Jennifer Turchi

I moved from the Washington D.C. area to Clemson University, where I received my B.S. degree in May 2005, in Psychology.  My undergraduate research study examined Alcohol consumption behaviors of undergraduate students and satisfaction with college experience.  I also did a group project that looked at bullying in schools and online.

 I received my M.S. degree also from Clemson University in Sociology two years later.  During my Master’s program, I worked on several projects including the AWE project.  This project was a NSF funded, interdisciplinary project that aimed to create a “smart environment” in order to increase productivity for individuals working from home.  My thesis topic, “Homophily and online networks:  Young adult relationships in MySpace”, looked at characteristic similarity of friends in MySpace and how levels of homophily affect network density and network embeddedness.My interests at The University of Iowa currently include social psychology, specifically small group processes and the family.  My thesis here will examine gender differences and parental affects on child networks.  So far, my experiences here at Iowa have been great!  I am looking forward to getting involved in more research and collaborating with my colleagues.

When I am not in class or working, I enjoy spending time with my retired greyhound, Dye.  I also enjoy cycling, swimming, and running-pretty much anything physical or outdoors.  My dad and I are really close and love hanging out and being out on the water of the Potomac River.  Finally, I love traveling with my boyfriend, John, and coming up with new crazy adventures.