Caitlin joined the UConn HDFS faculty in 2016, and is currently an Associate Professor. She grew up in Maine and attended the University of Vermont (UVM) where she received a B.A. in English and Psychology. While at UVM, her interest in research and the role of policy in child development was sparked through a course in community psychology and the undergraduate honors program, where she wrote her senior honors thesis on educational inequalities. Following her undergraduate degree, she was a staff assistant and then a legislative staffer for U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy in his Washington D.C. office. In this position, she met with constituents, wrote correspondence, and drafted statements on health and social policy issues. Her interest in conducting research to inform these policies drew her to graduate school. She subsequently completed a Ph.D. in Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology at Boston College (BC), and then remained at BC for an additional two years as a Postdoctoral Fellow.
Caitlin is an applied developmental psychologist, with a program of research at the convergence of social policy and child development. Her research seeks to document the processes through which socioeconomic and sociocultural experiences influence children’s development to inform social policies and programs that seek to support children and families. To date, she has authored over 50 peer reviewed scientific publications on these topics. Her research, supported by more than $13 million in external funding, has utilized diverse methodologies including randomized control experiments, longitudinal survey research, and mixed methods designs. Caitlin leads the Applied Research on Children (ARC) lab, directs the HDFS Honors program, and is a faculty member in the Early Childhood Specializations (ECS) program at UConn. She is an Associate Editor for Applied Developmental Science.
Outside of work, Caitlin enjoys spending time with her husband, Scott, and their three children, ages 13, 11, and 8. She loves being outdoors, traveling, and reading.