Educational Background:
I hold a B.S. in psychology from Santa Clara University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from U.C.L.A. I completed my Ph.D. dissertation on the development of emotion regulation in normally-developing and at-risk mother/child dyads under the supervision of Dr. Marian Sigman, Dr. Stephen Hinshaw, Dr. Carolee Howes, and Dr. Barbara Henker. I completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Developmental Psychobiology at the University of Minnesota's Institute for Child Development with Dr. Megan Gunnar. I joined the faculty at Michigan State University in 2008.

Research
My work concerns the effects of mother-child relationships, especially mother-infant relationships, on the development of physiological and behavioral stress responses. Additionally, the development of emotion regulation, and the specific dynamics of mother-child relations in normally-developing children are areas of focus. I examine these processes from the perspective of developmental genomics, behavioral neuroscience, ethology, and attachment theory, and use many different methodologies to attempt to answer these questions.

Teaching
I have taught courses at both the undergraduate level and graduate level. I will be focusing on the undergraduate course in Parenting during 2009/2010.

Undergraduate Courses
FCE 414 - Parenting

Graduate Courses
FCE 811 - Ecological Perspectives on Child Development

Curriculum Vitae