Darlis joined the UConn HDFS Ph.D. program in Fall 2021. She is the recipient of the CLAS Dean Graduate Fellowship and works as a graduate assistant for the Center for the Study of Culture, Health, and Human Development. She previously earned her bachelor’s in Psychology from SUNY at Purchase College in New York.
During her time at Purchase, she took a required two-semester research methods and statistics course and a two-semester senior thesis project. Her thesis was a critical review of unpublished and peer-reviewed published articles from 2010-2020 that assessed the “bilingual advantage.” The bilingual advantage is the enhanced mental flexibility or ability to shift thoughts or actions according to the environment among people who speak more than one language. These research experiences helped Darlis realize what she wanted to include in her future career.
While an undergraduate student, she investigated the research literature on cross-cultural studies of human development and discovered the work of two UConn HDFS professors, Dr. Sara Harkness and Dr. Charles Super. Notably, their cross-cultural research and work on parents’ cultural belief systems are what she found most exciting. After discovering their work, Darlis learned about UConn’s HDFS program.
During Darlis’ time at UConn, she plans on studying mixed-race individuals, multicultural identity development, and possible intervention/prevention programs for immigrant/multicultural families.
In Darlis’ spare time, she enjoys watching old movies and, on special occasions, traveling back to the places and the people she loves.