Reach us at projectdaily@brown.edu

Nancy Barnett is a Professor in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, which is in the Brown School of Public Health, and is the Principal Investigator for this research study. Her office, and all the offices of the research team, are in the “Hemenway’s Building” at 121 South Main Street.

Dr. Barnett has been working at Brown for over 25 years. Her primary research interest is helping teenagers and young adults avoid negative experiences with alcohol and drugs. She is particularly interested in using technologies like smartphones and wearable sensors to study behavior and develop interventions that improve health. When she isn’t hanging out with her own young adult children, she loves to bike, play with her Boston Terrier, and work on her house.

Michelle Haikalis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown. Her research focuses on understanding risk factors for alcohol-related sexual violence and examining the role of bystanders in preventing sexual violence and hazardous drinking. She is also interested in developing and evaluating interventions that promote bystander helping.

Jennifer Merrill is an Associate Professor in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown University. She has primarily focused on investigating the drinking experiences of young adults. She is particularly interested in drinking patterns, alcohol-related consequences, and blackouts. She has current interests in qualitative methods, ecological momentary assessment, alcohol biosensors, advanced data analysis, and intervention development.

Matthew Meisel is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown. His research examines how the compositional and structural aspects of an individual’s social network is related to addictive behavior.

Megan Strowger is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown. She received her PhD from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA, where she researched the effects of social media on young adult alcohol use. Her research seeks to understand why young adults post and are influenced by alcohol content online, and how to weaken this connection to reduce problematic drinking. 

Adria Cicillini is a research assistant working on the project. She received a B.S. in Clinical Psychology from The University of Rhode Island.  Previously, she worked in the Survey Research Center at Brown University’s School of Public Health. She plans to pursue a Master’s in Public Health.

Jordan Heinrich is a research assistant working on the project. She is an undergraduate student at Brown University (class of 2026) concentrating in Biology with a certificate in Data Fluency. She is particularly interested in the connection between public health, data science, and biology, including how identity affects interactions within the medical sphere as well as health outcomes, and how data science can be used to improve medical communication. 

Naile Ozpolat is a research assistant on Project DAILY. She is an undergraduate student in her senior year at Brown University studying Behavioral Decision Sciences, with previous experience in the Center for Alcohol & Addiction Studies with the Merrill Lab. She’s interested in the interdisciplinary study of substance use, from looking at behavioral aspects of use and addiction to the political effects of harm reduction policies.