Mentors

Dr. Kim Bissell
Dr. Bissell is a professor in the College of Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Alabama, serving as the College’s Associate Dean for Research and the Director of the Institute for Communication & Information Research. Her research interests lie in the intersection of media, health, and children. She helped develop the Child Media Lab and the psychophysiology lab in the College’s research center and has recently conducted several studies examining the effectiveness of video game devices in helping children at-risk for overweight and obesity become more physically active. She serves on the editorial board of several journals within the discipline. She teaches graduate courses in research methods, mass communication theory, media effects, children and cognition, and body image, as well as undergraduate courses in magazine design and international journalism. She is also a certified personal trainer, teaching group exercise to adults, and working with overweight and obese children to help them learn how to become more active and fit. She is a co-PI on a grant from NIH titled, Developing Effective, Sustainable CBPR to Reduce Obesity in Rural Alabama, which is a service grant designed to use CPBR to identify how health disparities can be reduced in the Black Belt region of Alabama.