OUR STAFF-
Dr. Daniel Shaw Dr. Daniel Shaw is the Director of the Pitt Parents and Children Laboratory. He also serves as Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, with joint appointments in the School of Medicine and Center for Social and Urban Research. Since receiving his Ph.D. in child clinical and developmental psychology from the University of Virginia in 1988, his primary interest has involved tracing the early developmental precursors of early problem behavior among at-risk children. He currently leads or co-directs five NIH-funded, longitudinal studies investigating the early antecedents and prevention of childhood conduct problems and substance use, which form the core of the PPCL. His most recent work applies an ecologically- and developmentally-informed intervention for low-income toddlers at risk for early conduct problems. For his conceptual and empirical work on the development of young children’s conduct problems, he was awarded the Boyd McCandless Young Scientist Award by APA’s Division of Developmental Psychology in 1995. Dr. Shaw also is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (APS) and APA’s Division 53 on Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology (2005). He has held a Research Scientist Award from the National Institute of Mental Health or National Institute on Drug Abuse since 1999, is Associate Editor of the journal, Development and Psychopathology, has served on several editorial review boards of journals (e.g., Child Development, Developmental Psychology, Development and Psychopathology, Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology), and has been a member of several expert panels convened by NIH and HHS. Dr. Shaw has published extensively on risk factors associated with the development and prevention of conduct problems in from early childhood through adolescence. Pitt Mother and Child Project Emily Russell has worked in the PPCL since 2008 as a Research Assistant. Emily has worked on several studies since she began working in the lab, including the Early Steps and Early Steps Monitoring projects, and the Health Promotion project. In addition, she has recently become more involved in coordinating aspects of the age 20-24 follow-up of the Pitt Mother & Child project. Emily graduated from the University of Pittsburgh 2007 with a B.S. in Psychology. Pitt Mother and Child Project Nancy Hood’s primary responsibility is to schedule subjects for the Pitt Mother and Child Project, Early Steps Project, and Health Promotion Project. She concentrated on religious studies at Washington University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology and physiology with highest honors and a master's degree in exercise physiology from the University of Pittsburgh. Early Steps Project Chelsea M. Weaver is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the PPCL where she also serves as the Multisite Assessment Coordinator and Project Director of the Pittsburgh site of the Early Steps Project. Dr. Weaver received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Notre Dame in 2008. Her research focuses on the effects of early parenting and violence exposure on the development of conduct problems among children and adolescents, as well as on the risk and protective factors that serve to mitigate or exacerbate these relationships. She is also interested in the development and implementation of intervention programs designed to prevent the manifestation of children’s antisocial behaviors. Early Steps Monitoring Project Tonya Lane has worked in the PPCL since 2002, starting as the Project Coordinator for the Childhood-Onset Depression project. In 2007 she became the Multi-site Coordinator for the Early Steps Monitoring project. She graduated from Carlow University with a B.A. in Biology and returned to Carlow to complete her Secondary Teaching Certificate in General Science. While working as a coordinator at UPMC, she completed her M.Ed. and K-12 Counseling Certifications at the University of Pittsburgh. Health Promotion Project Flannery O’Rourke first worked for the PPCL in 2000 as a camp counselor for the Pitt Mother and Child Project. In 2004, she became a Research Assistant before taking on her current role as the coordinator for the Health Promotion Project. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a B.S. in Psychology. Research Administrator Jennifer Crossan Jennifer Crossan has worked in the PPCL since 2004, starting as a Research Assistant before becoming the Data Manager for the Early Steps Project. Currently she serves as the lab’s Research Administrator, handling the day-to-day operations of the lab. She graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a B.S. in Psychology. Hyein Chang Hyein Chang is a postdoctoral fellow in the PPCL, joining the lab in 2009. She also serves as the data manager for the Pitt Mother and Child Project in addition to pursuing research projects connected with the Early Steps Project. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from University of Michigan in 2009. Her research focuses on child self-regulation from a developmental psychopathology framework and its implications for behavioral and social outcomes in childhood and adolescence. Elizabeth Reitz Schwall is a post-doctoral research fellow who recently completed her graduate training in clinical psychology at Penn State. Her interests involve understanding the development and maintenance of competent parenting within at-risk contexts. This includes identifying aspects of parental cognition that may support such high quality parenting and predict which parents respond favorably to clinical intervention designed to increase competent parenting behaviors. She seeks to link the trajectory of parenting quality over time with the development of child conduct and emotional problems, particularly in early childhood. Lauretta Brennan Barbara Adelman, M.A.
Tracie Stufft came to the PPCL in September, 2004. She is a parent consultant/coach for both the Early Steps and Health Promotion projects. Tracie has a Master of Science degree in Child Development (Applied Developmental Psychology) and a BA degree in English/Communications from the University of Pittsburgh. She is also certified as a Gestalt therapist from the Gestalt Institute of New England. Joe Alarcon Joseph Alarcon is the Fiscal Administrator for the PPCL, where he manages the financial and accounting aspects of the lab. He graduated from Katz Graduate School of Business with an MBA in Finance and Accounting.
Amanda Cheung started working as a Research Project Assistant at the PPCL fall of 2009. In addition to taking on the role of lead examiner for multiple projects in the lab (Pitt Early Steps and Early Steps Monitoring projects, Pitt Mother & Child Project, Health Promotion project), she works on various data management projects for the Pitt Mother & Child Project. She is also a member of the Inhibition coding, Complexity coding, Neighborhood Observations, and Extra-familial Survey teams. She graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.S. in Psychology in 2009.
Jessica Greenberg graduated from Oberlin College with Honors and a B.A. in Psychology in May 2008. She has worked in the PPCL as a Research Assistant since July of 2008, working on several projects including the Early Steps Project, Early Steps Monitoring Project, and the Health Promotion Project.
Chad Henry has worked in the PPCL since 2005, beginning as an undergraduate in Directed Research before becoming a full-time Research Assistant in 2006. He currently serves as the site data manager for the Early Steps Project while also pursuing graduate coursework in Epidemiology.
Katelyn Lammie graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a B.S. in Psychology and a B.A. in Anthropology in April, 2008. She has worked in the PPCL as a Research Assistant since May of 2008 on several projects, including: the Early Steps project, the Early Steps Monitoring project, and the Health Promotion Project
Kelly Martin first joined the PPCL as an undergraduate directed research student in 2007, assisting on home visits and working in the office. She became a Research Assistant in 2009 and currently is an examiner for the Health Promotion, Early Steps, and Pitt Mother and Child Projects. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2009 with a B.S. in Psychology.
Tara Pavlocak joined the lab in 2010 as Scheduling Coordinator for the Early Steps Monitoring Project. In addition to being a former PPCL Research Assistant, Tara has an MSW from the University of Pittsburgh, and a BS degree in Psychology from Penn State University.
Katie Rife has worked in the PPCL since 2004, starting as an Undergraduate in Directed Research before becoming a Research Assistant for the Early Steps Project, Pitt Mother and Child Project, and the Health Promotion Project. Currently, she is working mainly on completing assessments for the Monitoring Project, as well as being the Scheduler for Aftercare Assessments and the School Liaison for School Assessments. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a B.S. in Psychology and minors in Neuroscience and Italian.
Loren Schleiden started in the PPCL in 2006 working as a directed research student. He has been a Research Assistant with the lab since 2008 upon graduating from the University of Pittsburgh with a B.S. in Psychology. He is working as an examiner on the Pitt Mother and Child Project, the Health Promotion Project, and the Early Steps Project.
Brittany Welsh began working in the PPCL as a Directed Research student in July 2007 and currently serves as one of the lab's Research Assistants, working primarily on the Health Promotion and Early Steps projects. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a dual B.S. in Psychology and Business.
Rand Conger, University of California at Davis |