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).
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 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Beatriz Isabel Palma Orellana
