{"id":75712,"date":"2026-04-01T08:26:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T12:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/news\/?p=75712"},"modified":"2026-07-15T17:16:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T21:16:22","slug":"challenging-assumptions-luke-hicks-explores-neurodivergence-through-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/news\/2026\/04\/challenging-assumptions-luke-hicks-explores-neurodivergence-through-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenging assumptions: Luke Hicks explores neurodivergence through research"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Luke

Luke Hicks has spent the last two years studying under Dr. Jill Shelton in the UTC CALM Lab. Photo by Dixie Edmondson.<\/p><\/div>\n

For Luke Hicks, a graduate student studying psychological science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, research isn\u2019t just about data\u2014it\u2019s about helping people.<\/p>\n

A native of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Hicks attended Samford University during his undergraduate days, where he earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology. Wanting to become a clinical psychologist after receiving his doctorate, Hicks knew he needed to gain experience.<\/p>\n

When choosing where to attend his graduate-level program, Hicks chose UTC for its research opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that I wanted to pursue applied psychology and be in the clinical psychology realm,\u201d Hicks said. \u201cI knew that in order to do that, you have to have research. That\u2019s why I ended up pursuing the degree here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once on campus, his research focused on differences in goal-setting between neurotypical and neurodivergent individuals.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy idea was to essentially allow people to plan and carry out different kinds of goals that they set for themselves over the course of five days,\u201d he said. \u201cIn particular, I was interested in prosocial motivation, which involves supporting or benefiting another person. You are motivated to complete a goal because it benefits someone else.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of people who suggest that autistic and ADHD people don\u2019t have the capability of understanding how other people feel. It\u2019s really hard for them to take another person\u2019s perspective on things, which I don\u2019t necessarily agree with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hicks found that both sets of individuals completed goals similarly and showed greater commonality in goal completion than differences.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re establishing that maybe there aren\u2019t as many differences as we think there are in terms of their actual performance on completing goals,\u201d he explained. \u201cAlso, there wasn\u2019t a difference in terms of how people were completing prosocial goals versus self-interested goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hicks believes it\u2019s important for neurotypical individuals to better understand the neurodivergent population.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a researcher who is not autistic, it\u2019s also my duty to try and inform people who aren\u2019t autistic or inform neurotypical individuals of the importance of trying to understand their perspective and their strengths,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Luke

Luke Hicks has spent time learning, teaching and researching through the UTC Department of Psychology. Photo by Dixie Edmondson.<\/p><\/div>\n

UC Foundation Associate Professor Jill Shelton, Hicks\u2019 faculty advisor and the psychological science master\u2019s degree program director, said it was a \u201cpleasure\u201d to work with him during the project. Shelton is also the director of the CALM Lab, which conducts psychological research on cognition, attention, learning and memory.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could tell he was genuinely excited about that kind of research and passionate about supporting people from marginalized backgrounds,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cI knew he\u2019d be a good fit to work in my lab with his goal of being a clinical psychologist. I knew we could give him some of the skills to be more competitive for those programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hicks hopes to one day work in a hospital or clinical setting, performing diagnostic assessments, evaluations, family support and intervention programs that support the success of autistic individuals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always known that I wanted to work with underrepresented or undersupported people,\u201d Hicks said. \u201cI feel that my idea of psychology\u2014like philosophy, the ethos behind psychology\u2014isn\u2019t necessarily just research, but it\u2019s to support people. It is a health care profession and where my mind has always been.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shelton described Hicks\u2019 impact on the CALM Lab and his research project as \u201cinstrumental.\u201d He has also worked with the Chattanooga Autism Center, assisting with data analysis through a United Way grant and volunteered as a peer mentor in the UTC Mosaic Program.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s really engaged with whatever he does,\u201d Shelton said, \u201cwhether it\u2019s research, community engagement or supporting undergraduate students. He is authentic and wants to provide support for people and help them achieve their goals. It\u2019s been an absolute pleasure to work with him and watch him develop over the last two years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hicks credits Shelton for her support throughout his journey, whether it\u2019s teaching introductory psychology courses to undergraduates, conducting research or volunteering in the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been fantastic,\u201d he said. \u201cThe support that she gives is very individualized, so not every student\u2019s going to be the same. The way you mentor is not always the same. She has this ability to individualize her approach that maximizes the potential of each of her students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hicks said he learned many communication and soft skills during his time at UTC and hopes to find a place similar when pursuing his Ph.D.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will think fondly of my time here, not only because of how prepared I am now, but also just because the culture is so unique,\u201d he said. \u201cI made it a point in my search for Ph.D. programs to try to simulate what I assumed is their culture based on UTC\u2019s. So that is the one thing that I\u2019m going to try to carry over. I want to foster that type of personability and open line of communication within a professional environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I\u2019m not going to lose contact with the people, my friends here; I\u2019ll still be in touch with them. Especially with my mentor, Dr. Shelton. We\u2019re going to be yapping for years. She\u2019s definitely my mentor. She\u2019s a professional I look up to. She\u2019s also just a friend, someone I can talk to about whatever with. You rarely get that. I know that wherever I am, I can call her up and talk about whatever I need to talk about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more<\/h4>\n

Visit UTC<\/a><\/p>\n

Department of Psychology<\/a><\/p>\n

How to apply<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Luke Hicks, a graduate student studying psychological science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, research isn\u2019t just about data\u2014it\u2019s about helping people. A native of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Hicks attended Samford University during his undergraduate days, where he earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology. Wanting to become a clinical psychologist after receiving his doctorate, Hicks knew he needed to gain experience.<\/p>\n

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