A Unit of the Association for Counselor Education & Supervision
Research support personally delivered
Whether you’re launching a study, trying to determine what instruments to use to collect data, or needing assistance with a grant proposal, our consultants bring expert support and guidance for your specific work.
MEMBER BENEFIT
Free 30-Minute Consultation for ACES Members
ACES members can schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation with a Research Center consultant to discuss research design, methodology, analysis, publication planning, grant development, or other research-related questions.
Available to current ACES members. One complimentary consultation per member.
Our Consultants
Meet the experts
Each consultant brings years of experience teaching, mentoring, and conducting research and shares a strong commitment to supporting your research success. Select a consultant to learn more about the services they provide and book directly.
Dr. Peitao Zhu
PhD, NCC, LCPC
Associate Professor of Counseling, Northern Illinois University
Quantitative
Peitao Zhu, PhD, NCC, LCPC, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling and Higher Education at Northern Illinois University. As a quantitative research consultant for the ACES Research Center, Dr. Zhu brings expertise in applied quantitative methods, research design, and program evaluation, with particular strengths in psychometrics and scale development, longitudinal modeling, and latent variable modeling. He has taught research methods courses at the master’s and doctoral levels and has extensive experience mentoring doctoral students, supporting faculty research, and providing methodological consultation across counseling and human service contexts. His broader scholarship explores human flourishing through relational, cultural, and developmental processes, with recent work focused on cultural humility and practical wisdom in counseling, supervision, and professional formation. He also serves in editorial roles for several counseling journals, including as Associate Editor of the Journal for Specialists in Group Work.
Dr. Stephanie A. Crockett
Ph.D., NCC
Professor & Director of the Counseling & Supervision Doctoral Program, James Madison University
Scholarly Writing
Stephanie A. Crockett, Ph.D., NCC is a professor and director of the Counseling and Supervision doctoral program in the Department of Graduate Psychology at James Madison University. She is passionate about helping students and faculty develop as researchers, with expertise in scholarly writing, publication, and quantitative research methods. Dr. Crockett has extensive experience mentoring doctoral students, serving as a methodologist, and teaching research methods courses. She serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Counseling & Development and is a past president of the Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling (AARC). Her scholarship focuses on strengthening research training and evidence-informed practice within the counseling profession.
Dr. Devon E. Romero
Ph.D., NCC, LPC
Associate Professor, Counseling, Doctoral Program Director, University of Texas–San Antonio
Quantitative
Devon E. Romero, Ph.D., LPC, NCC, is an Associate Professor and Doctoral Program Director in the Department of Counseling at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her areas of expertise include research methodology, scholarly writing, researcher development, and grant development. Her research focuses on trauma among historically marginalized, at-risk, and underserved populations, counselor development, and professional identity formation. Through her teaching and mentorship, as well as her leadership within the Counselors Against Sex Trafficking (CAST) Research Lab, she works to promote researcher development and scholarly productivity among emerging counselors and counselor educators. Dr. Romero currently serves as President-Elect (2026–2027) of Chi Sigma Iota International.
Dr. Nancy Thacker Darrow
Ph.D., NCC
Associate Professor of Counseling, University of Vermont
Qualitative
Nancy Thacker Darrow, PhD, NCC, is an Associate Professor of Counselor Education at the University of Vermont. She holds a graduate certificate in Qualitative Research Methods in Education, which has supported her growing expertise in qualitative research designs. Her scholarship examines the intersections of grief and loss, LGBTQ+ mental health, professional development, and equity in higher education, with a focus on how systemic inequities shape well-being and access to affirming care. Throughout her research, she centralizes identity, as a construct and process, in explorations of individuals’ lived experiences and needs for healing and growth—through loss, transition, and becoming. Her products aim to improve training within counselor education as well as foster nurturing growth experiences among counseling and higher education professionals. In addition to her scholarship, she enjoys mentoring students through qualitative projects and teaching an introductory qualitative research course for an interdisciplinary group of students in education fields.
Dr. Stephanie A. Crockett
Dr. Dodie Limberg
Ph.D.
Professor of Counselor Education, University of South Carolina
Grant Development
Grant Writing
Dodie Limberg, Ph.D., is currently a Professor in the Department of Educational and Developmental Science in the Counselor Education program at the University of South Carolina. Dodie has worked as a school counselor and clinical mental health counselor in Florida, Switzerland, and Israel. Dodie has been awarded over $47 million grant dollars to support her current projects focused on the school counselor’s role in career development, supporting students with emotional behavioral disorders, and counselor education doctoral student’s research identity development. She is past president of SACES and served ACES as the American Counseling Association Governing Council Representative. Dodie was the co-chair of the ACES State Branch task force and the chair of the chair of the ACES Diversity and Equity Position task force. She co-chaired and currently serves on the ACES Strategic Planning Committee. Additionally, Dodie chaired the SACES Journal Committee, which lead to the start of SACES Teaching and Supervision in Counseling journal.