Bio

Miglena Ivanova is a third-year doctoral student in developmental psychology and a Prevention and Methodology Training (PAMT) pre-doctoral fellow, working alongside her primary mentors Dr. Rina Elden and Dr. Ashley Linden Carmichael, and with her secondary advisors Dr. Jenae Neiderhiser and Dr. Qiushi Chen. Her research interests center on understanding of differential pathways via which early and protective factors predict childhood codeveloping internalizing and externalizing behavior problem trajectories and subsequent unique patterns of adolescent substance use and psychological disorders. Miglena is interested in integrating advanced quantitative methodologies, namely latent class growth modeling and machine learning, to explore her research interests. Her long-term goal is to translate her research into developing individualized evidence-based prevention techniques and early interventions.

Originally from Bulgaria, she received her B.S. degrees in Psychology and in Psychiatric Rehabilitation from Montana State University Billings in 2019, graduating as an Honors Scholar and the 2019 University Golden Merit Award Recipient.

Bio

Shou-Chun (Nathan) Chiang is a doctoral student in Human Development and Family Studies and a Prevention and Methodology Training (PAMT) pre-doctoral fellow working with Dr. Sunhye Bai and Dr. Ashley Linden-Carmichael. His research focuses on family relationships and adolescent emotional development, and how emotions are related to psychopathology and substance use. Specifically, he is interested in understanding how day-to-day parent-youth interactions impact adolescent emotions and alcohol use, and how these short-term processes are related to developmental outcomes, such as substance use disorder and internalizing symptoms.

Bio

Holly Pham is a doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program and a Prevention and Methodology Training (PAMT) pre-doctoral fellow working with Dr. Stephanie Lanza and Dr. Hannah Schreier. Holly’s research is focused on uncovering the psychosocial and biological mechanisms through which adolescence can be a sensitive period for risk and resilience. She is interested in how adversity gets under the skin, individual differences in the development of adolescent-emergent health problems such as depression and substance use, and puberty’s role in increased plasticity during adolescence. Holly received a M.S. in Psychology from The Pennsylvania State University and a B.S. in Psychobiology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her academic advisor is Martha Wadsworth.

Bio

Carlie is a fifth-year doctoral candidate in Human Development and Family Studies. She works with mentors Greg Fosco and Stephanie Lanza as a fellow in the Prevention and Methodology Training (PAMT). Her research focuses on adolescent perceptions of the family environment, and how these influence adolescents’ well-being and behavior. In particular, she is interested in understanding what leads parents and their children to have different perceptions of family functioning and how such patterns of divergence and agreement about the family relate to adolescent behaviors like substance use initiation. She also hopes to develop brief family-strengthening interventions to be delivered via mobile apps.

Carlie earned a BA in Psychology from the University of Notre Dame, and an MS in Human Development and Family Studies from Penn State, She has also earned a graduate certificate in Translational Sciences from Penn State.