

Congratulations to *Madeline Hebert and Peter McCauley, who both received the 2025 Wood/Raith Living Trust Summer Fellowship!
Congratulations to *Madeline Hebert and Peter McCauley, who both received the 2025 Wood/Raith Living Trust Summer Fellowship!
Congratulations to *Nate Stekler, newly elected Students and New Professionals Representative of the NCFR Research and Theory Section.
UConn Today featured undergraduate researcher *Kayvona Brown who is currently enrolled in the HDFS Research Practicum with Assistant Professor Marketa Burnett exploring Black caregivers’ hopes and dreams for their daughters. Link: https://today.uconn.edu/2025/03/meet-the-undergraduate-researcher-kayvona-brown-clas/#
Eight HDFS faculty and four HDFS graduate students will be presenting 12 posters at the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) in San Francisco, CA at the end of March! See them all here
The Child Labs community participated in CT Children’s Medical Center’s Pajama Day on Friday December 13th. Children, college students and staff wore pjs to school and made donations to CCMC to support children experiencing extended hospital stays. The Child Labs community raised more than $200!
Laura Donorfio’s HDFS 4007W’s project to offer a career closet was featured in UConn Today https://today.uconn.edu/2024/12/uconn-waterburys-career-closet-service-learning-students-champion-professional-success-and-equity/
Graduate student Vanessa Esquivel featured in UConn Today for her recent Head Start Dissertation Grant from the Administration of Children and Families for her dissertation work to study the association between parents and Early Head Start service providers. Caitlin Lombardi is mentoring Vanessa on this project. https://today.uconn.edu/2024/12/giving-latine-families-an-early-head-start/
Ida Ghaemmaghamfarahani is a first-year PhD student specializing in Adulthood, Aging, and Gerontology under Dr. Keith Bellizzi’s mentorship. Originally from Tehran, Iran, Ida began her academic journey with an engineering degree from the University of Tehran. However, her deep interest in mental health and human behavior led her to pursue a master’s in clinical psychology. There, she explored how stressful life events affect psychological well-being in older adults, focusing on the roles of social isolation and emotion regulation. During her graduate studies, Ida joined the Iranian Research Center on Aging, where she researched cognitive aging and psychometrics, developing skills in assessment and measurement tools for older populations. She also gained clinical experience through a 3-month psycho-oncology observership in the palliative care unit at Firoozgar Hospital, a teaching hospital in Tehran, where she learned about the psychological needs of individuals facing advanced-stage cancer, and a 6-month clinical internship working with individuals with disabilities. These experiences broadened her understanding of therapeutic practices for diverse needs. After completing her master’s, Ida worked as a research assistant at the Tehran Institute of Psychiatry, collaborating with the WHO Collaborating Center for Mental Health in Iran on national suicide prevention projects.
Since moving to the U.S. in 2020, Ida has continued her research journey, working with Protect International Risk and Safety Services Inc. and at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, where she now contributes to NIH-funded projects on dementia and caregiving. At UConn, Ida is interested in exploring how chronic illnesses and aging-related challenges affect quality of life in older adults, with a focus on finding insights to support healthy aging and well-being.
Outside of her academic work, Ida enjoys walking her dog, spending time with her husband, and watching documentaries that delve into human behavior and the mind.
Four HDFS faculty and three graduate students will be giving five presentations at the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) conference later this month in Bellevue, Washington. Learn about them here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ubx8DQazSgr21R425puu1h0cVvJE1gpe_EbHBssoEDM/edit?usp=sharing
Undergraduate student Katherine Gutierrez, a sophomore, participated in the Fall Frontiers Poster Exhibition on October 23rd, as part of the SHARE program, which supports undergraduate research projects in the social sciences, humanities, and arts. SHARE is designed especially for students in the earlier stages of their college careers as a means of introducing students to research in their chosen field and of developing skills they will need for further research projects. Katherine presented a poster based on her work with Dr. Sarah Rendón García titled “Platicando Juntos: Mothers Learning How to Talk to Their Children About Immigration.”