About
Kristen Leer is a McNair scholar who received her B.A. in Psychology, Classic Civilization, and Religious Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. During her undergraduate, she worked in the ABCD Study investigating psychological impacts on youth populations, specifically regarding substance abuse and was trained in neuro-clinical psychology. Nevertheless, after completing her Honors College senior thesis on "The Evolution of Schizophrenia throughout the DSM Editions and Cinematic Representations," and being involved in trauma-informed care during the COVID-19 pandemic among vulnerable communities, Leer's academic and public service endeavors solidified her research interest in investigating the intersectional relationship between trauma, media, and culture.
Recently, Leer was awarded the NSF-GRFP for her work on trauma(tic) media and the psychophysical impact it has on marginalized racial/ethnic populations. Her research in this area has also been awarded grants from the Anti-Racism Research Grants for Graduate Students and the DEI Comm and Media Graduate Student Research Grant. Other areas of media psychology that Leer's work focuses on are mental health representation/stereotypes, trauma podcast narratives, and digital discourse around mental health topics.
Leer's work also extends into the humanities, specifically investigating the horror cinematic genre through its representation of trauma/mental health, positioning of marginalized racial identities, and horror fandom practices such as podcasting. This has allowed Leer to contribute to several public-facing and academic writing projects such as contributing a book chapter to The Oxford Handbook of Black Horror Film! All of Leer's research and writing aims to prioritize marginalized populations whose narratives, experiences, and identities need to be heard.
