Biographical Information
Dr. Lowell began teaching at USC Union in August 2012 as an Assistant Professor of Psychology, after earning his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of South Carolina in Columbia. He earned tenure and promotion to Associate Professor in 2017 and then promotion to Full Professor in 2020, having transitioned into an administrative role as Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs in January 2016. In August 2020, he then served as Interim Campus Dean ahead of his appointment to the permanent Campus Dean position effective August 2021. During his tenure at USCU, Dr. Lowell has taught a number of different Psychology courses in various formats (i.e. traditional, online, beaming). He has also made it a priority to work with students on independent research beyond the classroom in his Perception, Attention, Language, & Memory (PALM) Psychology Lab on campus, through which students have assisted with his research agenda, but have also initiated new lines of inquiry along the way. This work with student research helped to spawn the USCU Research Club that Dr. Lowell formed with a student research assistant, which he continues to direct on campus.

Dr. Lowell’s Research Webpages:

• ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Randy_Lowell
• PALM Psyc Lab: https://www.facebook.com/USCU.PALM.PsycLab/
• USC Union Research Club (Instagram): @USCU.Research 

Education

• Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology, University of South Carolina, 2012
• M.A. in Experimental Psychology, University of South Carolina, 2010
• B.A. in Experimental Psychology, University of South Carolina, 2004

Courses Taught

• Introduction to Psychology (PSYC 101)
• Research Methods (PSYC 226)
• Psychological Statistics (PSYC 227)
• Independent Study in Cognitive Psychology (PSYC 399)
• Cognitive Psychology (PSYC 405)
• Social Psychology (PSYC 430)
• Sensation & Perception (PSYC 450)

Research Interests

• Understanding Skilled Reading Behavior and Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition
• Second Language/Bilingual Reading
• Intersection of Cognitive and Social Psychology (e.g. Implicit Bias, Perception, Memory, Personality)

Publications

• Lowell, R., Pender, K., & Binder, K. (2020). Impact of informative context’s meaning consistency during incidental vocabulary acquisition. Reading Research Quarterly, 55(4), 679-697. DOI: 10.1002/rrq.295.
• Aziz, M., Lowell, R., Granger, K., & Self, K. (2018). Measuring Muslim religious identity formation: Instrument assessment with a sample of Muslim-American students. Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies, 3(1), 58-85. DOI: 10.2979/jims.3.1.05
• Lowell, R., & Morris, R.K. (2017). Impact of contextual constraint on vocabulary acquisition in reading. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 29(5), 551-569. DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2017.1299155
• Brusnighan, S., Morris, R.K., Folk, J., & Lowell, R. (2014). The role of phonology in incidental vocabulary acquisition during silent reading. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 26(8), 871-892. DOI: 10.1080/204459112014.965713
• Lowell, R. & Morris, R.K. (2014). Word length effects on novel words: Evidence from eye movements. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 76(1), 179-189. DOI: 10.3758/s13414-013-0556-4

Awards

• Distinguished Research Service Award, USC Columbia Office of the Vice President for Research (2020)
• USC Union Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award (2019)
• Poster Presentation Awards at Discover USC and Discovery Day by Student Researcher Mentees, USC Columbia (2019, 2018, 2017, 2015, 2022)
• Two Thumbs Up Award, USC Columbia Office of Student Disability Services (2014)
• Oral Presentation Competition Award Winner, USC Columbia Graduate Student Day (2009)

Grants (funded)

• Palmetto Undergraduate Research Experience (PURE) Grant with student researcher, Jessica Dawkins (2022), Context consistency and vocabulary acquisition. USC Union, $2,500 awarded.
• Magellan Scholar Grant with student researcher, Caden Jackson (2021), Meditation as a means of reducing aggression and racial implicit bias with an eyetracking shoot/no-shoot task. Office of Undergraduate Research, USC Columbia, $2,900 awarded.
• Magellan Mini-Grant with student researcher, Kelsey Granger (2019), Understanding the relationship between personal accounts of sexual violence and readers' perceptions and memories of those accounts. Office of Undergraduate Research, USC Columbia, $500 awarded.
• Magellan Mini-Grant with student researcher, Tomi LaChance (2019), Exploring connections between social media, personality, and meditation. Office of Undergraduate Research, USC Columbia, $500 awarded.
• Magellan Scholar Grant with student researcher, Bryana Vaughan (2018), How culture in the South affects facial perception. Office of Undergraduate Research, USC Columbia, $2,750 awarded.
• USC Connect Grant (2018) in support of formation of campus Research Club, $2,450 awarded.
• Magellan Mini-Grant with student researcher, Analeigh Tucker (2017), A study of potential sensory processing differences across personality types. Office of Undergraduate Research, USC Columbia, $650 awarded.
• Regional Initiative for Summer Engagement (RISE) Grant (2015), Incidental acquisition while reading English as a second language: The influence of contextual constraint and morphological transparency. Office of the Vice President for Research, USC Columbia, $6,894 awarded.
• Magellan Scholar Grant with student researcher, Tammy Warr (2014), Impact of implicit bias on perception of, and memory for, workplace interactions. Office of Undergraduate Research, USC Columbia, $2,800 awarded.
• Magellan Scholar Grant with student researcher, Kaitlyn (Wade) Pender (2013), Incidental vocabulary acquisition during silent reading. Office of Undergraduate Research, USC Columbia, $2,000 awarded.
• Distributed Learning Grant (2013) for development of online Psychological Statistics (PSYC 227), $5,000 awarded.

Professional Affiliations

• National Association of Branch Campus Administrators (NABCA)
• Association for Psychological Science (APS)
• American Psychological Association (APA)
• Southeastern Psychological Association (SEPA)
• Society for Teaching of Psychology (SToP)