Current School Psychology Students
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Christieanna Tawiah is a second-year graduate student in Penn State's School Psychology program. She holds a B.A. in Psychology and minor in Biology from St. Mary's College of Maryland. Prior to starting her doctoral studies, she worked as a child protection case manager and school based treatment counselor. Her advisor is Dr. Cristin Hall. Her current research interests involve military families, school violence, and studying mental health in diverse populations. She currently works on the SEAS program at the Penn State Military Family Readiness Center. |
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Amanda Zanko is a second-year graduate student in Penn State’s School Psychology program. She earned her B.S. in Neuroscience from the Ohio State University and holds an M.Ed./Ed.S. in School Psychology from Edinboro University. Her advisor at Penn State is Dr. Barbara Schaefer. Amanda currently works as a Mobile Clinician under the supervision of Dr. Shirley Woika within the School Psychology program. Amanda is interested in researching school assessment and intervention practices for students with neuropsychological disorders. |
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Shefali Thaman is a second-year graduate student in Penn State’s School Psychology program. She holds a Masters degree in Applied Psychology from University of Delhi, India. She is also a licensed rehabilitation counsellor in India. Prior to starting her Doctoral studies she worked as a school counsellor in a private inclusive school in India. Her advisor is Dr. Jennifer Frank. She is interested in researching on pre-service /in-service training to develop social emotional competencies of educators. |
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Mariah Longmore is a second-year graduate student in Penn State’s School Psychology program. She earned her B.A. in Psychology and Justice Studies from James Madison University. Prior to starting her doctoral studies, she worked at a neuropsychiatric clinic in Northern Virginia. Mariah currently works with her advisor, Dr. Jennifer Frank, on Project RESPECT. She is interested mindfulness and intervention techniques to prevent violence in schools. |
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Avery Driscoll is a second-year graduate student in Penn State's School Psychology program. He earned his B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Education from the University of Nebraska. His advisor is Dr. Jim DiPerna. Avery is currently working on Project RESPECT with Dr. Jennifer Frank. He hopes to pursue a career in academia in the future. |
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Laura Stover is a second-year graduate student in Penn State’s School Psychology Program. She earned a B.A in Psychology and a M.A in Applied Behavior Analysis from Michigan State University. Prior to starting her doctoral studies, she worked as a behavior technician at Michigan State University’s The Early Learning Institute. Her advisor is Dr. Barbara Schaefer. Laura’s current research focuses on educational and behavioral assessments. |
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Shannon Walsh is a third-year graduate student in Penn State’s School Psychology Program. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Policy Studies from Syracuse University. Prior to starting her doctoral studies, she worked as a Campus Minister. Her advisor is Dr. James C. DiPerna. Shannon's current research focuses on health conditions and peer victimization. She hopes to pursue a career in hospital practice in the future. |
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Lauren Shields is a third-year graduate student in Penn State's School Psychology program. She earned her B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Biology from Stevenson University. Her advisor at Penn State is Dr. Jennifer Frank. Lauren's research is currently focused on mindfulness training for students at risk for substance use. She hopes to pursue a career in practice in the future. |
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Corynne Ross is a third-year graduate student in Penn State’s School Psychology program. Prior to starting her doctoral studies, she worked as a lab manager at George Mason University. Her advisor is Dr. Jim DiPerna. She currently works on the PEAK project with Dr. DiPerna and the Friendship Connections project with Dr. Bierman. Her current work focuses on SEL and social skill intervention, as well as teacher-student interactions. |
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Samantha Jones is a third-year graduate student in Penn State's School Psychology program. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Minnesota. Prior to starting her doctoral studies, she worked as a paraprofessional at a middle school in Minnesota. Sam's advisor is Dr. Cristin Hall and they are working on a project focused on using technology to improve early literacy skills. Sam is interested in researching and working with literacy skills in students who are Deaf. |
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Victoria Petit is a third-year graduate student in Penn State's School Psychology program. She earned a B.A. in psychology and a B.S. in human development and family studies from the University of Rhode Island. Her advisor at Penn State is Dr. Jennifer Frank. Victoria currently works on Project RESPECT as part of the Lab for School-Based Prevention. Her current research focuses on mindfulness and preschoolers with challenging behaviors. |
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Alyssa San Jose is a fourth-year graduate student in Penn State’s School Psychology program. She earned her B.S. in Psychology from the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State and currently holds a M.Ed in School Psychology from Penn State. Alyssa is currently a T32 predoctoral fellow in the Prevention and Methodology Training program under her advisor, Dr. Jenny Frank. Her current research interests include substance abuse in adolescents. |
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Carly Doucette is a fourth-year graduate student in the Penn State’s school Psychology program. She holds a B.S. in Psychology from Penn State University. Prior to starting her doctoral studies, she worked as a research assistant conducting home visits for the Head Start REDI program, and currently works on projects focusing on child maltreatment prevention, parent training, program evaluation, and measure validation. Carly’s current work focuses on socio-emotional learning, classroom quality, and child maltreatment. |
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Emily Sturtz is a fourth-year graduate student in Penn State’s School Psychology program. She holds a B.S. in Psychology and English from Tulane University. Currently, Emily works on Project RESPECT with her advisor, Dr. Jenny Frank, which is a federally-funded research project designing an emotional skills curriculum for teachers. Emily also works as a CEDAR Clinic Librarian and Teaching Assistant within the School Psychology program. Her current research interests involve student engagement, classroom management, discipline, and social-emotional learning. |
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Gretchen Schwarz is a fourth-year graduate student in Penn State’s School Psychology program. She earned her B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Criminal Justice Studies from Westminster College (PA). Her advisor is Dr. Jennifer Frank. Gretchen currently works on Project RESPECT with Dr. Frank, as well as completes psychoeducational assessments with Dr. Shirley Woika and Dr. Jessica Dirsmith. Her current research interests include factors influencing parental involvement, and the effect of yoga interventions in the schools. |
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Lamiya Khan is a fourth-year graduate student in Penn State’s School Psychology program. She earned her M.A. in Experimental Psychology from Florida Atlantic University. Her current advisor at Pen State is Dr. Jennifer Frank. Lamiya works on Project RESPECT, a three-year IES funded project that focuses on the formation of a professional development program that targets teachers’ interpersonal and communication skills, leading to more positive teacher-student relationships and classroom environments. Her own current research examines the relationship between mindfulness, cognition, and wellness. |
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Kayla Bell is a fifth-year graduate student in Penn State’s School Psychology program. She earned her B.A. in Psychology from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania and she also holds an M.Ed. in School Psychology from Penn State. Her advisor at Penn State is Dr. Barbara Schaefer. Kayla currently works on projects focused on positive parenting practices and parenting program implementation. She is interested in researching the long-term effects of adverse childhood experiences. |
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Rebecca Bertuccio is a fifth-year graduate student in Penn State’s School Psychology program. She earned her B.A. in Psychology, Spanish, and English from Manhattan College and she also holds an M.Ed. in School Psychology from Penn State. Her advisor at Penn State is Dr. Cristin Hall. Rebecca currently works on projects related to on autism-focused consultation, training, and professional development. She is interested in researching suicidality amongst adolescent populations. |
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Victoria 'Tori' Buser is a fifth-year graduate student in Penn State's School Psychology program. She earned her B.S. in Psychology from Juniata College and she also holds an M.Ed. in School Psychology from Penn State. Her advisor at Penn State is Dr. Cristin Hall. Tori's current work focuses on developing Curriculum Based Measurement - Written Expression (CBM-WE) norms for college freshman. She hopes to pursue a career as a practicing school psychologist in the future. |
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Ashley Marinez is a fifth-year graduate student in Penn State’s School Psychology program. Ashley holds a B.A. in Psychology from CUNY Queens College and holds an M.Ed. in School Psychology from Penn State. Her advisor is Dr. Barbara Schaefer. She currently works at The Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness as a Graduate Assistant and focuses on suicide prevention programs within the Air Force. Ashley is interested in working on establishing some "gold standards" for clinicians using Curriculum-Based Assessments (CBA) on Spanish-speaking students. |
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Jenna Marzin is a fifth-year graduate student in Penn State’s School Psychology program. She holds a B.S. in Psychology from Clemson University. Her advisor is Dr. Cristin Hall. Jenna's current work focuses on school-readiness, social-emotional development, and parental stress. She hopes to pursue a career in the public school system in the future. |
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Alicia Fischer is a sixth-year student in Penn State’s School Psychology doctoral program. She holds a BA from the University of Connecticut in Psychology, and also received her M.Ed in School Psychology from Penn State. Prior to coming to Penn State, Alicia worked in a neuroscience research lab, focusing on dopamine-related disorders in rats. Her current advisor is Dr. Cristin Hall. She currently works on the THRIVE team at the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State, and assists with assessing evaluation and implementation of developed parenting programs. Her research interests include strengthening home-school connections, transient populations, and perceptions of parent involvement. Alicia’s career goals include continuing in applied research as well as eventually holding a faculty position at a university. |
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Lilia McGraw is a sixth-year graduate student in Penn State’s School Psychology program. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Delaware and an M.Ed. in School Psychology from Penn State. Prior to beginning her doctoral studies, she worked as a Child Psychiatric Rehabilitation Counselor. Lilia's current work focuses on understanding cross-cultural perspectives on social-emotional development. Her advisor is Dr. James DiPerna. |
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Leah Hunter is a sixth-year graduate student in Penn State’s School Psychology program. Prior to starting her doctoral studies, she worked as a research associate on a randomized controlled trial at the University of Pittsburgh. She currently works on research related to the evaluation of school readiness interventions for preschoolers in low-income environments under the direction of her mentors, Dr. Cristin Hall and Dr. Karen Bierman (see professional website: http://sites.psu.edu/leahhunter/). She hopes to pursue a career in academia in the future. |
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Megan Runion is a sixth-year graduate student in Penn State’s School Psychology program. Prior to starting his/her doctoral studies, she worked as an Implementation Specialist for the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State. Her advisor is Dr. Cristin Hall. Her dissertation research focuses on trauma-informed training on regulation skills for current and future teachers. |
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Charishma Soni is a sixth-year graduate student in Penn State's School Psychology program. She holds a M.Ed. in School Psychology from Penn State and a B.S. in Psychology from University of Pittsburgh. Prior to starting her doctoral studies, she worked as a second grade teacher as a Teach for America corps member. Her advisor is Dr. Barbara Schaefer and her dissertation advisor is Dr. Jennifer Frank, and she is currently working on an effectiveness study of a drug/alcohol use prevention program. She also works as a mobile clinician in Sugar Valley Rural Charter School and hopes to pursue a career in practice in the future. |
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Susan Crandall Hart is a seventh-year graduate student in Penn State’s School Psychology program. She holds a B.A. in policy studies from Syracuse University, an M.S. in teaching from Pace University, and a M.Ed. in school psychology from Penn State. Prior to starting her doctoral studies, she worked as a special education teacher and administrator. She currently works on Positive, Engaged, Achieving Kids (PEAK), a federally-funded trial of a universal social skills program, with Jim DiPerna. Her current work focuses on teacher beliefs and cultural considerations related to social-emotional learning. |