my bio

I received my PhD in developmental psychology from Virginia Tech in 2021. I worked with Dr. Jungmeen Kim-Spoon on The Adolescent Brain Study which focuses on risk and protective factors related to adolescents', and young adults' physical and mental health. I specialized primarily on the development of emotion regulation across adolescence and into young adulthood and how its development may be influenced by social risk factors, including parenting and peer victimization. As a T32 postdoctoral research fellow in child maltreatment science at Pennsylvania State University, I have continued this line of research with Dr. Jennie Noll, focusing specifically on possible intervention targets for the longitudinal mental health sequelae of survivors of child abuse and neglect. I am also working with Dr. Sarah Font to understand the unique mental health needs of youth in foster care. Our work has implications for prevention, treatment, and child welfare policy. In my work with Drs. Taylor Scott and Max Crowley through the Research-toPolicy Collaboration, both as a graduate intern and now as a policy associate, I provide science communication training to researchers as well as non-partisan technical assistance to congressional offices on myriad of child and family policy issues. My career aspiration is to inform policies that affect youth and their families by working at the intersection of research and policy—building capacity for acquiring, synthesizing, and applying evidence-based developmental science within legislative systems.