Spotlight 2024-2025
Tiyobista Maereg Presents at the Developmental Psychology Proseminar
We are excited to recognize Tiyobista Maereg, who presented her work at the Development Psychology Proseminar on Wednesday, April 23rd. Her presentation, “Black Immigrant Youth’s Ethnic/Racial Identity Development in Context”, explored the nuanced ways identity is shaped by cultural, social, and developmental factors. Tiyobista also shares her pivotal moments in research that has guided her research journey.
CDL Lab Member Michelina to Attend Johns Hopkins
We are happy to announce that Michelina Gliozzi will be continuing her education at Johns Hopkins University for her Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Congratulations, Michelina, and best of luck!
CDL Lab Alumni Spotlight: Emily May
Dr. Emily M. May was a graduate student of the Context and Development Lab from 2016 to 2020. While conducting her master’s thesis, she became extremely interested in the role of neighborhood context in youth development. At Penn State, she had met Dr. Dawn Witherspoon, who guided her on diving into neighborhood context. Her favorite project that she conducted under the mentorship of Dr. Witherspoon was her dissertation study on the longitudinal links between marijuana use and educational adjustment in Black and White rural youth across the transition to high school.
After earning her Ph.D. from Penn State’s Clinical Child Psychology program, she completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Brown University. Emily is now a licensed psychologist at Bradley Hospital and a Clinical Assistant Professor at Brown University in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior. Her role at Bradley Hospital primarily consists of providing treatment within the adolescent partial hospitalization program. The innovative virtual program is delivered entirely via telehealth, which allows her to deliver crucial services to teens and families in underserved geographic areas. In addition to her clinical responsibilities, she conducts research on the program’s treatment outcomes, and the small research group has published several recent articles (May et al., 2024; Marcus et al., 2025). Her faculty appointment at Brown University includes teaching, supervision, and contributing to other departmental and training efforts.
Dr. Nandrea Burrell Successfully Defends Dissertation
Congratulations to Dr. Nandrea Burrell for defending her dissertation, “Perceptions and Performance: Unraveling the Neighborhood’s Influence on Youth’s Academic Achievement and Educational Beliefs”, under the mentorship of Dr. Colleen M. Ganley. Nandrea is completing her PhD in Developmental Psychology at Florida State University.
Dr. Joonyoung Park Successfully Defends Dissertation
Congratulations to our CDL Alumna, Dr. Joonyoung Park, for successfully defending her dissertation, “Black Racial–Ethnic Identity Development in Girls: An Evaluation of Socialization During Puberty”. This dissertation explored Black girls’ pubertal transition and their identity development, as well as the role of mothers in this process. Joon thanks her advisors, Drs. Rona Carter and Vonnie McLoyd, as well as her honorary advisor, Dr. Dawn Witherspoon. Joon is completing her PhD in Developmental Psychology at the University of Michigan.
CDL Lab Alumni Spotlight: Victoria Francois
Victoria Francois was an undergraduate research assistant in the Context and Development Lab (CDL) from 2020 to 2022. She joined the CDL because of her deep passion for social justice. As an undergraduate student, she was eager to understand how social factors—such as neighborhood environments, school systems, and family dynamics—intersect with adolescent behaviors, particularly among African American youth. The CDL stood out to Victoria as a space where she could explore those interests in a meaningful and research-driven way.
During her time in the lab, she had the opportunity to work closely with Dr. Witherspoon, who served as her mentor for both her McNair Scholars project and Schreyer Honors Thesis. Both of these projects focused on the experiences of Black girls navigating the school-to-prison pipeline, a topic she cares about deeply. One of the highlights of her CDL experience was coding focus groups for the FAN-C project. This work was particularly valuable to me, as I now engage heavily with qualitative data in my current studies.
Currently, Victoria is a second-year Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) candidate at the Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, PA. Her research interests have evolved to focus on Black women’s health disparities, and her dissertation is a mixed-methods study examining the barriers that contribute to diagnostic delay in Black women with endometriosis.
SRCD Member Spotlight’s Lab Alumna Dr. Naila Smith
Meet Dr. Naila A. Smith, a CDL Alumna and Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia, whose journey into developmental science began with a passion ignited during her undergraduate studies in Jamaica. In her recent SRCD Member Spotlight, Dr. Smith emphasizes the importance of building a strong mentorship network, especially for underrepresented groups in academia. She fondly recalls her first SRCD Biennial in 2011 as a pivotal moment in her academic career. Read more about her interview here.
Amplifying Lion Voices Featuring Dr. Dawn Witherspoon
Come join Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s Director of JEDI-B, Raffy Luquis, PhD, MCHES, and the Community Health Equity & Engagement in Research (CHEER) team’s next “Amplifying Lion Voices” quarterly series on Wednesday February 5th, 2025 from12-1 p.m. with Dr. Dawn Witherspoon, Professor of Psychology at the Pennsylvania State University and Director of PACT, Parents And Children Together, a community-university partnership to enhance the lives of diverse children, youth, and families in the greater Harrisburg, PA region.
The series amplifies underrepresented voices in health research across Penn State to promote dialogue and encourage innovative collaboration among diverse researchers, faculty, staff, and students. By amplifying diverse perspectives, we can foster belonging and an inclusive environment across Penn State. To join Dr. Dawn Witherspoon’s series on February 5th, register here.
Tiyobista Maereg to Present at SRCD 2025
Dr. Myles Arrington Graduates from Penn State
We are proud to celebrate Dr. Myles Arrington, who graduated with his PhD in Developmental Psychology in December 2024. His dissertation, “Evaluating Face Recognition as an Adaptive Behavior to regulate Social Health in Emerging Adulthood: Implications for Mental Health”, was completed under the mentorship of Drs. Suzy Scherf and Dawn Witherspoon. Myles is now continuing his work as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain.
Research Highlight
Special Guest Presentations at Our CDL Weekly Meeting
Congratulations Briah Glover!
CDL Alumni Spotlight: Chang (Jenny) Zhao
Dr. Chang (Jenny) Zhao was an undergraduate research assistant in the Context and Development Lab from 2016 to 2017. She joined the CDL because she wanted to gain research experience, particularly related to the well-being of ethnic and racially minoritized families. Given her keen interest in parenting and parent-child relationships, the research focus within the CDL is a perfect match for her. During her time at CDL, she had the opportunity to work on the PLACES/LUGARES project. She shares the innovative design of this project, which involved collecting data from Latinx youth-parent dyads and gathering GIS data on youth travel patterns, was incredibly interesting. Jenny contributed to various aspects of the project, including data collection, cleaning, analysis, and manuscript preparation. As an undergraduate assistant, this experience was highly valuable and precious.
Jenny is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. She is excited to be working on the BOBA project, a longitudinal study examining how racial socialization processes within parent-, peer-, and social media contexts influence Chinese American adolescents’ identity and mental health.
SRA Spotlight on Dr. Mayra Bmaca
