Graduate Student Spotlights
HDFS Doctoral Degree Program
HDFS graduate achievements
Oregon State HDFS graduate students are regularly awarded competitive scholarships, fellowships and grants — a testament to their innovative and promising scholarly work.
They have also co-authored manuscripts published in well-known developmental and family science journals.
Graduates of the HDFS program follow diverse career paths in research and practice, academic and nonacademic tracks.
2024 HDFS graduates
Ahmad Amadi, PhD
Dissertation
“Measuring Executive Functions: Relation to Individual Factors, Parental Education and Academic Skills among Young Children in Iran and the United States”
Next Step
Postdoctoral Scholar at the Marsico Institute for Early Learning and Literacy at the University of Denver with Dr. Douglas Clements and Dr. Julie Sarama.
Ines de Pierola, MS
Thesis
"Employer-Provided Paid Parental Leave and Material Hardship after Childbirth among Oregon Mothers"
Next step
Ines will be continuing at OSU to obtain her PhD in HDFS
Maya Johnson, MS
Thesis
“Teacher-Child Relationships and Preschool Teachers’ Attributions: Relations with Preschool Children’s Emotion Regulation and Emotion Knowledge”
Next step
Maya will be continuing at OSU to obtain her PhD in HDFS.
Terese Jones, PhD
Dissertation
“From Work-First to Learn-First: Navigating Educational Choices Among TANF Recipients Through the Lens of Possible Selves and Stigma”
Justin White, MS
Thesis
“Critical Incident History and Childhood History on Law Enforcement Officer Health Outcomes”
Next Step
Assistant Program Manager at the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch in Billings, Montana.
Awards and honors
Iriana Muñoz selected as a fellow of the 2024 Revolutionizing Research for Social Change
A Summer Research Institute in Anti-Racist and Decolonizing Research Methods Selected as 1 of 25 spots out of nearly 150 applicants.
Madeline Nichols, MS recognized as a Dean’s Student Spotlight
Doctoral student dives into her passion for research and human development.
Kara McElvaine, MS, awarded the Thurgood Marshall Graduate Fellowship
This fellowship, awarded by the Graduate School, is only offered to four graduate students across Oregon State University and will support Kara as she completes her dissertation, DEIB Interventions and White Racial Identity Development: Exploring Approaches for Advancing Equity in a New Jersey School District.
Ines de Pierola selected for the 2024 Cohort of doctoral research scholars at the Social Policy Institute (SPI) at Washington University in St. Louis
Her current research evaluates the financial outcomes of paid leave programs for families.
Sara King, MS recognized as a Dean’s Student Spotlight
Former collegiate gymnast explores intersection of sport and positive youth development.
Publications
2024 publications co-authored by current HDFS graduate students
Kara McElvaine
Settersten, RA, Hollstein, B, McElvaine, K (2024) “Unlinked lives”: Elaboration of a concept and its significance for the life course. Advances in Life Course Research 59(100583)
2023 HDFS graduates
Maria Kurth, PhD
Dissertation
“’Knew it Had to Be and Just Let it Be’: Resilience among Older Adults during the COVID-19 pandemic”
Current position
Postdoctoral Fellow, Pathways T32 Training Program, College of Health and Human Development, Penn State University.
Alexis Merculief, PhD
Dissertation
“Promoting Executive Function in Children from American Indian, Alaska Native, and Other Underserved Races/Ethnicities: Examining Risk and Resilience Factors in the Environment”
Current position
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Postdoctoral Fellow, Center on Early Childhood, Stanford University
Yue Ni, PhD
Dissertation
“Youth Civic Engagement in the Online Context: Conceptualization and Measurement”
Current position
Assistant Professor of Psychology, Portland State University.
Isabella Scuito, PhD
Dissertation
“’Can we keep playing?’ Adapting and Testing Red Light, Purple Light Self-Regulation Intervention Games with First Graders”
Next step
2023-2025 Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) State Policy Fellow, Data & Analytics Office in the Oregon Department of Early Learning and Care (DELC).
Danielle Zandbergen, PhD
Dissertation
“Relational Resources for Foster Young Adults and the Influence of COVID-19 on Access to Mental Health Care”
Current position
Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Okika Counseling, LLC.
Publications
2023 publications co-authored by HDFS graduate students
Ahmad Ahmadi
Ahmad, A., Chuang, S. S., McClelland, M., Gonzales, C. R., & Beh-Pajooh, A. (2023). Executive functioning and early math skills in young children at risk for mathematic difficulties: Evaluation of interventions efficacy and transfer effects. Early Education and Development, 1-28.
McClelland, M. M., Ahmadi, A., & Wanless, S. B. (2023). Self-regulation. In Reference Module in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology. 176-184. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-91497-0.00042-4
Jasmine Karing, Ahmad Ahmadi, and Paige Braithwaite
Kenny, S. A., Cameron, C. E., Karing, J. T., Ahmadi, A., Braithwaite, P. N., & McClelland, M. M. (2023). A meta-analysis of the validity of the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task in predicting young children’s academic performance. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1124235.
Maria Kurth
Segerstrom, S. C., Crosby, P., Witzel, D. D., Kurth, M. L., Choun, S., & Aldwin, C. M. (2023). Adaptation to changes in COVID-19 pandemic severity: Across older adulthood and time scales. Psychology and Aging, 38(6), 586-599.
Alexis Merculief
Merculief, A., Lipscomb, S., McClelland, M. M., Geldhof, G. J., & Tsethlikai, M. (2023). Nurturing resilience in American Indian/Alaska Native preschool children: The role of cultural socialization, executive function, and neighborhood risk. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1279336.
Yue Ni
Ni, Y., Geldhof, G. J., Chen, B., & Stawski, R. S. (2023). Maturation or disruption? Conscientiousness development in the transition into adolescence. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 47(2), 111-122.
Hung, C., Ni, Y., Geldhof, G. J., Berg, J., & McMahon, R. (2023). Life goal selection pattern and purpose in adolescence: A latent class analysis. Journal of Adolescence, 95(7), 1365-1376.
Madi Nichols
Stawski, R. S., Cichy, K. E., Witzel, D. D., Schuyler, A. C., & Nichols, M. J. (2022). Daily stress processes as potential intervention targets to reduce gender differences and improve mental health outcomes in mid- and later life. Prevention Science, 24, 876-886.
2022 HDFS graduates
Madeline Nichols, MS
Thesis
“Generativity, Cognitive Reappraisal, and Self-Acceptance: Optimizing Well-Being in Midlife”
Current position
Madi will be continuing at OSU to obtain her PhD in HDFS.
Shelbie Turner, PhD
Dissertation
“Adult-Daughter Dementia Caregivers’ Pursuit of Personal Physical Activity Goals: The ACHIEVE Study”
Current position
T32 Postdoctoral Fellow, Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine.
Corine Tyler, PhD
Dissertation
“Coping for Queer/Trans Youth (C-QT): Scale Development and Validation”
Current position
Research Analyst, Oregon Department of Education.
Dakota Witzel, PhD
Dissertation
“When We’re Good, It’s All Good: Associations between Marital Quality and Daily Stress Processes”
Next step
Postdoctoral Fellow, Pathways T32 Training Program, College of Health and Human Development, Penn State University.
Current position
In 2024, Dakota accepted a tenure-track position as an assistant professor of psychology at South Dakota State University.
Awards and honors
Madi Nichols selected as a 2022 LIFE Scholars Awardee
The Summer LIFE Scholars Program provides an opportunity for students to work with a Center for Healthy Aging Research faculty member to develop research skills and an understanding of opportunities in science and research.
While in the program, Madi worked on The Contextual Influences on Daily Emotion Regulation (CIDER) Study.
Dakota Witzel featured in HealthDay News
Do You Feel Old? It Could Be Aging You. People who believe their bodies and minds will break down with age may be creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, a recent study suggests.
Publications
2022 publications co-authored by HDFS graduate students
Kara McElvaine
Chandler, K. D., Hodge, C. J., McElvaine, K., Olschewski, E. J., Melton, K. K., & Deboeck, P. (2022). Challenges of ecological momentary assessments to study family leisure: Participants’ perspectives. Journal of Leisure Research, 53(1), 159-165.
Yue Ni
Ni, Y., Geldhof, G. J., & Hershberg, R. M. (2022). Psychological toll of being awakened: Asian-origin youth’s critical reflection and mental health. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 83, 101471.
Yu, D., Geldhof, G. J., Buckingham, M., Goncalves, C., Yang, P., Michaelson, L. E., Berg, J., Ni, Y., Lerner, R. M. (2022). “Today, I cared about how a classmate felt”: Fluctuations in empathy are linked to daily mood in adolescence. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 79, 101386.
Yu, D., Goncalves, C., Yang, P., Geldhof, G. J., Michaelson, L., Ni, Y., & Lerner, R. M. (2022). Does prior night’s sleep impact next day executive functioning? It depends on an individual’s average sleep quality. Journal for Person-Oriented Research, 8(1), 10-23.
Madeline Nichols
Bellingtier, J. A., Rauers, A., Nichols, M. J., & Buttelmann, F. (2022). Stereotyping older adults: How labels and perceived age influence ratings. Educational Psychology, 48(7), 298-304.
Danielle Zandbergen
Hatfield, B. E., Finders, J. K., Zandbergen, D. L., & Lewis, H. (2022). Associations between consistent and high-quality teacher-child interactions and preschool children’s self-regulation and activity in the stress response system. Early Education and Development, 33(7), 1222-1236.