Current
Ana Patricia Esqueda
Graduate Student
esqueda@umich.edu Ana Patricia received her B.A in Psychology with Honors from Princeton University. She is currently a PhD student in Developmental Psychology at the University of Michigan. Ana Patricia is broadly interested in how systems of oppression—namely those that devalue members of low socioeconomic status, racial minorities, or foreign language speakers—affect the development of children and teenagers who may be bilingual and/or bicultural. Within this, she is interested in studying how those systems can be moderated through parental involvement and Latino cultural values.
Andrea Mora, M.S.W.
Ph.D. Student
asmora@umich.edu Andrea received her B.A. in Psychology with Honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara and her Master’s in Social Work from the University of Michigan. She is currently a PhD student in Social Work and Developmental Psychology at the University of Michigan. Andrea is broadly interested in the academic functioning and psychosocial well being of adolescent Latino youth, with two lines of research. The first focuses on Latino/a adolescents’ exposure to community violence and sexual harassment and their effects on psychological outcomes. Second, Andrea examines factors that increase Latino/a students’ utilization of educational and psychological services.
Isaiah Sypher
Graduate Student
Isaiah is a fifth year doctoral candidate in Clinical Science at the University of Michigan. He earned his B.A. in Psychology from Wesleyan University. For his dissertation, Isaiah plans to explore contextual factors that influence parenting in low-income families of color, and how those outcomes map on to child socioemotional outcomes.
Solangel Troncoso
Graduate Student
troncoso@umich.edu Solangel Troncoso received her B.A in Psychology with honors and Women’s Studies from Rutgers University. She is currently a PhD student in the joint Personality and Social Contexts and Women’s Studies program at the University of Michigan. Solangel is interested gender concepts and development, specifically in the context of Latino families.
Alumni
Francheska Alers-Rojas
J.D., Ph.D.
falers@umich.edu Francheska received her B.A. in Pre-Law from the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras Campus, her J.D. from the University of Puerto Rico Law School, and her PhD in developmental psychology from the University of Michigan. She is currently a postodoctoral fellow in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. Francheska’s research focuses on the ways cultural factors benefit ethnic and racial minority adolescents. Her dissertation examined the types of daily academic and family stress Latino high school students experienced, its consequences for adolescents’ daily moods, whether talking about daily stressful events buffered these relations, and if there were gender differences in these relations.
Maria Aretakis
J.D., Ph.D.
Maria graduated from the Clinical Psychology program at the University of Michigan in 2011; her dissertation title was Immigration, acculturation, and academic attitudes and performance among Latino adolescents. She received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and her Law degree from the University of Michigan Law School. She is currently in private practice at Hamilton Psychological Services in Clinton Township, MI.
Allyson Bregman
Ph.D.
Allyson graduated from the Combined Program in Education and Psychology at the University of Michigan in 2010; her dissertation title was Educational aspirations: Supporting college trajectories for Latino youth. She is currently the Associate Director of College Counseling at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, CT.
Kristen Cross
M.A.
Kristen Cross earned a B.A. and M.A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan. Kristen completed a Senior Thesis with the lab, focusing on parental involvement in Latinx adolescents’ extracurricular activities. Broadly, her research interests include ethnic and racial minority youth and child-parent relationship dynamics. As she continues to refine her research interests, Kristen hopes to earn her Ph.D. in the future.
Quyen Epstein-Ngo
Ph.D.
Quyen Epstein-Ngo graduated from the joint Women’s Studies and Psychology Program at the University of Michigan in 2011; her dissertation title was “We Just Live and Forget”: Latino Adolescent Coping with Community Violence Exposure and the Roles of Culture and Parent-Adolescent Relationships. She received her Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Wellesley College. She is a Research Assistant Professor at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, University of Michigan.
Erin Graham
Ph.D.
Erin graduated from the joint program in Psychology and Women’s studies in 2009; her dissertation title was “She’s Black more than she’s a woman” A mixed method analysis of the construction of gender and psychological outcomes among Black female college students. She is a Staff Research Associate at the Center for Autism Research and Treatment, University of California, Los Angles (UCLA).
Rosanne Jocson
Ph.D.
rjocson@ateneo.edu Rosanne Jocson completed a PhD in Developmental Psychology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Ateneo de Manila University. Her research investigates the role of socioeconomic contexts in family and child development and the protective factors that promote resilience and child socio-emotional competence. Specifically, she aims to (1) examine how the context of poverty influences parents, children, and adolescents, with a focus on risks such as poor living conditions, neighborhood and housing contexts, and violence exposure; (2) identify protective factors that promote resilience and adaptive functioning among children and adolescents living in low-resource contexts; and (3) inform interventions for families and children at risk.
Traci Kennedy
Ph.D.
Traci earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Michigan in 2013. Her dissertation was entitled Exposed: Revealing Patterns of Community Violence Exposure and Psychological Well-Being Among Urban Youth. Her research focuses broadly on environmental risk factors for youth’s mental health as well as processes that foster children’s resilience. Traci completed her clinical internship at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where she specialized in both pediatric psychology and child clinical psychology. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Currently, Traci is a psychologist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in the Amplified Musculoskeletal Pain Syndrome Program. Dr. Kennedy continuous to be an important member of our research team and frequent collaborator.
Laura Maurizi
Ph.D.
Laura Maurizi graduated from the joint Social Work and Psychology Program at the University of Michigan in 2012. She is currently at the District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education.
Jessica Montoro
Ph.D. Student
jmontoro@umich.edu Jessica earned her B.A. in Psychology with a focus on Applied Developmental Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Currently she is in her first year in the Developmental Psychology Ph.D. program at the University of Michigan. She is broadly interested in exploring the roles of culture, socioeconomic conditions and family dynamics on adolescent development. More specifically, Jessica’s current research focuses on how culturally salient values like religiosity, respect and familismo lead to better psychological outcomes amongst Latino adolescents exposed to community violence and poverty.
Jaime Muñoz-Velázquez
Ph.D.
jaimemv@umich.edu Jaime earned his PhD in Developmental Psychology and his B.A. in Psychology from California State University Fullerton. His research interests focus on understanding health disparities among minority youth. Specifically, he studies how racism and material hardship can affect adolescent development and health. Additionally, he is interested in identifying points of intervention and seeks to identify protective factors such as ethnic identity to ameliorate these adverse health outcomes.
Cynthia Ramirez
Ph.D.
Cynthia graduated from the Clinical Psychology program at the University of Michigan in 2003; her dissertation title was Domestic violence and mothers’ mental health in two Latino communities (Detroit, Michigan and Santiago, Chile). She is an Assistant Professor at the Emory University School of Medicine.
Contact
Dr. Rosario Ceballo
Principal Investigator
Andrea Mora
Lab Coordinator
email | asmora@umich.edu