Faculty Directory
Betty Lai
Associate Professor
Betty Lai
Ph.D.
Contact
Campion Hall Room 313
Telephone: 617-552-8026
Email: betty.lai@bc.edu
ORCID 0000-0003-4701-2706
Education
- Ph.D., University of Miami
- M.S.T., Pace University
- B.A., Columbia University
Courses
Health Psychology
Statistics for Applied Psychology
Research Interests
My research focuses on how communities may help youth prepare for, respond to, and adapt to disasters and other traumatic events. I examine how stressors relate to youths’ subsequent psychological distress symptoms (posttraumatic stress, depression, anxiety), health behaviors (sedentary activity, physical activity, diet), and health outcomes (cardiovascular risk factors, blood pressure) in theory-guided research.
Expertise
- Health and Well Being
- Social & Emotional Development
- Research Methods, Evaluation & Psychometrics
Department
Profile
Betty Lai is an Associate Professor in Counseling Psychology at Boston College. Lai’s research focuses on the impacts of the climate crisis and disasters on children. Her work has examined children's mental health symptoms, physical health symptoms, and school functioning following large-scale disasters (e.g., Hurricanes Katrina, Ike, Charley). Her work also examines how advanced statistical modeling strategies may be applied to better understand how to minimize the effects of disasters on children’s functioning. Lai is dedicated to training the next generation of scholars. Lai’s book, The Grant Writing Guide: A Road Map for Scholars (Princeton University Press), includes strategies and insights gleaned from her interviews of scores of grant writing experts.
Lai's research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Dr. Lai was a Fellow in the Next Generation of Hazards and Disaster Researchers Program, a National Scholar for the Academy on Violence and Abuse, and an Early Career Research Fellow in the Gulf Research Program. Her work has been recognized with awards from the American Psychological Association, the American Educational Research Association, and the American Psychological Foundation.
GLOBAL SPOTLIGHT
- Collaborations with the International Consortium to Predict PTSD
- Collaborating to examine data from the CDC's Violence Against Children Survey in Haiti
Presentations
- Self-Brown, S., Osborne, M., & Lai, B.S. (2017, November). How can technology assist in the delivery of evidence-based parenting interventions targeting at-risk fathers? Presented at the annual American Public Health Association Conference. Atlanta, Georgia.
- Lai, B.S. (2017, May). Faculty Teaching and Learning Communities. Presented at the Georgia State University Conference on Scholarly Teaching. Atlanta, Georgia.
- Lai, B.S. (2017, March). Advanced Statistical Methods Workshop: Mixture models. Presented at the Society of Pediatric Psychology Annual Conference. Portland, Oregon.
- Lai, B.S. (2017, March). Tenure track positions. Invited talk for the Professional Development Seminar for doctoral students at Georgia State University. Atlanta, Georgia.
- Lai, B.S. (2016, July). Vulnerability Across the Life Course. Presented at the 2016 Annual Natural Hazards and Disasters Workshop. Broomfield, Colorado.
- Cowart-Osborne, M., Self-Brown, S., & Lai, B.S. (2016, June). Dad2K: An adaptation of SafeCare® for fathers of young children. Presented at the 24th Annual American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children Colloquium. New Orleans, Louisiana.
- Lai, B.S. (2016, April). Trauma and child health. Presented at the 2016 Annual Society of Pediatric Psychology conference. Atlanta, Georgia.
- Hayat, M., Lai, B., Luo, R., Weaver, S., & Masyn, K. (2016, March). Guidelines for the Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE): Extending GAISE into Public Health Education. Conference on Scholarly Teaching at Georgia State University. Atlanta, Georgia.
- Lai, B.S. (2016, March). Children and Disasters. Presented to the Center of Excellence for Children’s Behavioral Health. Georgia State University. Atlanta, Georgia.
Honors
- Distinguished Research Award in Counseling, American Educational Research Association, Division E (Counseling and Human Development (2022)
- Dorothy Booz Black Award for Outstanding Contributions in Health Psychology, Division 17 (Society of Counseling Psychology), American Psychological Association (2022)
- Diane J. Willis Early Career Award from the American Psychological Foundation/Division 37 (2018)
- Early Career Award for Outstanding Contributions to Benefit Children, Youth, and Families, American Psychological Association (2017)
- Excellence in Instruction Award for Outstanding Achievement in Instruction, School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Inaugural Award Winner (2017)
- National Scholar, Academy on Violence and Abuse (2014)
- Early Career Award for Ethnic Minority Psychologists, Division 56, American Psychological Association (2014)
- Mary Fran Myers Scholarship for Disaster Research and Practice, Natural Hazards Center, University of Colorado at Boulder (2014)