Yuan Lin
Yuan Lin is a first-year HDFS PhD student in the Couples, Parents, and Families and Health, Wellbeing, and Prevention specializations. He earned a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from the University of California, San Diego, and an M.S. in Business Analytics and Project Management at UConn. Prior to beginning his doctoral studies, Yuan spent one and a half years as a research coordinator in Dr. Na Zhang’s FRAME Lab, where he contributed to the design and development of a mindfulness-based digital intervention to support divorced and at-risk parenting families.
At UConn, Yuan works under the mentorship of Dr. Na Zhang and continues his research in the FRAME Lab. His research focuses on digital parenting interventions and family-based prevention programs for at-risk families, with particular attention to parental stress, parenting practices, and family adjustment during periods of stress and transition. Grounded in developmental and family systems theory, he is interested in exploring technologies such as web-based platforms and artificial intelligence to enhance the reach and effectiveness of theory-driven interventions. In Fall 2025, Yuan also served as a research assistant on an interdisciplinary project led by Dr. Molly Waring in Allied Health Sciences that used personalized podcast recommendations to promote maternal mental and physical health. His long-term goal is to pursue an academic research career, bridging technological innovation with family science and prevention research.
Yuan was born and raised in Quanzhou, Fujian, China and spent his last 10 years in the United States. Outside of academia, he enjoys cooking, reading, hiking, singing, and playing the guitar, as well as spending time with his two cats, Kiwi and Mocha.
Linda Trevino
Linda Maria Trevino is a first-year HDFS PhD student specializing in Child and Adolescent Development. Before she joined the UConn Applied Research on Children (ARC) Lab, she earned her bachelor's in Psychology with Special Honors from the University of Texas at Austin. There, she conducted her honors thesis, an evaluation of bilingualism, children’s executive functions, and their mathematical capabilities, through Dr. Catharine Echols’ Language Development Lab. Linda designed the research question, methods, and execution, including the development of her own data-collecting platform that met her specific needs. At the University of Texas, she completed the Children and Society: Education, Language and Literacy Bridging Disciplines Program, which required participation in multidisciplinary work and perspectives. During college, Linda worked with children as a camp counselor, preschool teacher, and teacher nanny for a private family. She credits these personal experiences that allowed her to build relationships with children and families for her passion in child development and parenting.
At UConn, Linda hopes to explore programs and interventions that enhance familial relationships, parenting confidence, and parents’ understanding of basic child development with the ultimate goal of creating happy and flourishing families and children. She is guided by her advisor, Dr. Rachel Chazan Cohen, and is currently working on the Connecticut Early Years project, an intervention developed to support healthy family and child development through early childhood programs. Linda aims to use her academic and professional experiences to inform the improvement of existing programs and creation of new ones. She hopes to implement her knowledge of technology, programming, and design throughout her work. Linda’s long-term goal is to close the gap between researchers and parents by making research easy to access, understand, and implement in a variety of limiting situations.
Linda was born in Mexico and raised on the Texas-Mexico border, full of rich history, culture, and delicious food. Outside of academia, she enjoys designing developmentally enriching children’s toys, creating educational activity kits for families to encourage parent-child engagement, knitting, crocheting, sewing, and painting. She also loves to thrift and read old arts and crafts magazines.