Fellowships at the Center for Developmental Science
2008-2009 Predoctoral Fellows of the Carolina Consortium on Human Development
LISA FAZIO, Ph.D. Student in Cognitive Psychology, Duke University
Ph.D. Mentor: Elizabeth Marsh, Ph.D.
CCHD Mentor: Amy Needham, Ph.D.Research Interests:
Lisa’s research is focused on how people add to, update, and use their general knowledge about the world. Her research is primarily focused on memory processes in adults. However, she has begun to explore children’s memories, specifically the ways that children learn new facts about the world. Her current research project deals with what school-aged children learn from multiple-choice tests. Tests are often used to assess how much a child knows about a topic, but tests can also serve as a learning opportunity. Both children and adults are more likely to answer a question correctly if they have been previously tested on that question.
JENNIE K. GRAMMER, Ph.D. Student in Developmental Psychology, UNC-Chapel Hill
Ph.D. Advisor: Peter A. Ornstein, Ph.D.
CCHD Advisor: Peter A. Ornstein, Ph.D.Research Interests:
Jennie’s interests lie at the intersection of research in developmental psychology and education, with a concentration on both basic research in cognitive development and applied issues in education and social policy. More specifically her interests fall under three themes: 1) the development of deliberate memory strategies in elementary school children; 2) the links between basic memory strategies and children’s abilities to learn new information in the classroom; and 3) the ways in which schools and teachers may facilitate the emergence and refinement of children's cognitive skills. While in graduate school she has been involved in a longitudinal study of children’s memory in the classroom context, and for her dissertation she is conducting an experimental investigation of the impact of teacher style on children's developing memory skills.
JOHANNA K.P. GREESON, M.S.S., Bryn Mawr College, Graduate School of
Social Work & Social Research, 2001; M.LS.P., Bryn Mawr College,
Graduate School of Social Work & Social Research, 2001; Ph.D. Student
in Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Ph.D. Advisor: Lynn Usher, Ph.D.
CCHD Advisors: Glen H. Elder Jr., Ph.D. & Natasha K. Bowen, Ph.D.Research Interests:
Johanna is committed to intervention research that will make a difference for teens in foster care. Her primary area of interest is the transition to adulthood for older youth who emancipate from the child welfare system. Johanna aims to better understand how supportive adult relationships (e.g., natural mentors) can have a buffering effect on the developmental risks foster youth face when they age out the child welfare system. Her dissertation research will use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to investigate the effect of natural mentor relationships in both a normative sample of young adults and a sample of young adults identified as former foster youth during the “emerging adulthood” period. Using structural equation modeling, she will examine processes and characteristics of the youth–natural mentor relationship that may account for positive transitional outcomes. Her work will also determine whether the effect of natural mentor relationships on transitional outcomes is equivalent or disparate across the two samples of young adults. Results will elucidate potential mechanisms of natural mentoring that account for improved outcomes, and how growth-fostering relationships may alter at-risk youth’s life trajectories by opening new opportunities and creating lasting change. Johanna’s long-term vision is to reform child welfare practice for older youth. To achieve this end, her goal is to implement and test a child welfare intervention that acknowledges the importance of both independent living skills and life-long connections to caring adults for foster youth to achieve their full potential.
CECILY HARDAWAY, Ph.D. Student in Developmental Psychology, UNC-Chapel Hill
Ph.D. Advisor: Vonnie C. McLoyd, Ph.D.
CCHD Mentor: Vonnie C. McLoyd, Ph.D.Research Interests:
Cecily's research focuses on understanding the effects of poverty and economic hardship on family processes, child and adolescent development, and the transition to adulthood. She is particularly interested in cultural, family, and sociostructural factors that influence the development of both poor and non-poor African American children and the functioning of African American families. Cecily's dissertation will focus on factors that moderate the relation between exposure to community violence and adolescents' socioemotional adjustment.
BECKY SICELOFF, Ph.D. Student in Developmental Psychology, NC State
University
Ph.D. Advisor: Lynne Baker-Ward, Ph.D.
CCHD Mentor: Lynne Baker-Ward, Ph.D.Research Interests:
Broadly, Becky’s research interests center on the development of children’s autobiographical memory. In particular, she is interested in children’s earliest recollections, a topic that served as the primary focus of her master’s thesis research. In addition, this research also examined the emergence of children’s ability to make remember-know distinctions in the context of autobiographical remembering. Building upon her master’s thesis research, Becky’s dissertation research will further explore children’s ability to differentiate remembered and known events. Specifically, she is interested in knowing more about how this emerging ability may be linked to other metacognitive skills, such as children’s use of memorability-based strategies for determining whether or not an event occurred. By better understanding the emergence of skills related to contemplating and recalling one’s personal past, this research may contribute to a more comprehensive view of the development of autobiographical memory.
