Most students in the Assessment and Measurement Doctoral program have assistantships through the Center for Assessment and Research Studies (CARS). Through these assistantships, students gain valuable real-world experience in various aspects of assessment design and measurement techniques.
Please take time to review student testimonials
Joint MA/PhD Program
Second Year
Hunter Castleton (he/him/his)
Advisor: Dr. John Hathcoat
Education: Undergraduate degree: Southern Utah University, B.S. Psychology, 2024
Research Interests: Scale Development, Psychometrics, Psychology Research Methodology
Jada Willse (she/her/hers)
Advisor: Dr. Brian C. Leventhal
Education: Undergraduate degree: The University of North Carolina (UNC) – Chapel Hill, B.S. Statistics, 2024; B.A. Psychology, 2024
Research Interests: Equity in Analysis, Innovative Measurement Techniques, Educating teachers and students about assessment and measurement
PhD Program
First Year
Ziena Baker (she/they/them)
Advisor: Dr. John Hathcoat
Education: Undergraduate degree: University of North Florida, B.S. Psychology, 2021; Graduate degree: University of North Florida, M.S. Psychological Science, 2025
Research Interests: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Mixed Methods, Belonging Interventions, Persistence and Retention
Jon Henriques (he/him/his)
Advisor: Dr. Brian Leventhal
Education: Undergraduate degree: James Madison University, B.S. Psychology and Math, Honors Minor, 2023
Research Interests: Low Motivation in Testing, Cognitive Assessments
Juste Mehou (he/him/his)
Advisor: Dr. Brian Leventhal
Education: Undergraduate degree: University of Parakou, Benin, B.A. Applied Statistics, 2019; Graduate degree: James Madison University, M.A. Psychological Sciences – Quantitative Concentration, 2025
Research Interests: Computer Adaptive Testing, IRtree Models, Machine Learning Application in Education
Suyu Wang (she/her/hers)
Advisor: Dr. Yu Bao
Education: Undergraduate degree: University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, B.S. in Computer Science, 2021; Graduate degree: Shanghai Normal University, M.A. in Adult Education, 2025
Research Interests: Diagnostic Cognitive Modeling, Test Development
PhD Program
Second Year
Riley Herr (she/her/hers)
Advisor: Dr. Sara Finney
Education: Undergraduate degree: James Madison University, B.S. Psychology, 2022; Graduate degree: James Madison University, M.A. Psychological Sciences – Quantitative Concentration, 2024
Research Interests: Predicting Student Success in Higher Education, Test-Taking Motivation in Low-Stakes Testing Contexts, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)
Laila Issayeva (She/Her/Hers)
Advisor: Dr. Christine E. DeMars
Education: Undergraduate degree: Aktobe State University, Aktobe, Kazakhstan, B.Ed. Mathematics and Computer Science, 2007; Graduate degree: Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan, M.Sc. Educational Leadership, 2017.
Research Interests: Item and Test Development, Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT), Educational Measurement and Improvement
Mason Jones (he/him/his)
Advisor: Dr. Megan Good
Education: Undergraduate degree: James Madison University, B.S. Psychology, 2022; Graduate degree: James Madison University, M.A. Psychological Sciences - Quantitative Concentration, 2024
Research Interests: Student Success,Equity in Student Success, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)
Kaijie Liu (she/her/hers)
Advisor: Dr. John Hathcoat
Education: Undergraduate degree: South China University of Technology, BEc Economics, 2010; Graduate degree: University of Konstanz, M.Sc. Economics, 2019; University of Virginia, M.Ed. Quantitative Analytics in Education & Social Sciences, 2023
Research Interests: Large Scale Assessment Data Analysis, AI Application in Assessment Practices, Learning Improvement
Third Year
Josiah Hunsberger (he/him/his)
Advisor: Dr. Brian Leventhal
Education: Undergraduate degree: Liberty University, B.S. Psychology (Counseling Concentration), 2020; Graduate degree: James Madison University, M.A. Psychological Sciences- Quantitative, 2023
Research Interests: Item Response Theory (IRT), Enemy Item Detection, Differential Item Functioning (DIF)
Stephanie LeRoy (she/her/hers/they/them/theirs)
Advisor: Dr. Christine DeMars
Education:Undergraduate degree: Christopher Newport University, B.S. Psychology, 2020; Graduate degree: James Madison University, M.A. Psychological Sciences- Quantitative Concentration, 2023
Research Interests: Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), Bayesian Statistics, Coding
Mara McFadden (she/her/hers)
Advisor: Dr. Joseph Kush
Education: Undergraduate degree: Christopher Newport University, B.A. Psychology, 2021; Graduate degree: James Madison University, M.A. Psychological Sciences- Quantitative Concentration, 2023
Research Interests: Motivation in Low-Stakes Testing, Causal Inference Methodology, Structural Equation Modeling
Autumn Wild (she/her/hers)
Advisor: Dr. Joseph Kush
Education: Undergraduate Degree: James Madison University, B.S. Psychology, 2019; Graduate degree: James Madison University, M.A. Psychological Sciences- Applied, 2023
Research Interests: Moderated Nonlinear Factor Analysis (MNLFA), Measurement Invariance
Fourth Year
Laura Lambert (she/her/hers)
Advisor: Dr. Megan Good
Education: Undergraduate degree: Biology (BS), University of Virginia, 2008; Graduate degrees: Secondary ed (MAT), James Madison University, 2010; Human Genetics (MS), Virginia Commonwealth University, 2015
Research Interests: Learning improvement, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Assessment, Program Theory
Kelsey Nason (she/her/hers)
Advisor: Dr. Christine DeMars
Education: Undergraduate degree: Bachelor of the Arts in Psychology and English Literature from Franklin and Marshall College 2020; Graduate degree: Master of the Arts in English Literature from University of Virginia 2022
Research Interests: Item Response Theory (IRT), Motivation in Low-Stakes Testing Environments, Test Development
Kate Schaefer (she/her/hers)
Advisor: Dr. Sara Finney
Education: Undergraduate degree: University of Mary Washington, B.S. Psychology, minor French, 2016; Graduate degree: James Madison University, M.A. Psychological Sciences-Quantitative Concentration, 2022
Research Interests: Identifying Low Motivation, Interventions to Increase Low Motivation, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)
