PhD student directory
Human Development and Family Sciences
The following students have chosen to share their research and study interests. This directory does not represent every doctoral student in the program.
Tosin F. Alabi
Tosin is a PhD student and originated from Nigeria. Her research broadly focuses on child development and adolescent development, and mental health. Her current research interests include children and adolescents in foster care, and… see full profile
Brenda Barrett-Rivera, MS
Brenda is interested in family resilience, with a specific focus on low-income families' survival strategies and their implications for health and family relationships. Currently, she is examining how low-income, rural families develop and… see full profile
Rebekah Benkart
Rebekah is a graduate student interested in the early learning environment both in schools and at home. They are passionate about strengthening the partnership between families and teachers to better support the individual needs of children in… see full profile
Amara Bradetich
Jezz/Jess Brown-Hamlett
Jezz is passionate about studying families through critical epistemologies, especially intersectional frameworks. Their research focuses on family theorizing, the work-family interface and the experiences of student-parents, particularly those… see full profile
Mehwish Dawood
Mehwish is a doctoral student in the HDFS program with a Clinical Psychology background, hailing from Pakistan. Her research interests lie in the intersection of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and mental health outcomes among children,… see full profile
Ines de Pierola
Ines's broad research interests include inequality, families, and social policy. Currently, She is examining financial outcomes for families that access paid parental leave. She is also interested in childcare policies and have been involved in… see full profile
Maya E. Johnson, MS
Maya is a graduate student researching socioemotional development during early childhood, particularly emotional development and caregiver-child relationships for children ages 2-5 in child care and preschool settings. She also conducts work in… see full profile
Jasmine Karing, MPH
Jasmine graduated from the University of Hawai'i with a Master of Public Health, specializing in Native Hawaiian and Indigenous Health with a focus on Maternal and Child Health.
She worked with communities in Hawai'i and Oregon for over a… see full profile
Sara King, MS
Sara's research interests are broadly focused on the intersection between Positive Youth Development (PYD) and sport. She is interested in fostering positive environments in youth sport, or movement contexts in general, in order to promote… see full profile
Christopher Lombardo
Chris is a PhD student in HDFS. His research broadly focuses on family poverty, differential mobility (one family member moving up or down socioeconomic classes), and how environmental risk affects development and resilience. He is especially… see full profile
Kara McElvaine, MS
Kara's research broadly focuses on the contexts and processes which support the creation of more equitable environments for youth and adults, especially in the United States’ education and human service systems. She integrates practical… see full profile
Iriana Muñoz
Interested in racial-ethnic socialization (RES) in racially/ethnically marginalized families, especially among immigrant families. She is interested in promoting positive relationship with racial-ethnic identity, mental health, and academic well-… see full profile
Nazlı Özkoca
Nazli is a HDFS masters and Psychosocial Kinesiology doctoral student. Her research focuses on psychosocial development through play and developmental sport and exercise psychology. She believes play and movement are necessary for development and… see full profile
Beth J. Phelps, MS
Beth is interested in sibling relationship quality for young children with foster care involvement and the influence of sibling relationships on young children's socioemotional outcomes. She is also interested in quantitative methodology and… see full profile
Olivia Root
Olivia's research interests are broadly in the development of mindfulness and compassion across the lifespan, and more specifically about mindfulness and compassion intervention/prevention programs in early childhood education (both teacher and… see full profile
Jean M. Stouffer, MEd, MAT
Jean is broadly interested in how to promote the development of academic, social and emotional skills in early childhood education classrooms, and how these skills affect child outcomes. Her research interests also include school readiness, early… see full profile
Alumni
This directory does not represent every alumni from the program.
Caitlyn Abshire, MS
Caitlyn is interested in (1) factors that are associated with trauma, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout within professionals serving vulnerable populations, (2) promoting resilience in children experiencing trauma, and (3) how family… see full profile
Austin D. Brockmann, MS
Austin is interested in interactions between cognitive and physiological factors. His current interests include promoting resilience in late life as a function of cognitive reserve as well as stress, appraisal, and coping processes in older adults.… see full profile
Jessica A. Dahlgren, PhD
Jessica is interested in the relationships that exist between young children and incarcerated parents. Specifically, she strives to understand potential reasons behind behavioral and academic patterns exhibited by young children after experiencing… see full profile
Adrienne J. L. Henry, PhD
Adrienne's research interests center on the occupational experience of home-based childcare providers and how this may impact adult/child interaction quality, and provider engagement within childcare systems. Additionally, her professional interests… see full profile
Maria Kurth, PhD
Maria's research interests lie broadly in resilience via stress and coping processes among adults, especially those in later life. She is particularly interested in how we leverage our prior experiences (and accumulated resources) to inform current… see full profile
Hillary R. Lewis, PhD, MAT
Hillary's research interests included the links between adverse childhood experiences and child outcomes, emotional intelligence and empathy development, as well as teacher-child relationships and family-teacher partnerships, and their associations… see full profile
Nicole Mullican, PhD
Nicole was a member of the Child Welfare and Child Well-being (2CW) research group. Generally, her research interests include foster parent education, support, and retention. Specifically her research focused on the ways in which foster parent… see full profile
Svea Olsen, PhD
Svea is a mixed methods researcher committed to promoting public well-being. She has over a decade of experience conducting research through an equity and social-justice lens that focuses broadly on supporting positive outcomes for children, youth,… see full profile
Danielle Zandbergen, LMHC, LPC, PhD
Danielle recently graduated with her PhD in Human Development and Family Sciences and a concurrent certification in College and University Teaching at Oregon State University. Her primary research interests are exploring attachment across the… see full profile
