Dental hygiene professor and WVU graduate recognized by international honor society

West Virginia University School of Dentistry dental hygiene professor Alcinda Shockey, DHSc, MA, BSDH, RDH, has been inducted into Sigma Xi. The Scientific Research Honor Society is an international organization that recognizes outstanding science and engineering research.

Shockey, an alumna of the dental school’s dental hygiene Bachelor of Science program, also holds a master’s degree in public and community health and education from WVU and a Doctor of Health Science from Nova Southeastern University.

On its website, Sigma Xi explains that it “was founded in 1886 to honor excellence in scientific investigation and encourage a sense of companionship and cooperation among researchers in all fields of science and engineering.”

Shockey has broad experience in research, studying topics like self-inoculation and transmission following the COVID-19 pandemic, the relationship between rural upbringing and education and working in rural settings, and the interaction of sex and age differences in their association with ATV-related emergency department visits.

Shockey has taught assigned courses in head and neck anatomy, dental anatomy, dental public health, health education, and many independent study courses on the undergraduate level and some masters' level courses. She oversees capstone research projects and presentations for each graduating class of dental hygiene students. Working in pairs or small groups, students spend two years collecting and evaluating data on their research topic and have opportunities to share it at school and state events.