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Wei Zhang, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology, focuses on neurodevelopment, stress physiology, and mental health across the lifespan. Her research explores how early life stress, including prenatal exposures, shapes neurobiological and developmental outcomes, with particular emphasis on placental gene expression and psychophysiological processes.

Dr. Zhang’s work draws on advanced quantitative approaches, including multivariate analysis, structural equation modeling, meta-analysis, predictive analytics, and longitudinal designs. She also incorporates data science methods, such as sentiment analysis and topic modeling, to examine emerging questions in health, education, and community engaged learning.

Her research has been widely published, with work appearing in journals including Development and Psychopathology, Journal of Neuroendocrinology, and Journal of Affective Disorders, supported by funding from the NSF and NIH. Recent projects include a meta-analysis on community engaged learning and student thriving in higher education.