Dr. Emily Abel is an Assistant Professor in Public Health and completed her PhD in Human Development and Family Science from Purdue University in 2022. Dr. Abel has extensive training in pediatric sleep health, developmental assessment, and developmental disabilities. Her research is broadly focused on measuring, understanding, and promoting sleep health for autistic children and their families. Most recently, Dr. Abel's work is focused on increasing accessibility in sleep research for autistic children and their family using tele-health approaches to sleep measurement (non-invasive, remote monitoring). In this work, she aims to improve equity in recruitment strategies and develop opportunities for children and caregivers to determine what improvement in sleep and quality of life looks like for them.

Dr. Abel is passionate about promoting access to sleep resources and research opportunities for children with developmental disabilities and families in the state of Oklahoma and beyond.

Dr. Abel is accepting undergraduate research assistants for Spring 2026 in the Researching Equitable Sleep Together (REST) Lab on the Stillwater campus.

Dr. Abel is accepting graduate students for Fall 2026 for the Community Health Sciences PhD program. Students who are interested in sleep health research, especially those interested in pediatric sleep, family health, or the intersection of sleep and disability, are encouraged to email Dr. Abel (emily.abel@okstate.edu).