University of Florida
B.S., Psychology · Minor in Anthropology
Psychology GPA: 3.93 · Overall GPA: 3.86
Keegan Whitacre
Lab Manager & Research Associate · The Ohio State University
Download full CV ↓Education
Research Experience
Lab Manager & Research Associate
Affective Science Lab · The Ohio State University · Kristen Lindquist
Manage laboratory operations and research infrastructure, including study logistics, purchasing, digital systems, and coordination with university offices and equipment vendors. Current work includes lead-author research on interoceptive pathways linking childhood maltreatment to adult mental-health symptoms, a study of early adversity and sleep perception, respiratory interoception research, and a handbook chapter on language and emotion development.
Founding Member & Translational Associate
The Thriving Initiative · The Ohio State University
Build research, administrative, and public-facing infrastructure for a university initiative translating psychological science into accessible community resources.
Research Assistant
Life Story Lab · University of Florida · Susan Bluck
Studied stress and meaning-making in Dignity Therapy narratives. Developed coding systems, analyzed narrative data from more than 200 participants, led regression, clustering, and latent-profile analyses in R, and contributed to a manuscript now in press.
Research Assistant
Cognition and Decision Modeling Lab · University of Florida · Peter Kvam
Conducted participant sessions for a timed decision-making study and assisted with eye-tracking procedures.
Publications & Book Chapters
Cogdill-Richardson, K., Whitacre, K., & Bluck, S. (in press). Shaping the final story for family: Profiles of resilience. Applied Cognitive Psychology.
Lindquist, K. A., Whitacre, K., & Shablack, H. (under review). The intersection of language and emotion across early development. In V. LoBue, K. Perez-Edgar, & K. Buss (Eds.), Handbook of Emotion Development: Advances in Theory, Research, and Practice. Springer Nature.
Posters & Presentations
Whitacre, K., Feldman, M., Bonar, A., Ma, R., & Lindquist, K. (2026). Examining emotion malleability beliefs as a moderator on associations between early life maltreatment and poor sleep [Poster]. Society for Affective Science Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA.
Cogdill-Richardson, K., Whitacre, K., & Bluck, S. (2026). Shaping a final life story for family [Presentation]. Institute for Learning in Retirement, Gainesville, FL.
Whitacre, K., Cogdill-Richardson, K., & Bluck, S. (2025). Dignity therapy for older cancer patients: The role of early life stressors [Poster]. UF Cancer Center Research Showcase, Gainesville, FL.
Whitacre, K., Cogdill-Richardson, K., & Bluck, S. (2025). Dignity therapy for older adults: Revisiting early life stressors [Poster]. Institute for Learning in Retirement / UF Aging Science Awards and PGSO Undergraduate Poster Forum, Gainesville, FL.
Invited Talks
Whitacre, K. (2026, June). Mechanisms of dignity therapy. Palliative Care, UF Health, Gainesville, FL.
Whitacre, K. (2025, June). Dignity therapy. Medical/Health Psychology Seminar, University of Florida Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Gainesville, FL.
Clinical & Community Experience
Hotline Operator & Care Team Associate
Alachua County Crisis Center
Provide crisis intervention, de-escalation, safety planning, and resource linkage. Selected for the Mobile Response Team after more than 100 hours of hotline experience.
Education Committee Member
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention · Ohio Chapter
Contribute to statewide educational programming and coordinate a speaker series connecting suicide research with practitioners and community audiences.
Certified REACH Suicide Prevention Trainer
The Ohio State University REACH Program
Certified to deliver Ohio State’s 90-minute suicide-prevention training to students, faculty, and staff.
Software & Open Source
EMA Forge · Primary Developer
Open-source framework for ecological momentary assessment and browser-based physiological measurement, including web-based photoplethysmography and an ecological adaptation of the Phase Adjustment Task. emaforge.keeganwhitacre.com
Methods & Technical Skills
Methods: Qualitative methods, content analysis, survey design, psychometric scale adaptation, interrater reliability, regression, ANOVA, clustering, latent profile analysis, longitudinal and experience-sampling methods, psychophysiological measurement, ecological momentary assessment.
Software: R, Python, SPSS, Microsoft Excel, C++, JavaScript.
Honors & Awards
Outstanding Undergraduate Student Poster Award
Institute for Learning in Retirement
National Merit Scholarship
Benacquisto Scholarship
University of Florida
Dean’s List
University of Florida