People
Assistant Professor
Role: Director
Research Interests: Gene-environment interplay, prenatal experiences, physiological responses to stress, pubertal development, parenting and parent-child relationships, development of behavior problems and substance use
Current Graduate Students
Role: Aura is a seventh-year graduate student
Research Interests: Aura is interested in the role of environmental, social and biological processes on long-term physical and psychological health, and overall well-being as a consequence of adverse and traumatic experiences during childhood and adolescence.
Current Projects in the BDL: Aura is assisting in research on the genetics of puberty, and incorporating genetic influences in studies of gene-child maltreatment interactions for the development of substance use and interpersonal violence in her dissertation.
Advisors: Drs. Sharon Christ and Kristine Marceau
Funding: Aura is funded on a dissertation grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R36).
Role: Emily is a fifth-year graduate research assistant
Research Interests: Emily uses a developmental perspective to explore executive function and adolescent externalizing behaviors situated in the context of the family, with a special focus on the impact siblings have on children’s environment and outcomes through factors such as parent interaction, play, and conflict.
Current Projects in the BDL: Emily is overseeing data collection on the MCPP. She is also assisting for the AgSEED project, as well as conducting several independent research studies in the lab.
Advisor: Dr. Kristine Marceau
Funding: Emily is funded on the Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship from the graduate school.
Role: Tara is a fourth-year graduate research assistant
Research Interests: Tara is interested in psychological resilience in minority populations and those at socioeconomic and cultural disadvantages, and the link between family environment factors (particularly parenting) and resilient outcomes in youth from high-risk communities.
Current Projects in the BDL: Tara is expanding her focus to understand the role of puberty for adolescent adjustment. She is leading the AgSEED project and a meta-analysis on secular trends in pubertal timing.
Advisor: Dr. Zoe Taylor
Funding: Tara is funded in part by Dr. Marceau’s AgSEED and K01 grants.
Role: Gregor is a third-year graduate research assistant
Research Interests: Gregor is interested in child development, specifically focusing on problem behaviors from preschool through early adolescence. He is interested in learning more about how genetics and the environment contribute to behavior in early childhood, as well as how those behaviors contribute to academic achievement.
Current Projects in the BDL: Gregor is working with our genetic data, developing new ways to constructing polygenic scores (scores reflecting the combined influence of multiple genes) that are statistically sound and biologically relevant, and examining genetic influences on the timing and tempo of puberty and behavior.
Advisor: Dr. Kristine Marceau
Funding: Gregor is funded by Dr. Marceau’s K01 grant.
Role : Olivia is a second-year graduate research assistant
Research Interests: Olivia is interested in stress response system programming, prenatal experiences and pubertal development. She is also interested in incorporating biomarker data and utilizing genetically informed designs in her work.
Current Projects in the BDL: Olivia is leading data collection on the non-pregnant sample of MCPP, and working on data management, cleaning, and preparation for EGDS and MCPP hormones.
Advisor: Dr. Kristine Marceau
Funding: Olivia is funded by Dr. Marceau’s R01 grant.
Undergraduate Students
*Poster Presenter; +Paper coauthor
Current Undergraduate Students
Annie Thompson, HDFS data mine, Fall 2019-present
Radhika Sahai, Brain and Behavioral Sciences, Summer Stay Scholar, Summer 2019-present
Alishia Elliot, Brain and Behavioral Sciences, Spring 2018-present
Maya Kumar*, Brain and Behavioral Sciences, Fall 2018-present
Katarina Wujek, Biology, Spring 2018-present
Savannah Hottle*+, Biology, Summer 2017-present
Past Undergraduate Students
Kayla Stradford*, Biology- Genetics, Summer Stay Scholar, Summer 2018-Spring 2019
Brittany Gelhausen, Brain and Behavioral Sciences, Summer 2018-Spring 2019
Shuyu Gao*, Brain and Behavioral Sciences, Summer 2018-Spring 2019
Shreya Swaminathan, Brain and Behavioral Sciences, Spring 2018-Fall 2018
Laura Galles*, Brain and Behavioral Sciences, Spring 2018-Fall 2019
Olivia Clem*, Psychological Sciences, OUR Scholar, Fall 2017-Spring 2018
Harlie Lane*, Brain and Behavioral Sciences, OUR Scholar, Summer 2017-Spring 2018
Heather Lange, Psychological Sciences, Summer 2017-Fall 2017
Rosie Mannin+, HDFS, Spring 2017-Spring 2018
Emily Field, Nursing, Spring 2017-Fall 2017
