Lydia Nyarko
Lydia O Nyarko is a first-year HDFS master's student working with Dr. Jolaade Kalinowski. Lydia earned her UConn BA in Global Health and Society with a minor in HDFS. As an undergraduate student, she explored health disparities and health equity. She became passionate about child health and community influences on child development. Lydia received a scholarship from the Hurley Gurley Foundation that funded her passion project titled Amplifying the voices of the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) community in Ghana.
As a graduate student, Lydia works with Dr. Kalinowski as a research assistant on her Stress Lab Project. Currently, Lydia is exploring mental health-seeking behaviors among women of color and young adults. She plans on applying multidisciplinary frameworks to inform mental health interventions, particularly for immigrant families. After completing her master’s, Lydia hopes to pursue a PhD in HDFS.
Lydia grew up in Ghana before moving to the US. While an undergraduate student, she studied abroad three times. Her longterm goal is to visit all the countries in the world. She enjoys vlogging her life.
Carly Prentiss
Carly Prentiss is a first-year HDFS PhD student in the health, wellbeing, and prevention specialization. She recently graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Sociology from Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU). Based on personal experiences and her time as a youth services coordinator, she developed an interest in how health behaviors and subsequent outcomes were often overlooked in their developmental process and significance to psychological health. Much of her undergraduate research centered around mental and physical health outcomes, such as fitness, weight, and nutritional wellness. As a member of ECSU’s Health & Human Performance Lab, she worked closely with peers to investigate physical health and its association with wellbeing in young adults. She was also a co-author in presenting the lab’s research at the New England Psychological Association’s annual conference . Additionally, she independently developed a research project to examine the association between proper nutrition and academic motivation in university students.
At UConn, Carly is working with Dr. Marlene Schwartz, where she plans to expand her research ideas regarding the effects of poor perceptions of weight and food quality. She hopes to gain valuable experience conducting and assisting with research at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health. She looks forward to also developing new projects to better understand the developmental process of maladaptive health behaviors. Her long-term goal is to become a professor in developmental science. She aspires to create her own behavioral health lab, where students can build their niche curiosities, much like she did as an undergraduate student.
Carly is a Connecticut native and continues to appreciate the beauty and relaxing nature of the state. In her free time, she likes to go to concerts, watch true crime documentaries, and go on adventures with her friends.