Team

Dr. Michael R. Sladek (“Mike”) (he/him) is the CHARMS Lab Director and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at The University of Oklahoma. He completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (2018-2022), a Ph.D. and M.A. in Psychology at Arizona State University (2013-2018), and a B.A. with Honors in Psychology at Northwestern University (2009-2013). Drawing from cultural-ecological models that situate development in context and emphasizing strengths-based identity-affirming approaches, Mike endeavors to conduct research that informs ways to support youth growing up in a world profoundly shaped by systems of marginalization on the basis of ethnoracial background, gender, and sexual orientation. Working alongside a team of collaborators (see Research Projects), Mike’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, and the Institute of Education Sciences (U.S. Department of Education). He is a Consulting Editor for the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, Child Development, and the Journal of Research on Adolescence.

Wesley is a Senior studying Social Work and Women’s & Gender Studies. After graduation, Wesley intends to earn his law degree in order to pursue legislative advocacy on behalf of queer and trans youth. He chose to join the lab because of his passion for protecting and empowering LGBTQ+ young people.

L’eric is a Senior Psychology and Neuroscience double major on a Pre-Med track. She plans to obtain her MPH with a specialization in health promotion and to attend medical school to obtain an MD/DO to become a pediatric psychiatrist. L’eric decided to join the lab because she wanted to expose herself to the research side of psychology. She is also just very interested and excited to get hands-on experience in research and hopefully expand on research topics into adolescent mental health. 

Elena Price is a Senior and Neuropsychology, Pre-med major. Her goal is to become a psychiatrist to treat soldiers with PTSD and other traumatic experiences, then she will either open her own clinic or volunteer her time to provide free mental health care to marginalized youth. She joined the lab because she is passionate about health equity, and she wanted to learn more about how research can make people’s lives and the world better as a whole.

Sebastian is a Senior, majoring in Psychology. In the future, he hopes to be able to continue in academia and do research while teaching. Areas that he would be interested in exploring are experimental designs, cognitive psychology, and/or developmental psychology. Sebastian decided to join the CHARMS Lab to have a better understanding of what it means to work in research as well as have a better understanding of the scope that developmental psychologists have so that he can better shape his future goals.   

Kian is a Senior psychology major. He is planning on pursuing a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology.