Kirsten is a MA/PhD student in the Eliot Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development. She received her BA in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2017. While in school, Kirsten worked at the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress studying mass violence events through a qualitative lens; the Families Over Coming Under Stress-Early Childhood Lab focused on the impact of strength-based prevention strategies to effectively mitigate the impact of stress and promote resilience; led the evaluation of a mental health education intervention as a research fellow for the RAND Corporation. Further, Kirsten spent the summer before her senior year working in psychiatric hospitals and children’s centers in Sri Lanka for SLV.Global (a global mental health nonprofit organization). Upon graduation, Kirsten volunteered in children’s hospitals and youth education centers in Bolivia through Fundacion Bolivia Digna (a grass-roots non-profit organization). After returning to the United States, Kirsten worked at Age of Learning, Inc (a global education technology company) for almost four years conducting domestic and international (e.g., China, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Costa Rica) program evaluation research focusing on effective educational technology use within children, parents, and educators. As a doctoral research assistant at the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, she will work on The Thanda Study of Character and Health & The Compassion International Study of Positive Youth Development. Kirsten is interested in conducting research that can be translated into effective programs which will foster positive youth development and resilience in diverse children, families, and communities within low- and middle-income countries.

Margy is a Ph.D. student in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development. She received her BA in Psychology from Wheaton College (MA) in 2019. While in undergrad, she worked in the Laboratory for Research and Prevention of Interpersonal Violence at Rhode Island Hospital to evaluate a social norms-based curricula aimed at reducing student problem behaviors. Upon graduating, she worked as a research assistant and project coordinator at the Center for Social Development and Education at UMass Boston, exploring avenues for social and emotional development in inclusive extracurricular programming. As a doctoral research assistant at IARYD, Margy is interested in researching the impact of out-of-school time settings on youth social and emotional development.