outcomes such as sense of belonging, self-authored worldview commitment, career outcome expectations, appreciative attitudes toward diverse others, and integrative learning. She’s also developing a new survey to measure how students respond to harmful incidents on campus. All of her work includes a critical perspective of higher education and seeks to create equitable collegiate environments.
Mel Fierstine, Ph.D., M.S.W., is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Minnesota State University Moorhead. She holds an undergraduate degree in Social Work and a Master of Social Work degree, with an emphasis in child welfare. She is working towards her Ph.D. in Education at North Dakota State University. She has worked in the field of social work for the last 23 years with areas of expertise in school social work, community building, child welfare, interpersonal violence prevention education, gender roles, higher education, and macro social work practice.
Cassandra Gilbert, MA, is a doctorate candidate in the Education Doctorate Program at North Dakota State University (NDSU) studying Institutional Effectiveness. She currently works as a Career Coach at the NDSU Career and Advising Center. Before coming back to NDSU, she earned a Master of Arts from Western Illinois University in History.
Bianca Milz, MS, LMAC, LAPC, is a doctoral student in the Counseling Education and Supervision Program at North Dakota State University. She holds a Master of Counseling degree with a dual emphasis in Clinical Mental Health and Addiction. Some of her research interests focus on continued improvement in counseling practices for diverse populations.
Chris Stipeck, EdD, is a graduate of the Higher and Postsecondary Education program at NYU and serves as the Director for Residential Staff and Programs at NYU.
Ethan Youngerman, EdD, is a graduate of the Higher and Postsecondary Education EdD program at NYU. He's a clinical associate professor in Expository Writing and recently completed his tenure as the Faculty Fellow in Residence at NYU's University Hall.
Special Thanks
Matthew J. Mayhew, Ph.D., is the William Ray and Marie Adamson Flesher Professor in Educational Administration at The Ohio State University. He was the Principal Investigator for ACREO from 2015-2020.
Karen Kurotsuchi Inkelas, Ph.D., is Associate Professor and Director, Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education at the University of Virginia. She was the Principal Investigator for the National Study of Living Learning Programs for a decade, beginning with its inception in 2003.
Zach Hooten, Ph.D., is a Program Specialist for Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry at The Ohio State University, where he also completed his doctoral work in the Higher Education and Student Affairs program. He was ACREO’s research co-director from 2017-2021.
Aaron Brower, Ph.D., is the Executive Director, University of Wisconsin Extended Campus and Sr. Assoc. Vice President, University of Wisconsin System. He was the Co-Principal Investigator for the National Study of Living Learning Programs for a decade, beginning with its inception in 2003.