Florida Psychology PhD advisor search

Find your Florida Psychology PhD advisor by research fit.

Search a psychology research interest and explore faculty, PhD program areas, funding notes, and possible research-gap angles across FSU, UF, UCF, USF, and FIU.

professor matches

program leads

research gaps

Faculty Matches

4 shown from sample dataset

Thomas Joiner

FSU · Department of Psychology

Studies the nature, causes, management, and prevention of suicidal behavior and related conditions.

99%

Strong fit for students interested in suicide prevention, interpersonal theory of suicide, mood disorders, and clinical risk research.

Program area

Clinical

Methods

Clinical assessment, theory testing, prevention research

Best fit

Suicide risk, mood disorders, military mental health

Faculty profileStipend + tuition waiver

Deborah C. Beidel

UCF · Department of Psychology

Directs UCF RESTORES, a clinical research center focused on PTSD, anxiety, trauma treatment, resilience, and prevention.

99%

Excellent fit for students interested in PTSD treatment, exposure-based interventions, virtual reality tools, military populations, and first responders.

Program area

Clinical

Methods

Randomized clinical trials, virtual reality, translational treatment research

Best fit

PTSD, trauma, technology-assisted treatment

Faculty profileVerify recruiting

Robert Dvorak

UCF · Department of Psychology

Studies self-regulation in health-compromising behaviors, including substance use, eating pathology, and suicidal thoughts/behaviors.

99%

Strong fit for real-time assessment, mobile/web intervention, substance use, eating pathology, and suicide-prevention questions.

Program area

Clinical

Methods

Experience sampling, mobile intervention, longitudinal clinical methods

Best fit

Substance use, EMA, suicide prevention

Faculty profileVerify recruiting

Brad Schmidt

FSU · Department of Psychology

Runs translational research on the nature, causes, treatment, and prevention of anxiety and related psychopathology.

99%

Strong fit for anxiety, PTSD, risk-factor interventions, clinical trials, and prevention research.

Program area

Clinical

Methods

Clinical trials, intervention design, risk-factor targeting

Best fit

Anxiety, PTSD, substance use, prevention

Faculty profileLab-based funding

Program Overview

Florida schools in this starter dataset include PhD options across clinical, counseling, developmental, social, cognitive/neuroscience, I/O, human factors, and applied social/cultural psychology.

Clinical
Clinical psychology includes psychopathology, assessment, prevention, intervention, trauma, substance use, and treatment research.
Counseling
Counseling psychology includes mental health, social justice, identity, resilience, health, work, and multicultural research.
Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience
Cognition and cognitive neuroscience covers mind, brain, behavior, learning, memory, aging, and applied cognition.
Developmental
Developmental psychology focuses on change across childhood, adolescence, adulthood, aging, identity, and health development.
Social
Social psychology includes relationships, cognition, motivation, gender, culture, hierarchy, identity, and social behavior.
Industrial-Organizational
I/O psychology focuses on work, organizations, teams, employee well-being, job insecurity, and human-technology workplaces.
Applied Social and Cultural
Applied social and cultural psychology emphasizes power, culture, identity, inequality, relationships, and real-world social problems.
Human Factors and Cognitive
Human factors and cognitive psychology connects cognition, attention, perception, technology, safety, and human performance.
Neuroscience
Neuroscience training is available through FSU's interdepartmental Program in Neuroscience for psychology students.

Suggested Research Gaps

From risk prediction to prevention timing
A useful gap is identifying when brief interventions should happen for people with rapidly changing suicide risk.
Military and high-risk settings
There is room for more work on how interpersonal risk factors operate in military, campus, and other high-stress contexts.
Comorbidity-aware suicide prevention
Students could study how mood, eating, substance-use, and personality symptoms combine with suicide-related risk.

NIH Gap Match

Matched "suicide prevention and mood disorders" to 3 NIH psychology-related priority areas.

NIMH: Mental illness trajectories and timing of intervention
NIMH emphasizes understanding when, where, and how to intervene across mental illness trajectories. A strong student angle is identifying moment-to-moment risk signals and testing earlier intervention points.
Student angle: Study which psychological, social, and digital markers predict a meaningful change in risk before crisis or relapse.
Verify source
NIH OBSSR: Implementation and scalability of evidence-based strategies
OBSSR highlights dissemination and implementation research: how effective approaches become acceptable, scalable, and sustainable in actual settings.
Student angle: Study why an evidence-based mental health or behavior-change program succeeds in one community, school, clinic, or workplace but fails in another.
Verify source
NIDA: Substance use, co-use, and changing overdose patterns
NIDA identifies substance use disorders as shaped by biological, social, and developmental factors, with changing drug-use patterns and co-use creating new research needs.
Student angle: Study real-time craving, social stress, comorbidity, or mobile intervention strategies for reducing substance-related harm.
Verify source

Program Leads

PhD in Psychology - Clinical
Florida State University · stipend and tuition waiver · Check FSU admissions page
Matched faculty: Thomas Joiner, Brad Schmidt
PhD in Clinical Psychology
University of Central Florida · verify recruiting · Check UCF admissions page
Matched faculty: Deborah C. Beidel, Robert Dvorak

Funding Leads

4 funding leads matched to the selected school, program area, or external fellowship fit.

FSU Psychology doctoral stipend support and tuition waivers
Department funding · Stipend support and tuition waivers noted by FSU Psychology
Accepted doctoral students; verify current stipend, assistantship, and waiver details with FSU.
Deadline: Usually tied to doctoral application deadline
Verify funding source
UCF Psychology PhD program funding lead
Assistantship/fellowship lead · Varies by program and appointment
UCF psychology graduate students; verify current assistantships, tuition support, and fellowships.
Deadline: Check UCF graduate program page
Verify funding source
USF Psychology graduate funding lead
Assistantship/fellowship lead · Varies by program and appointment
USF psychology doctoral students; verify current assistantship and fellowship details.
Deadline: Check USF Psychology graduate admissions
Verify funding source
NIH F31 individual predoctoral fellowship
External fellowship · Stipend, tuition/fees, and institutional allowance subject to NIH rules
Predoctoral students proposing NIH-relevant dissertation research; eligibility and institute participation vary.
Deadline: NIH standard fellowship due dates; verify current notice
Verify funding source

Saved Shortlist

Saved professors and programs will appear here.

Application Next Steps

Review FSU Psychology graduate areas, admissions, and funding pages.
Verify whether each faculty member is accepting PhD students this cycle.
Read 2-3 recent papers from each lab before emailing an advisor.
Draft a short research-fit statement connecting your interests to the lab's methods.

Sources To Verify

FSU Psychology Graduate Studies
Program areas, stipend-support language, and admissions links.
FSU Psychology Faculty Directory
Faculty names, program areas, lab links, and profile pages.
UF Psychology Core Faculty
University of Florida faculty names, program areas, and profile links.
UCF Psychology Faculty
University of Central Florida faculty and graduate-program links.
USF Psychology Faculty
University of South Florida faculty, program roles, and profile pages.
FIU Psychology
Florida International University psychology program and department information.
NIH OBSSR Strategic Plan
Behavioral and social sciences research priorities across NIH.
NIMH Strategic Planning
Mental health research objectives, interventions, trajectories, and public health impact.
NIDA Strategic Plan
Addiction science, prevention, intervention, implementation, HIV, and health applications.

Data Model

The schema this prototype is designed to run on.

Connected Tables

universities
Schools such as FSU, UF, UCF, USF, and FIU.
programs
PhD tracks, admissions links, funding notes, and deadlines.
professors
Faculty profiles, labs, research summaries, methods, and recruiting status.
professor_topics
Searchable topic tags for each professor.
scholarships
Department funding, assistantships, fellowships, eligibility, and deadlines.
nih_research_gaps
NIH/NIMH/NIDA/OBSSR/NIA priority areas and student research angles.
professor_nih_gap_matches
Connections between faculty research and NIH-style research gaps.
saved_shortlists
Student-saved professors, programs, scholarships, and notes.

Live Prototype Data

5 universities

FSU, UF, UCF, USF, and FIU.

22 professor records

Starter faculty profiles connected to programs and topics.

11 program leads

Distinct PhD program/track labels in the prototype.

7 funding leads

School funding, NIH F31, and NSF GRFP examples.

8 NIH gap records

NIMH, NIDA, OBSSR, and NIH/NIA-style priorities.

99 topic tags

Search terms connecting students to faculty and gaps.

This prototype uses in-app sample data. The schema is ready for a future Supabase, Neon, or PostgreSQL backend.