Meet the Team

Principal Investigator:

Dr. Elizabeth Skowron is an Associate Professor and Professor-in-Charge (i.e., Training Director) of Penn State’s doctoral program in Counseling Psychology.  She received a B.A. in Psychology at The Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University at Albany, State University of New York, where she studied family systems and the process of family therapy.  After a pre-doctoral internship at the Palo Alto VA Medical Center, she completed a post-doctoral fellowship in child clinical psychology at the University of California, San Francisco, including the Irving B. Harris-funded Child Trauma Project at San Francisco General Hospital (Dr. Alicia Lieberman; Director) evaluating attachment-based child-parent psychotherapy for mothers and preschool children from violent families.  Dr. Skowron is on the editorial boards of several journals, including Psychotherapy Research, Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, & Training, and The Counseling Psychologist. She is particularly interested in family-based interventions, differentiation and self-regulation, and the ways in which family systems promote competence in low-income, at-risk children. She is currently a member of Penn State’s Children, Youth, and Families Consorium, the Human Developmental Neuroscience Initiative (Director: Rick Gilmore), and the Child Study Center’s Parenting at Risk Research Initiative (Director: Doug Teti).

Email: eas14@psu.edu

FaMILY Project Coordinator:

 

Angie Morrison is a Human Development and Family Studies graduate from Penn State University whose research interests include emotion regulation, child resiliency and the development of social competence. She spent eight years in applied field work as an adolescent counselor, behavioral specialist and certified DPW caseworker. Angie has spent four years conducting research specific to understanding the development of children and adolescents growing up in urban and rural areas characterized by high poverty. She assisted with data analysis on the Welfare, Children, and Families Three City Study and as an ethnographer for The Family Life Project. In addition to her work, Angie is a wife and mother of four year old boy/girl twins. 

 

Email: akd102@psu.edu

Graduate Research Assistants:

Elizabeth Cipriano, M.S. is a doctoral candidate in HD FS. Liz's primary research interests are in the area of emotion regulation and socio-emotional development in infancy and early childhood. Additionally, she is interested in the interaction between parenting behaviors and temperament which lead to different social and emotional outcomes in childhood. Liz received her B. A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan and her M.S. in HD FS from Penn State.

Email: eac218@psu.edu

Dan Elreda, M.A. is a doctoral student in Counseling Psychology. Dan's primary research interests center around how gene and environment interactions produce certain outcomes in preschoolers.  In particular, he is interested in how a child’s genetic makeup interacts with maternal behavior. Dan received his B.A and M.A. in Psychology from New York University.

Email: DanElreda@psu.edu

Beatriz Isabel Palma Orellana is a second year student in the Counselor Educator Master’s program at Penn State. Her primary research interests are in the area of socio-emotional development in children and adolescents, family systems theory, and preventive interventions. She received her B.A. in Psychology and her Psychologist Professional Degree from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Her future plans include pursuing a doctoral degree, which will be the first step toward her goal of working in academia and clinical practice.

Email: bip103@psu.edu

Jake Van Epps, M.Ed. is a Counseling Psychology doctoral student in the Department of Counselor Education, Counseling Psychology, and Rehabilitation Services at Penn State. Jake’s primary research interests include general systems theory, family systems, and child and adolescent development. Jake received his B.A. in Psychology from Castleton State College, VT in 2000 and he received his M.Ed. in Guidance and Counseling from The University of Georgia in 2007.

Email: jjv165@psu.edu

Natalie DePalma is from Upper St. Clair, PA and went to Tufts University for her B.A. and Boston College for her Masters in Counseling Psychology.  Natalie worked as a family therapist, mental health counselor in an alternative school and adjunct faculty at Robert Morris University before coming to Penn State.  She currently lives in State College, PA with her husband, Gary and son, Santino.  Natalie is interested in family systems, emotion regulation and what factors contribute to and prevent the development of childhood obesity.  She is a third year Ph.D. student in the Counseling Psychology program at PSU and loves living in Happy Valley.  

 

Michael Shapiro, M.A., received his masters degree in clinical psychology from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology in 2004. His research interests include the study of Bowen Family Systems Theory.  Specifically Michael is interested in examining the relationship between differentiation of self and the neurophysiological processes associated with emotion regulation and cognitive (executive) functioning.  Professionally he is interested pursuing a career that will afford the opportunity to integrate skills gained through the study and practice of family systems theory in various corporate environments.

Email: mds404@psu.edu

 

Krystal Stanley, M.Ed. is a fourth year doctoral candidate in Counseling Psychology.  She received her undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Spanish from The University of Iowa and has a master’s degree in Community Counseling from Winthrop University.  Krystal’s research interests include pre-marital and marital relationships, birth order, family-of- origin influences on relationship satisfaction.  Krystal is currently completing her pre-doctoral psychology internship at the Counseling and Human Development Center at the University of South Carolina.

Email: kls481@psu.edu

Undergraduate Research Assistants

Sari Fleischman is a senior undergraduate student at Pennsylvania State University majoring in psychology.  Sari is planning to pursue a doctoral degree in clinical psychology and hopes to specialize in children and adolescents.  Specifically, Sari is interested in the impact of family on child development.  To enrich her studies, Sari has interned at the Atlantic County Youth Shelter in New Jersey, and has volunteered for Lion Support, the student crisis hot line at Penn State.

Email: szf105@psu.edu

Kaitlyn Marie Kitzinger, is a second year undergraduate student at the Pennsylvania State University. Kaitlyn is majoring in Pre-Med and hopes to become a Pediatric Neurosurgeon. Her primary research interests are the emotional and neurological development of children. Kaitlyn has pursued her interests in volunteering in hospitals throughout Philadelphia.

Email: kmk5119@psu.edu

Marquita Stokes is junior undergraduate student at Pennsylvania State University. Marquita is majoring in Psychology (BA) with a minor in Spanish. Her future goals include a doctoral degree in clinical/school pschology. Primarily, Marquita is interested in infant and adolescent attachment as well as the emotional development of children within different family structures. Marquita has worked with children as a camp counselor and in a Social Psychology Lab prior to her involvement in the Family Systems Lab.

 

Email: mls512@psu.edu

   
 
   

Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Skowron, PhD
Dept. of Counselor Education, Counseling Psychology, & Rehabilitation Services
The Pennsylvania State University