Alexa received her Bachelor Degree of Science from Penn State in Biology with honors in Biobehavioral Health from the Schreyer Honors College in May of 2021. She also received her Smeal College of Business Fundamentals Certificate. She is currently a clinical research project manager for the Administrative Core, Kidney Precision Medicine Project at the University of Washington.
Senior Honors Thesis (Chair: Turrisi). Alcohol-Related Consequences Among Racial and Ethnic Minority First-Year College Students (2020-2021).
Awards:
- Fall 2017 – Fall 2018 & Fall 2019 – Spring 2021, 7 semesters on Dean’s List
- August 2020 – May 2021, Mortar Board National Honor Society
- Spring 2021, Mortar Board Charolette E. Ray Scholarship
- Spring 2021, 1st place at Biobehavioral Health Research Forum
Selected Presentations:
Plisiewicz, A. R., Waldron, K., Mallett, K., & Turrisi, R. (2021, March). Alcohol-related consequences among racial and ethnic minority first-year college students. Virtual presentation at the Penn State Biobehavioral Health Research Forum, University Park, PA.
Plisiewicz, A. R., Waldron, K., Gall-Myrick, J., & Turrisi, R. (2020, April). Sorority membership moderates the association between tanning norms and efficacy. Virtual presentation at the Penn State Undergraduate Research Exhibition, University Park, PA.
Waldron, K. A., Plisiewicz, A. R., Glenn, S., Wolfe, E., Reavy, R. R., Turrisi, R. J., & Mallett, K. A. (2021, June). Alcohol-related consequences among racial and ethnic minority college students: A validation of the Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire. To be presented at the 44th Annual Meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism, San Antonio, TX.
Publications:
Waldron, K. A., Mallett, K. A., Turrisi, R. J., Reavy, R., Wolfe, E., & Plisiewicz, A. (2021). Motivations to combine alcohol and nicotine in college students: A validation of the Alcohol and Nicotine Motives Scale. Addictive Behaviors, 112, 106645.