Dr. Brianne Kothari is an Assistant Professor in the Human Development and Family Sciences (HDFS) program at Oregon State University-Cascades, and leads the 2CW lab. She conducts research to understand the multifaceted concept of well-being among children, youth and families. She also examines factors that promote well-being and resilience, particularly among at-risk populations such as children and youth in foster care. She utilizes her background in human development and social work and social research to explore the experiences, relationships, and contexts that lead to improved well-being. Dr. Kothari is passionate about utilizing evidence to more effectively serve children and families, and developing and evaluating preventive intervention programs designed to best meet their diverse needs. She thoroughly enjoys working with undergraduate and graduate students and regularly collaborates with community partner organizations with similar goals. | |
Bethany Godlewski completed her PhD in the Human Development and Family Studies program at Oregon State University and is now a Research Associate at the Center for Evidence-based Policy. She is interested in how children influence the development of their parents and siblings, and culturally responsive approaches to interventions. For example, children indirectly influence development by tying parents to specific institutions such as schools, or directly influence through agentic actions inside of parent-child or sibling-sibling relationships. Her dissertation explored whether students in elementary schools serving high risk neighborhoods are carriers of program effects from a social and emotional learning school intervention to their home environments. For 2CW, Bethany’s interests are focused on identifying and understanding the factors that make youth academically and behaviorally resilient, and the ways interventions can fortify positive relationships through social and emotional skill building. | |
Jamie Jaramillo completed her PhD in Human Development and Family Studies at Oregon State University and is now a postdoc at Oregon Social Learning Center. She researches children and youth growing up in adversity that is created by social inequalities. This may take the form of poverty, racial and ethnic minority status, or foster care involvement. For 2CW, Jamie continues to explore the factors and relationships that nurture academic resilience as well as understand barriers and facilitators of interagency collaboration. Her goal is to promote the resilience and positive development of disadvantaged youth by focusing on their relationships and mental health. | |
Jessica Dahlgren completed her PhD in Human Development and Family Studies at Oregon State University and is now a researcher at NPC Research. Jessica’s research focuses on children that have an incarcerated parent and these children’s potential barriers to academic achievement in the formal school setting. Beyond her academic work, Jessica serves on various committees that work in the community, specifically Clackamas County, to bring awareness to the heterogeneity of the population of children with incarcerated parents and the special needs they may have. Jessica’s passion for the well-being of at-risk children motivates her to continue researching and engaging with such a unique community. For 2CW, she continues to examine intervention fidelity, behavioral engagement, and the experiences of children whose parents have been arrested or incarcerated. | |
Kylee Probert is a PhD candidate in the Human Development and Family Studies Program at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. Broadly, her research interests aim to explore relationships between foster parents and their foster children, particularly for at-risk or vulnerable youth groups. This research will aim to promote quality relationships, parenting efficacy, and placement stability for foster populations. Kylee’s interest in this work stems from personal experience with foster families including her own. With 2CW, Kylee hopes to probe further these relationships, by examining how experience, training, and communication with caseworkers can help promote well-being and positive relationships for parent and child alike. | |
Nicole Mullican is a PhD candidate in Human Development and Family Studies at Oregon State University. Nicole has a strong background in applied research with a particular interest in child welfare. Her current research is in collaboration with the Oregon Department of Human Services and will inform their efforts to improve foster parent support and retention. With 2CW, Nicole hopes to continue with her interest in applied research in order to provide direction as agencies work to improve services for foster families. | |
Danielle Zandbergen is a PhD student in the Human Development and Family Studies program at Oregon State University whose research broadly explores attachment across the lifespan. Danielle obtained her BA in Psychology and her MA in Mental Health Counseling at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. She has experience working as an adolescent therapist in an outdoor residential treatment center, as well as a counselor for transitional family homes at Catholic Charities and a school-based behavioral specialist at an Elementary School prior to beginning her PhD. Her current research topics include exploring the impact institutionalization and number of placements have on attachment style and relationship satisfaction among transition-age foster youth, and potential protective factors such as relational permanency. She is also interested in exploring the relationship between connections to an adult (teacher, caseworker, foster parents, etc.) and how this may impact instances of homelessness, incarceration, and substance use among transition-age foster youth. She is currently working toward a Graduate Certificate in College and University Teaching and is the instructor of record for the Infant and Child Development (HDFS311) Ecampus course at Oregon State University. | |
Beth Phelps is a PHD student in the Human Development and Family Studies program at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. Beth obtained her BA in Child Development from Humboldt State University and her MS in Human Development and Family Sciences from Texas Tech University. Her current research interests include young children’s socioemotional development and the sibling relationship quality, specifically for children who experienced early childhood adversity. With 2CW, Beth hopes to expand on her previous research which examined the association between preschooler’s emotion regulation strategies and the quality of sibling relationships by exploring these dynamics in foster children. | |
Joel Ryder | |
Aubrey Sills | |
David Ngo is currently a student in the Psychology program at Oregon State University. He currently works as a member of 2CW’s Belonging project which investigates the concept of belonging and how it is measured among school aged youth. David is also interested in exploring topics like intra-family conflicts, crime, substance abuse and mental illness among at-risk youth. He is also an officer for the Psyched Out Club and reporter for the Beaver’s Digest at OSU | |
Hannah Corpe is an undergraduate honors student majoring in liberal studies including psychology and sociology classes and she is minoring in human development and family studies. For her honors thesis, she is analyzing literature on child maltreatment and how universities can get involved in its prevention, specifically through the public health approach. She joined the child maltreatment prevention lab led by Dr. Brianne Kothari to assist in the development of her thesis. In the future, Hannah wishes to be an advocate and resource for children and families possibly through social work, law, or psychology. |