Graduate student Cali Salafia was awarded a Predoctoral Research Fellowship in Psycho-Oncology from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to begin late May 2023. Congratulations Cali!
Students
Lexi Tomkunas receives research funding from Africana Studies
Congratulations to graduate student Lexi Tomkunas, who received funding from the Collaborative to Advance Equity Through Research on Women and Girls of Color through Africana Studies at UConn, for her project on Black girls and discipline through Florida schooling.
Rachael Farina co-leads discussion at HGLHC
Graduate Student Rachael Farina was recently a co-leader in a discussion about inclusive sex and gender education for parents and caretakers at the Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective.
Rachael Farina featured in Verywellmind.com article
Graduate Student Rachael Farina was featured in an article on Verywellmind.com entitled, Understanding and Managing Intrusive Thoughts In Romantic Relationships. Read the article here.
UConn Child Labs hosted their first Lunar New Year Celebration
The UConn Child Labs hosted their first Lunar New Year Celebration, organized by Child Labs families and classroom teacher Heather Leeman. The event was attended by children and families enrolled in the Child Labs, Professional Teaching Staff and HDFS ECE students. Families led art and music activities and classroom teacher, Debbie Muro, led families through a child friendly yoga practice themed around the Lunar New Year. It was a great success and we hope to have many more opportunities for families to share their cultural practices with others in our community.
HDFS grad students and faculty present at SRCD conference
Twelve HDFS students and fifteen HDFS faculty will be giving 30 presentations at the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, this March. See a list of all of the presentations here.
Peter McCauley, HDFS Graduate Student Spotlight, February 2023
Peter McCauley joined the HDFS department in the Fall of 2022 and is working with Dr. Ryan Watson. Before coming to UConn, he attended the University of Kentucky, earning a B.A. in Psychology with minors in Spanish and Linguistics and graduated Summa Cum Laude. While at the University of Kentucky, he was a research assistant in Dr. Christia Brown’s Social Inequality in Development Lab. Under the direction of Dr. Brown, Peter worked on research examining how children develop and perceive stereotypes and how various forms of school-based discrimination affect historically marginalized youth. He also volunteered as an ESL tutor for first-generation immigrant elementary school students in local public schools.
During his final year at the University of Kentucky, Peter conducted his honors thesis examining why and when adolescents perpetrate gender-based harassment, and the contextual factors, such as sexual prejudice and gender typicality, that influence the frequency of this harassment within schools. This line of work motivated Peter to join the SHINE (Sexuality, Health, and INtersectional Experiences) lab to study queer identity development and experiences with bias-based harassment. While at UConn, Peter hopes to research how bias-based harassment, and the emotional distress as a result of experiencing this type of harassment within schools, influences queer youth’s well-being and identity development. Additionally, he hopes to use this work to leverage intervention methods that reduce the amount of harassment youth face, with the long term goal of creating healthy learning environments for all.
Peter is excited to be continuing his academic journey at UConn in a department that is highly involved with applied research surrounded by supportive faculty and colleagues. He looks forward to expanding his knowledge and working in the SHINE lab throughout his years at UConn. When not working, Peter loves to explore new vegan recipes, play his violin, and has recently tried his hand at baking (currently unsuccessfully) with his partner, Carson.
Madison Mas, HDFS Graduate Student Spotlight, January 2023
Madison Mas is a first year Ph.D. student working with Dr. Beth Russell. Originally from New Mexico, Madison moved to Tucson, Arizona to begin her undergraduate career. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Arizona with a B.S. in Family Studies and Human Development and a B.A. in Psychology. While studying at the University of Arizona, she conducted research under the direction of Dr. Rebecca Gomez in the Tigger Child Cognition Lab studying how children acquire language and the role of sleep in language acquisition. Madison also volunteered in community outreach programs through the university’s Women in Medicine and Science club where she spent afternoons teaching science experiments to elementary school kids. Madison was also very involved with the local Active Minds chapter and gave talks about mindfulness and mental health resources for peers.
In her final year at the University of Arizona, Madison completed her honors thesis exploring the mental health challenges faced by queer individuals and, more specifically, stressors unique to bisexual women that contribute to increased mental health challenges. This area of research led her to the UConn HDFS program where she hopes to continue researching mental health in the queer community. In this new research, however, the emphasis will be on resilience, promoting emotional well-being, and employing strengths-based approaches to research.
When she’s not in school, Madison spends her time pursuing creative outlets and taking care of her two vision impaired cats (Zuko and Azula). She is a very passionate photographer and has shown her work in New York. She has spent the majority of her life dancing and would love to find new places and people to dance with.
Fanwen Zhang, HDFS Grad Student Spotlight, December 2022
Fanwen Zhang is a first-year Ph.D. student who joined HDFS in 2022 to work with Dr. Sara Harkness, with broad interests in culture, parenting, and social-emotional development. Specifically, she is interested in how culture influences parents’ beliefs and practices in social-emotional development, especially in Asian culture. In addition, Fanwen is interested in the current development and evaluation of social and emotional learning programs in cross-cultural settings.
Fanwen earned her B.S. in Psychology and Rehabilitation and Human Services (RHS) from Penn State University in 2020. In 2021, she received her M.Ed. degree in Prevention Science and Practice from Harvard Graduate School of Education. After graduation, she worked as a research assistant at Parent-Child Dynamics Lab at Penn State, where she helped conduct a research project, Parent Regulation, Engagement, Stress, and Health (PRESH). She conducted study sessions with families and was trained in Mindware data collection, hair/saliva cortisol collection, and the Trier Social Stress Test. Also, she collaborated with colleagues to analyze how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted parental stress, which can, in turn, affect children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors. In addition to working at Penn State, Fanwen also worked on developing literacy-related curriculum materials for elementary-aged students and teachers at READS Lab at Harvard. Although Fanwen has been involved in research across multiple disciplines, an enduring theme is her interest in parenting and cross-cultural research. She hopes to start her research, expand her knowledge, and strengthen her research skills in her future years at UConn.
In her free time, Fanwen enjoys DIY, cooking, and exploring nature. Her current projects include a 1000-piece puzzle, bead bracelets, and a LEGO castle. She is a cat lover and loves cuddling with her cats, Grigio and Nera.
