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Chris Lowry is an associate professor in the Department of Integrative Physiology. His research focuses on the neural mechanisms underlying emotional behavior and the stress-induced control of physiology and emotional behavior. He is also a researcher at the Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Laboratory where the focus is the neural mechanisms underlying stress-related physiology and emotional behavior with a focus on the role of serotonergic systems.

My research and community work entails the facilitation of spaces (intellectual, physical) that can help perpetuate Cherokee environmental knowledge, practices, and traditions—thus ensuring our collective health and the health of the land. This work presently consists of a community-based research project on natural resource access and land conservation in rural Cherokee communities in Oklahoma, and a land-based education program with Cherokee elders and students (see our project website ). In the course of this work, I have learned that, for Cherokee people, resilience is above all a collective endeavor—one in which we rely on each other (elders, youth, and all in between) to teach, learn, facilitate, and enact practices that will ensure our future as Cherokee people despite past and present attempts to eliminate us.

Lori Peek is professor in the Department of Sociology and director of the Natural Hazards Center. Peek has conducted field investigations in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina, the BP oil spill, the Christchurch earthquakes, the Joplin tornado, Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Matthew. She is the principal investigator for the NSF-funded  facility, which is dedicated to improving research coordination and advancing the ethical conduct and scientific rigor of disaster research.

Sona Dimidjian is a professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and directs the . Her research focuses on cultivating mental health and wellness among women, children and families. She develops and studies programs and practices in education and healthcare settings, with an emphasis on navigating key developmental transitions, such as the perinatal period, early childhood, and adolescence.