Principal Investigator | Robert McMillen, Ph.D.
E-mail: Robert McMillen
Science Guided Advocacy, SSRC: 60 Years of Commitment to Innovation & Excellence
Dr. McMillen is a Professor with a joint appointment with the Social Science Research Center and the Department of Psychology. He also serves as Investigator within the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Julius B. Richmond Center. Dr. McMillen serves as Principal Investigator for the Surveillance and Evaluation Services grant for the Mississippi State Department of Health’s Office of Tobacco Control.
His research has been published in Pediatrics, the New England Journal of Medicine, the American Journal of Public Health, JAMA Internal Medicine, Nicotine & Tobacco Research, Public Health Reports, Academic Pediatrics, the Journal of Rural Health, the Journal of Environmental and Public Health, the Journal of the Mississippi State Medical Association, and Psychological Record.
Dr. McMillen has published numerous fact sheets and policy papers that have informed decisions about health risk behaviors and chronic disease in Mississippi. His research has been supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute, the Mississippi State Department of Health, The Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi, the American Cancer Society, North Mississippi Medical Center, the Mississippi Health Advocacy Program, My Brother’s Keeper, and the Center for Mississippi Health Policy.
Dr. McMillen also serves on the Board of the Mississippi Public Health Institute. In recognition of his research contributions, he was awarded the 2006 Prevention of Cancer in Mississippi Award by the Mississippi Partnership of Comprehensive Cancer Control. He is a graduate of Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee and holds a Master of Science degree in experimental psychology from Mississippi State University and a Doctoral degree in social psychology from the University of Georgia.
Program Evaluator | Colleen Stouffer, MS
E-mail: Colleen Stouffer
Colleen Stouffer serves as Project Director and Research Fellow for the Social Science Research Center since 2008. Stouffer has conducted research on the social determinants of health among minority and vulnerable populations — with a particular focus on childhood overweight and obesity prevention, physical fitness, health education, and program evaluation. Her publications have appeared in journals such as the Journal of School Health, Journal of Health Disparities Research & Practice, Journal of Pediatric Nursing, and Journal of the Mississippi State Medical Association. She was Project Director for the Public Data Safety Lab (PSDL) which was established in 2007 in partnership with the Mississippi Office of Highway Safety. The lab in part assisted the State of Mississippi in meeting its Highway Safety Performance Plan by collecting, accessing, and investigating fact-based traffic safety records data (2014-2015). Stouffer was the PI on the Project Fit America Evaluation funded by Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation (2012-2014). Currently, she works with the Kellogg Data Project (since 2014) and the Office of Tobacco Control Unit (since 2016) as a program evaluator.
Assistant Research Professor | Katerina Sergi, Ph.D.
Email: Katerina Sergi
Dr. Katerina Sergi is an Assistant Research Professor at SSRC. She collaborates with SSRC faculty and staff on a variety of projects from early childhood education and mental health awareness and prevention services to tobacco surveillance and evaluation. Her past research contributions have ranged from data collection and management, quantitative and qualitative analysis, to manuscript development, and grant writing. Dr. Sergi is an educational psychologist with a research focus on metacognitive development, self-regulated learning, and motivation.
Assistant Research Professor | Sujan Anreddy, Ph.D.
E-mail: Sujan Anreddy
Sujan Anreddy joined SSRC in January 2018 as a computer specialist. After completing his Ph.D., he was named an assistant research professor. He works on products that integrate technology into program evaluation. His work helps tobacco control program grantees manage their activities, which in turn helps evaluators validate the programmatic data for providing short-term, medium, and long-term intervention outcomes.
He holds a doctorate in Computer Science from Mississippi State University, specializing in data visualization. His research agenda focuses on building and evaluating visual analytical tools for public health and safety. Previously, as part of an NSF grant, he worked alongside computer science graduate and undergraduate students in building a comprehensive database to identify misinformation associated with COVID-19 from social media and web-based forums. His research interests include using and evaluating natural language processing techniques for identifying misinformation in social media data. As part of the “Child Health and Development Project” (CHDP), he developed visualization products presenting information on resources available to parents, and health care providers of children ages 0-5 years in Mississippi.
Senior Research Associate | Emily McClelland, MS
E-mail: Emily McClelland
Emily McClelland is a graduate of Mississippi State University and holds a Master of Science degree in Clinical Psychology. In 2010, McClelland began working for the Social Science Research Center (SSRC) under Dr. Robert McMillen in the Tobacco Control Unit. Since her time at the SSRC, McClelland has advanced to a Senior Research Associate and assists with both surveillance and evaluation services. McClelland is responsible for managing and building surveillance specific datasets for the Tobacco Control Unit as well as running analyses on these data for report and factsheet construction. She is the principal investigator for the Mississippi Youth Tobacco Survey and responsible for coordinating the Mississippi Student Tobacco Survey. McClelland also serves as an external evaluator for the Office of Tobacco Control and for the Mississippi Comprehensive Cancer Control Program. She has presented key findings at several conferences and given numerous presentations for the Mississippi State Department of Health’s Office of Tobacco Control. In 2024, McClelland also joined the Evaluation Research Group at the SSRC and assists Dr. Connie Baird-Thomas in the evaluation of the Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5). Her research has been published in the Journal of Child and Family Studies, the Journal of Public Health in the Deep South, and the Journal of the Mississippi State Medical Association.
Research Associate | Malcolm Huell, BS
E-mail: Malcolm Huell
Mr. Malcolm Huell joined the staff of the Mississippi Tobacco Data at the Social Science Research Center (SSRC) in November 2011. He works for Dr. Robert McMillen, Associate Professor of Psychology and Coordinator for the Mississippi Tobacco Control Data Laboratory. Mr. Huell graduated in December 2011 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology degree with a double concentration in pre-med and Botany. Mr. Huell is currently seeking tobacco treatment certification to gain a better understanding of the science behind tobacco use, addiction, nicotine withdrawal, new and emerging products, and effective treatments for tobacco use. Mr. Huell currently oversees Mississippi’s online smoke-free ordinance database and works as an associate on the Mississippi Youth Tobacco Survey.
Research Associate | Madeline Burdine, MS
E-mail: Madeline Burdine
Madeline Burdine joined the SSRC in January 2024 as a research associate. Burdine received her bachelor’s degree in communication from Mississippi State University. She earned a master’s degree in integrated marketing communication (2022) as well as a master’s degree in sociology (2024) from the University of Mississippi. As a graduate student at the University of Mississippi, Burdine put her passion for the social sciences to work in a number of ways. She served for one year as a graduate assistant for the Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies before being selected to serve as a graduate research assistant on a research project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Over the course of the project, Burdine was part of interviewing over 100 White southerners to explore how they feel about their place within the racial hierarchy today. Burdine’s thesis explored how heterosexuals who are considered supportive of the LGBTQ+ community navigate and maintain relationships with their LGBTQ+ friends and family within the conservative state of Mississippi. Burdine has also conducted interviews for the Queer Mississippi Oral History Project.
As a research associate at the Social Science Research Center, Burdine has worked on projects within the following labs: Mississippi Tobacco Data, the Gender Impacts Lab, and the Evaluation and Research Group. Her diverse skillset allows her work to range from data collection to graphic design expertise in the formulation of reports.
Burdine is currently completing courses toward a Ph.D. in Sociology from Mississippi State University.