Office Hours Faculty Profile
Indefatigable researcher devoted to preventing bullying abuse
BY ANN WHITCHER GENTZKE
Since arriving at UB in 2011 to head the Alberti Center for Bullying Abuse Prevention, Amanda Nickerson has been a determined researcher of bullying in K-12 settings and beyond.
Recently promoted to SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Counseling, School and Educational Psychology, Nickerson has attracted local and national media attention for her investigations of school bullying, a persistent problem affecting an estimated 20% of American youth.
Although strides have been made in understanding bullying prevention, the complexities of the issue remain a conundrum. “Most of the work at this point has been done at a universal prevention level,” Nickerson explained. “What do we do to prevent the bullying from happening? Schools take many different approaches to do this, and we have legislation that mandates certain things. But we know that some of these universal approaches are not as effective as they could be.”
Nickerson became interested in anti-bullying research while at the University of South Carolina, where she obtained her doctorate. “Bullying is so common,” she said. “So many people are affected by it, and the effects are long-lasting. I wanted to better understand why and how it happens, and probably more importantly, how we can prevent it and intervene when it happens.”
Nickerson's Research Areas
- School Crisis Prevention and Intervention
- Bullying
- School Safety
- Bystander Intervention
To address these perplexities, Nickerson is pursuing research on several fronts. She is principal investigator of a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security awarded to the Alberti Center to build youth resiliency and implement bystander intervention training. She’s also working on a book to provide guidance to parents and educators on cyberbullying and how to help youth navigate digital technology and social media with Stephanie Fredrick, associate professor of counseling, school and educational psychology, and associate director of the Alberti Center, and two other colleagues.
She has also been studying empathy as a way to prevent school bullying. In a paper published in Psychology of Violence, led by Dylan Harrison, a PhD student in GSE’s Department of Counseling, School and Educational Psychology, and including several other authors, Nickerson and her team asked why some bullying victims go on to become bullies themselves, while other victims “defend,” or seek to mitigate or counter, the perpetrators’ bullying actions. The researchers found that “as affective empathy increased, the relationship between victimization and perpetration became less pronounced, and the relationship between victimization and defending became more pronounced.”
While pursuing her UB career, Nickerson has watched her own children grow to adulthood. She and her husband, Brian Nishiyama, are proud parents to Ethan, 24, a 2022 UB graduate who works for Tesla in Buffalo; and Alex, 19, a second-year computer science major at UB and member of the Honors College. She enjoys travel, gardening, music, exercise, and spending time with family and friends.
In other words, it’s a full life for this inveterate investigator of bullying abuse, who wants nothing more than to reduce its incidence and help promote the mental health of youth.
Gratitude jar: Alberti Center team members express written appreciation for acts small and large by placing cards in this container.
Badge: Nickerson collects souvenirs of her professional conference attendance, including this badge from the 2019 World Anti-Bullying Forum in Dublin.
Kids’ notes: Following a presentation at an area school, Nickerson received these heartfelt notes from children who expressed themselves simply and memorably.
Citation: Nickerson received this certificate of appreciation from the U.S. Secret Service for speaking at the Safe Schools Initiative Seminar presented by the Erie County Law Enforcement Foundation.
“Good Science” carving: Nickerson and colleagues Lyndsay Jenkins and Stephanie Fredrick were worried about a finding from one of their studies that might be misperceived. “We need to just do good science,” Nickerson concluded. Hearing about the comment, Jenkins’ husband, a woodworker, went out to his garage and made placards for the group to preserve this guiding principle.