Sarah Emert, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Clinical Psychology
Office: Garrison Rm 409
B.S. (2011) University of Arizona
M.A. (2016) University of Alabama
Ph.D. (2020) University of Alabama
Postdoctoral Fellow (2020-2023) University of Arizona
Dr. Emert is accepting one clinical graduate student for admission in fall 2025.
Dr. Emert is looking for 2-4 undergraduate research assistants to assist on her current research project investigating how adults with insomnia disorder change following cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBTi) by measuring changes in sleep and cognitive functioning. Research assistants will need to be available for some time during the day and early evening (6-8pm). If you are interested in working on this project Spring 2025 or would like to find out more information, please email Dr. Emert (sarahemert@isu.edu) and/or complete this RA Application. Our team will be conducting interviews until all spots are filled.
Research Interests
Dr. Emert’s research focuses on behavioral sleep medicine and the examination of sleep as a function of psychological well-being and health outcomes. Specific areas of focus include: (1) epidemiology of sleep disorders across the lifespan and special populations (e.g., older adults, college student athletes), (2) measurement invariance among groups (e.g., college students, college student athletes, clinical samples, general population) for sleep and mental health symptomology and disorders; (3) mechanisms of change of insomnia treatment and subsequent development of insomnia-related intervention, including evaluation, modification, and dissemination, (4) factors and processes contributing to the development of insomnia (e.g., insomnia identity) and related effects on therapeutic processes and client outcomes, (5) impacts of comorbid correlates on insomnia development and treatment outcomes (e.g., chronic pain, anxiety, physical illness), and (6) sleep health including neurobehavioral and biological effects of nonrestorative sleep and sleep pathology.
Lab Website: https://sarah-emert.weebly.com/
Selected Publications
Dr. Sarah Emert’s Publications on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=9E42JqcAAAAJ
Emert, S. E., Taylor, D. J., Gartenberg, D., Schade, M. M., Roberts, D. M., Nagy, S. M., ... & Buxton, O. M. (2023). A non-pharmacological multi-modal therapy to improve sleep and cognition and reduce mild cognitive impairment risk: Design and methodology of a randomized clinical trial. Contemporary Clinical Trials, 107275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cct.2023.107275
Taylor, D. J., Huskey, A., Kim, K. N., Emert, S. E., Wardle-Pinkston, S., Auerbach, A., ... & Milord, T. (2023). Internal consistency reliability of mental health questionnaires in college student athletes. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 57(10), 595-601. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2021-105136
Emert, S. E., Gunn, H. E., Molzof, H. E., Dietch, J. R., & Lichstein, K. L. (2021). Appraisals of insomnia identity in a clinical sample. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 145, 103943. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2021.103943
Haynes, P. L., Burger, S. B., Kelly, M., Emert, S., Perkins, S., & Shea, M. T. (2020). Cognitive behavioral social rhythm group therapy versus present centered group therapy for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder: A randomized controlled pilot trial. Journal of affective disorders, 277, 800-809. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.09.009
Haynes, P. L., Skobic, I., Epstein, D. R., Emert, S., Parthasarathy, S., Perkins, S., & Wilcox, J. (2020). Cognitive processing therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder is associated with negligible change in subjective and objective sleep. Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 18(6), 809-819. https://doi.org/10.1080/15402002.2019.1692848
Petrov, M. E., Emert, S. E., & Lichstein, K. L. (2019). Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder features and response to behavioral therapy for insomnia among patients with hypnotic-dependent insomnia. Behavioral sleep medicine, 17(6), 740-752. https://doi.org/10.1080/15402002.2018.1483369
Emert, S. E., Tutek, J., & Lichstein, K. L. (2017). Associations between sleep disturbances, personality, and trait emotional intelligence. Personality and Individual Differences, 107, 195-200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.11.050
Molzof, H. E., Emert, S. E., Tutek, J., Mulla, M. M., Lichstein, K. L., Taylor, D. J., & Riedel, B. W. (2018). Intraindividual sleep variability and its association with insomnia identity and poor sleep. Sleep medicine, 52, 58-66. https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.sleep.2018.08.014
Tutek, J., Mulla, M. M., Emert, S. E., Molzof, H. E., Lichstein, K. L., Taylor, D. J., ... & Bush, A. J. (2019). Health and demographic discriminators of an insomnia identity and self-reported poor quantitative sleep. Sleep Health, 5(3), 221-226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2019.01.009
Mulla, M. M., Lewis, J. A., Hamilton, J. C., Tutek, J., Emert, S. E., Witte, T. H., & Lichstein, K. L. (2017). The role of perceived sleep norms in subjective sleep appraisals and sleep-related illness behavior. Journal of behavioral medicine, 40, 927-941. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-017-9867-6