Jess Wheeden
Name: Jess Wheeden
Major: Psychology
Classification: Senior
Hometown: Monroe, Wisconsin
Mentor: Dr. Orneita Burton, Management and information Systems
What I Study: My research began with the aim of finding the most “profitable” work environments for men and women. We were asking, “what do the systems look like that provide the best outcomes for each gender?” That led to a need to define a term, socioemotional wealth. In more recent work we’ve considered the impact of spiritual identities on workplace environment and decision making.
Why I do research: A lot of people ask how I ended up doing research in the business department. Dr. Burton was one of my freshman Core professors. In class one day she mentioned that she was looking for an assistant. As a freshman and not sure of what I wanted to do “when I grew up”, I just figured it would be worth the experience. It’s now three years later and the experience has been invaluable. I do research because you not only get to ask questions but you network across academic fields to find answers.
Conferences: ACU Undergraduate Research Festival 2011, 2012, 2013
Awards: 2013 Undergraduate Researcher of the Year