Jacob B. Lindheimer, Ph.D. (Class of 2011)

Jacob (Jake) Lindheimer earned his BS in Psychology at ASU in 2009 and earned his MA in Experimental Psychology at ASU in 2011. Jake studied under the advisement of Dr. Hall 'Skip' Beck and completed his thesis, "The College Persistence Questionnaire: Developing Scales to Assess Student Retention And Institutional Effectiveness". In addition to working in Dr. Beck's laboratory, Jake worked as a research assistant in Dr. Joshua Broman-Fulks' laboratory from 2010-2011 on a project that compared the acute effects of aerobic and resistance exercise on anxiety sensitivity in young adults.

Following the completion of his Masters degree, Jake attended the University of Georgia from 2011-2015 where he completed his Ph.D. in Kinesiology with a concentration in Exercise Psychology. Jake's dissertation, "Placebo Effects in Psychological Outcomes of Exercise", was completed under the advisement of Dr. Patrick J. O'Connor, and the results of his doctoral work have been published in two high-quality journals in the fields of Kinesiology (Sports Medicine) and psychology (Psychosomatic Medicine). Meanwhile, Jake also assisted with the conduct and publication of several studies examining the acute effects of nutritional supplements on mood and cognition.

Currently, Jake is a third year Post-Doctoral Fellow with the War Related Illness and Injury Study Center (WRIISC) of the VA New Jersey Healthcare System. He also holds honorary appointments with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Kinesiology and the Madison VA Medical Center. A majority of Jake's fellowship appointment has been spent working on two federally funded projects designed to improve post-deployment health in Veterans of the 1991 Gulf War. Jake has co-authored publications in the fields of psychology, physiology, neuroscience, and nutrition, and he recently received a 5-year VA Career Development award (similar to the NIH K99 award), which is designed to facilitate his transition into an independent investigator in the VA Healthcare System. Jake will begin his new federally-funded position as a Research Physiologist/Health Science Specialist in the summer of 2018.

"Although I have been fortunate to receive multi-disciplinary training from a long line of influential people over the years, it all started at Appalachian State. I am forever grateful to the outstanding faculty and staff in the Department of Psychology who not only helped me realize my passion for research, but also provided me with the solid foundation in research methods, psychometrics, statistics, and scientific writing that I needed to be successful in my subsequent scholarly pursuits."

Jacob Lindheimer

(Photo from a recent trip Jake took to Iceland overlooking one of the largest waterfalls in Europe. He highly recommends visiting if you ever have the chance!)

Learn more about Jake and his research!