NEM Lab at UMSL

09/11/2026

My department is hiring! The University of Missouri-St. Louis invites applicants for three Assistant Professor tenure-track positions in Clinical Psychology and/or Psychological and Brain Sciences. The area of research specialization is open and could include social, cognitive, affective, advanced quantitative or qualitative methodologies/data sciences, health disparities and equity, developmental, psychopharmacology, sleep, trauma/PTSD, addiction science, clinical interventions, etc.

For questions or additional job specifications, please contact Dr. Matthew Taylor, Search Committee Chair at [email protected]. Review of applications will begin October 1, 2026 and will continue until the positions are filled.

https://jobs.chronicle.com/job/38030988/assistant-professor-of-psychological-sciences/

09/11/2026

The lab is accepting graduate students to start in Fall 2027! Please let me know if you have any questions.

06/22/2026

The lab is studying romantic love for AI companions. You are invited to participate in our online survey if you are 18 years or older, if you experience romantic feelings for an AI companion, and if you understand English well enough to answer the questions. Thanks!

Researchers from the University of Missouri – St. Louis in the United States are studying romantic love for AI companions. You are invited to participate if you are 18 years or older, if you experience romantic feelings for an AI companion, and if you understand English well enough to answer the q...

06/02/2026

My invited commentary "Distinguishing between romantic love and romantic relationships" has been published in Behavioral and Brain Sciences. In it, I argue that falling/being in love is different from becoming/being involved in a romantic relationship, as not all romantic relationships are loving and not all romantic love happens within a romantic relationship.

Distinguishing between romantic love and romantic relationships - Volume 49

05/18/2026

Last Saturday was a big day for the lab 🥳 Congratulations to Magda Martinez-Mata, M.A. and Tabish Gul, Ph.D.!

05/08/2026

End-of-semester lab coffee

05/01/2026

Tabish and Magda presented their posters at the Graduate Research Fair last Friday. Congratulations to Tabish for winning first place in the Social Sciences, Humanities, Business, and Education division. Thank you both for representing the lab at this event!

04/28/2026

I am so grateful to have been awarded sabbatical leave for Spring 2027. I can't wait to devote an entire semester to my research on parasocial love and AI love!

Annah Bender, Sandra Langeslag, John McGrosso, Stephanie Merritt, Laura Miller, Carissa Philippi, Shannon Ahrndt and Marc Spingola have been granted time to devote to research or course development.

04/27/2026

Bryanna presented her poster on Love for AI Companions again at the Undergraduate Research Symposium last Friday. Well done, Bryanna!

04/23/2026

Interesting TED talk on The Harm of AI Romance

8 likes, 1 comment. "The Harm of AI Romance | Daniel Shank | TEDxMissouriS&T"