Melissa I. Bamba
Student Trainee

Phone: (352) 392-0265
Email: mbamba@soc.ufl.edu

• Education
• Research Interests
• Student Profile
  

 

Education

• Ph.D., Sociology, University of Florida, expected 2010
• MA, Sociology, University of Florida, expected 2007
• MA, Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland, College Park, 1996
• BA, Criminal Justice, Temple University, 1992

Research Interests

Melissa’s research interests include identity, stress and coping, and health disparities.  Her master’s thesis will focus on gender and racial identity and religious coping with stress in later life.  Through an analysis of qualitative interviews she hopes to identify connections between how older adults invoke religion and spirituality in the construction of their personal identity and how this helps them cope with problems and obstacles in life.

Student Profile

Melissa’s interest in aging began with her experiences coordinating a VA study the goal of which was to assess the factors that influence patient trust in their healthcare providers and medication adherence.  Melissa was struck by the relationship between age and patient reports of lifetime racial discrimination – older patients reported fewer incidences of discrimination and seemed to have a healthier self-identity and more trusting relationship with their providers.  Melissa’s primary research goal at this time is to understand how identity influences self and other perceptions and transitions in later life.

Melissa’s research experience extends over all stages of the research process and in applied settings.  She was responsible for coordinating a biomedical research project at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine and the U.S. Veteran’s Administration Hospital.  She also worked with the George Washington University Biostatistics Center on a National Institutes of Health-sponsored clinical trial.

Prior to her work on aging and health, Melissa worked extensively in criminal justice research.  From 1998 to 2000 she worked as a Research Associate with the National Academy of Science/National Research Council’s Committee on Law and Justice.  During her tenure she worked with expert panels assembled to study juvenile delinquency, pathological gambling, policing, and illegal drugs.  Prior to this she worked in a private consulting firm for clients such as the Office of National Drug Control Policy (the ‘Drug Czar’s’ office), the National Institute of Justice, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism.

Melissa is the recipient of the National Science Foundation – Atlantic Coast Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Alliance Fellowship, with a proposal entitled "Racial Identity, Experiences of Discrimination and Life Satisfaction in Old Age."  Papers in progress include “Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered: Embodying Marginal Religious Identity.”, “Putting on Ersatz: White Protest Through Self-Marginalization.”, “Racial Identity and Coping: An Examination of Data From The National Survey of Black Americans.”, “Coping With Crises in Later Life: Race, Gender and Religion In Life Course Perspective."