Rate My Professor Jemma Cook

Jemma Cook, Ph.D., BCBA-D, is an Assistant Professor of Psychology in the School of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University Institute of Technology, a campus of West Virginia University. She earned her Ph.D. and a master’s degree in psychology with an emphasis in behavior analysis from West Virginia University under the mentorship of Kennon A. Lattal, Ph.D. Additionally, she holds a master’s degree from Northeastern University obtained under Eileen Roscoe, Ph.D., BCBA-D, and is certified as a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst-Doctoral. Cook began her career as a psychology undergraduate at WVU, followed by clinical work as a behavioral technician at the New England Center for Children, where she taught children with developmental disabilities basic life and academic skills and addressed severe maladaptive behaviors. During her graduate studies at WVU, she taught introductory psychology and behavior principles, conducted research on reinforcement parameters, resistance to extinction, and token economies, and served as a graduate research assistant. In that capacity, she trained parents in behavioral therapies both in-person and via video conferencing and provided behavioral consultation in the local school system under Claire St. Peter, Ph.D., BCBA-D. Her graduate research shifted toward behavioral and environmental factors influencing relapse, with potential applications to substance abuse therapies.

Cook completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center under James Rowlett, Ph.D., and Donna Platt, Ph.D., gaining expertise in behavioral pharmacology, studying effects of drug abuse, and developing pharmacological treatments. She also managed data for projects delivering medication therapy to individuals with substance abuse and HIV impacts. Now at WVU Tech, she teaches courses in the experimental analysis of behavior, applied behavior analysis, philosophy of science, behavioral neuroscience, and behavioral pharmacology, while training staff and students in behavioral research applications. Her areas of expertise include behavior analysis and behavioral pharmacology, with a focus on reinforcement parameters, extinction, and relapse phenomena related to behavior broadly and substance abuse specifically. Key publications encompass 'Preclinical evidence for a novel pharmacotherapeutic approach for treating benzodiazepine addiction' (2025), 'Evaluation of the sedative-motor effects of novel GABAkine imidazodiazepines using quantitative observation techniques in rhesus monkeys' (2024), 'Behavioral effects of triazolam and pregnanolone combinations: reinforcing and sedative-motor effects in female rhesus monkeys' (2023), 'Resurgence During Transitions from Variable- to Fixed-Interval Schedules' (2021), and 'Early extinction effects following intermittent reinforcement: Little evidence of extinction bursts' (2020), accumulating 393 citations. Cook received the 2026 Golden Bear Empowerment Faculty Award and a $16,008 grant in 2023 for 'Instruments to Assess Behavior Analytic Competencies.'