Associate Professor of Psychology at Colby College, United States
Erin S. Sheets is an esteemed Associate Professor of Psychology at Colby College, known for her pioneering research on social belonging, stress, and mental health in emerging adults. As both an academic and licensed clinical psychologist, she bridges rigorous research and compassionate practice, with special focus on interventions that support underrepresented students. With a career that spans university teaching, clinical service, and funded research, Dr. Sheets has made lasting contributions to the fields of clinical psychology, higher education mental health, and stress research.
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Education
Dr. Erin S. Sheets earned her A.B. magna cum laude in Psychology and Spanish from Duke University in 2001, and then completed her M.A. (2004) and Ph.D. (2008) in Clinical Psychology at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She enhanced her clinical acumen through an internship at Brown University’s Clinical Psychology Training Consortium (2007-2008) and a postdoctoral fellowship at Brown University and Butler Hospital, specializing in mood disorders and perinatal mental health. This comprehensive academic foundation has provided her with deep expertise in both research and clinical application.
Experience
Dr. Sheets has developed her professional career through diverse roles in academia and clinical practice. She joined Colby College in 2010 as an Assistant Professor of Psychology and advanced to Associate Professor in 2017, a position she continues to hold. Between 2017 and 2021, she also worked as a licensed psychologist at Psychology Specialists of Maine. Her academic career includes a Visiting Scholar position at UCLA’s Department of Psychology in 2014. Through her roles, she has combined clinical psychology knowledge with research-driven teaching, significantly shaping both student learning and scholarly discourse.
Research Interest
Dr. Sheets’ research primarily explores the relationship between social belonging, stress, and mental health outcomes in emerging adults, with particular focus on college students from marginalized backgrounds such as BIPOC and first-generation learners. Her studies often examine stress reactivity, depression vulnerability, and interventions that strengthen resilience and emotional regulation. She has secured multiple research grants, including funding from the Spencer Foundation, to study brief group-based social belonging interventions and their long-term impact on mental health and academic performance.
Award
Dr. Sheets has been recognized through substantial external and internal research funding, including the prestigious Spencer Foundation Small Research Grant for her project on social belonging and mental health in disadvantaged college students. Additionally, she has received multiple Social Science Divisional Research Grants from Colby College to advance her research on emotional dynamics, stress, and academic resilience. These awards underscore her commitment to advancing mental health support for young adults through evidence-based, accessible interventions.
Publication
Dr. Sheets has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, making significant scholarly contributions to the fields of psychology and mental health. Selected recent publications include:
Asnes, S., & Sheets, E. S. (2025). Social media content about anxiety, theories of anxiety, and coping strategies in college students. Journal of American College Health. (Cited by 2).
Sheets, E. S., & Young, D. (2024). A brief, group social belonging intervention to improve mental health and academic outcomes in BIPOC and first-generation to college students. Clinical Psychological Science. (Cited by 8).
Huebschmann, N. A., & Sheets, E. S. (2021). Don’t fear conflict: Relationship stress beliefs in friend, familial, and romantic relationships. Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research. (Cited by 4).
Sheets, E. S., & Armey, M. F. (2020). Daily interpersonal and noninterpersonal stress reactivity in current and remitted depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research. (Cited by 11).
Huebschmann, N. A., & Sheets, E. S. (2020). The right mindset: Stress mindset moderates the association between perceived stress and depressive symptoms. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping. (Cited by 9).
Wenze, S. J., Gaugler, T. L., Sheets, E. S., & DeCicco, J. M. (2018). Momentary experiential avoidance. Behaviour Research and Therapy. (Cited by 20).
Rabasco, A. N., & Sheets, E. S. (2016). The effects of face-to-face and online social stress on emotion identification. Modern Psychological Studies. (Cited by 3).
Conclusion
Dr. Erin S. Sheets’ profound contributions to psychological science, her ongoing dedication to nurturing student scholarship, and her ability to translate research into real-world impact position her as an exemplary candidate for the Best Researcher Award. Her academic achievements, collaborative spirit, and consistent commitment to addressing the mental health needs of emerging adults through evidence-based research make her a truly deserving recipient of this honor.