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Columbia MO

Kenneth J. Sher's MU Webpages

 200 South Seventh Street                          
 Psychology Building
 Dept. of Psychological Sciences
 University of Missouri
 Columbia, MO   65211

Phone: 573-882-4279
Fax:      573-884-5588

Email:
sherk@missouri.edu


Welcome to my home page. I'm a faculty member in the
Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The navigation bar on the left will take you to those pages that describe my research, teaching, and other professional activities. Much of this can also be found in my vita.


My own research interests are broad but primarily focus on the etiology and course of substance use disorders (particularly alcohol dependence) across the life span. I direct the Alcohol, Health, and Behavior Project  a high-risk, prospective study of a cohort of college students who were freshmen in 1987 and are now in their midlife, and IMPACTS, a  study that followed a cohort of students who were first-time freshmen at the University of Missouri-Columbia, in the Fall of 2002, over their four years of college. In addition to ongoing analyses of data collected here at Missouri and new data collections, I currently have a research grant to conduct secondary data analyses on a large, nationally representative data set with a goal of characterizing developmental aspects of alcohol use disorders and related comorbidities. I also collaborate with colleagues here in studying the behavioral effects of alcohol consumption in laboratory studies and the effects of extreme drinking events (e.g., 21st birthday celebrations) on neurological functioning..

The Midwest Alcoholism Research Center. In addition to research projects based here at the University of Missouri, several MU colleagues and I are very involved with research projects  at the Midwest Alcoholism Research Center (MARC) in the Department of Psychiatry of Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM). This national research center was recently renewed for five more years (2009-2014) and current MARC research projects focus on behavioral pharmacology of alcohol (PIs: Bartholow at MU and McCarthy at MU),  alcohol use in borderline personallity disorder using electronic diaries (PI: Trull at MU), and genetics of alcoholism (PIs: Anokhin and Nelson at WUSM). My graduate students and postdocs can, and often do, collaborate with MARC investigators both here at MU and at WUSM. Additionally, I co-direct (along with Professor Kathy Bucholz at WUSM) a summer program in alcohol research for undergraduates that is funded through the MARC.

Graduate and postdoctoral study in my lab. I currently direct an NIH research-training grant on the psychology of alcohol use, abuse, and dependence that supports several graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Trainees can conduct research and undertake focused study with any of several faculty members in the Department who specialize in alcohol studies and also gain some exposure to patient populations with problematic alcohol involvement. Information on our predoctoral and postdoctoral training program training program can be found here.  I do not plan to take graduate students next year (Fall 2012) but I am interested in mentoring a new postdoc. If you are interested in postdoctoral study in my lab, please contact me directly.

Undergraduate research experience in alcohol and addictions at MU. Students interested in gaining research on alcohol and other addictions are encouraged to directly contact relevant faculty members they are interested in working with. Also, as noted above, I also currently co-direct, with Kathleen Bucholz, Ph.D. (WUSM), a summer research training program in alcohol research. Interested students can find more information here.

Looking north on South Seventh Street from the Psychology Building at sunset...shades of Magritte.

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