天美传媒

Dr. Lisa Blalock, associate professor, teaches research methods in psychology, professional development in psychology, and sensation and perception.

 Blalock conducts basic and applied research in visual and spatial working memory, which is a short-term mental storage that helps people remember and process visual and spatial information. 

Specifically, her research explores the processes involved in encoding, maintaining and retrieving visual information, and how those processes interact with visual selective attention, controlled attention and long-term memory. 

She is also interested in applying the basic principles of visual working memory to real-world situations, such as training and driving. Dr. Blalock was involved in a study, published in the "Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition," showing driving under a cognitive load, such as talking on a cell phone, led to diminished knowledge of moving, but not stationary objects in the scene.

She has written and co-written articles in peer-reviewed journals on various aspects of visual working memory. She recently published a study in the journal Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, examining how training on specific shapes facilitated the consolidation of visual representations in working memory.

In addition to her research, she mentors undergraduate students in the Visual Cognition Lab by involving them in various types of projects that provide valuable research experience.

She received a bachelor鈥檚 degree in psychology from the University of Central Florida, and master鈥檚 and doctorate in cognitive psychology from Colorado State University. 

April Schantz, assistant professor, teaches group/team dynamics, industrial psychology, and research methods.

April D. Schantz, Ph. D., completed her studies in Industrial-Organizational Psychology with a minor in Quantitative Methods from Florida International University. Her research focuses on action- or performance-based teams (i.e., crisis response, elite sports, musicians) and health and well-being outcomes for those employed in high stress industries. 

Published work has appeared in the Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health, Work & Stress, and The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, as well as a book chapter, 鈥淐ollective Fit for Emergency Response Teams鈥�. In progress research usually includes interdisciplinary projects and project collaborations with local organizations.  Students with an interest in Occupational Health Psychology (OHP) or high-reliability teams should consider applying for consideration as a research member in Dr. Schantz鈥� lab.

Previous courses lead by Dr. Schantz have included Organizational Psychology, Senior Seminar (Psychology), and Research Methods. She is also involved in student groups (e.g., mini-lectures, brown-bag workshops) to encourage students in developing their core research methodology and to explore alternative methods and designs, as well as practical application of work-related skills (e.g., resume building workshops). 

She is an active member of Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Interdisciplinary Network for Group Research (INGRoup), Academy of Management - Research Methods Division (AOM-RM), and Faculty Advisor for the UWF SHRM Student Group.

Ambar La Forgia is an assistant professor in the Management of Organizations group at the Haas School of Business. Her research studies the relationship between organizational and managerial strategies and performance outcomes in the healthcare sector. In particular, she uses quantitative methods to examine how the strategic decisions of corporations to merge, acquire, or partner with other organizations can change managerial processes in ways that impact both financial and clinical performance. A secondary research strand studies how health care organizations adapt their service delivery and prices following changes in state and federal legislation.