Dr.
Elizabeth Skowron is an Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology and Lead Investigator on an NIMH-funded study of parenting processes and children's regulatory and behavioral outcomes in at-risk families (5R01 MH079328). She received her
B.A. in Psychology at The Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. in
Counseling Psychology from the SUNY Albany, 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's Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, 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: Theory, Research, Practice, & Training, and
The Counseling Psychologist. Dr. Skowron's expertise is in family systems, interpersonal, and dynamic approaches to intervention. She is particularly
interested in the neurobiology of at-risk parenting, differentiation of self (i.e., autonomy & attachment),
self-regulation, and the ways in which family systems promote
children's competence. She is currently a
member of Penn State’s Children, Youth, and Families
Consorium, the
Child Study Center, including the Parenting at Risk Research Initiative, and the
Human Developmental Neuroscience Initiative.
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
wifeand mother of four year old boy/girl twins.
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.
Dan Elreda,
M.A.
is a doctoral candidate 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.
Jake Van Epps,
M.Ed. is a doctoral candidate in Counseling Psychology
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.
Petra Rovers, M. Ed. is a second year
Counseling Psychology doctoral student in the Department of
Counselor Education, Counseling Psychology, and Rehabilitation
Services at
PennState.
Petra's current
research focus is the influence of self-regulation capacity on
the link between maternal mental health and maternal parenting
behavior. Petra
received her B.S. in Psychology from the
University
of Guelph in
OntarioCanada in 2001, and she
received her M.Ed. in Counseling from
AcadiaUniversity in Nova
Scotia,
Canada
in 2008.
Esra Bir Akturk, M.S. is a graduate student in the Department of
Counselor Education, Counseling Psychology, and Rehabilitation
Services at
PennState. Esra's current work on the Family Study focuses on ECG data acquisition and analysis, and data management. Esra's research interests focus on understanding at-risk parenting processes and biomarkers of regulation. Esra
received her B.S. in Psychology in 2003, and her M.S. in Clinical Psychology from Middle East Technical University in 2006. Her masters thesis entitled, :Marital satisfaction in Turkish remarried families: Comparison among marital status, effect of stepchildren, and contributing factors."
Natalie
DePalmais 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, son, Santino, and daughter, Talia. Natalie is interested in family
systems, emotion regulation and what factors contribute to and
prevent the development of childhood obesity. She has defended her dissertation and is currently a Psychology Intern in Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at Penn State. Natalie will graduate in 2010 with a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology
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. Mike is currently a Psychology Intern at the University of Illinois, Chicago's Counseling Center
Celina M. Babrowski is a
junior at the Pennsylvania State University. I am majoring in
psychology and minoring in Spanish. I became bilingual by the
age of ten after being enrolled in a Spanish immersion program
for five years. I am planning on attending graduate school for
school counseling . In the
future, I am specifically interested in working with students of
all levels and ages to help them achieve academic success.
Sarah Gold is a senior undergraduate student at Penn
State University. She is majoring in Communications Sciences and
Disorders as her first step to becoming a Speech-Language
Pathologist. She hopes to attend Gallaudet University in
Washington, D.C. to do her graduate work. She has a passion for
working with children with special needs and learning about Deaf
culture. At some point in the future she hopes to return to
school to become an interpreter for the deaf. Next year she will
be interning at Kendall Elementary School, a school for deaf
children on Gallaudet University's campus.
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.
