I am an early childhood advocate and researcher with a doctoral degree in Global Family Health and Wellbeing from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, with a focus on improving the lives of young children in the U.S. and globally. I have firsthand experience with and knowledge of research and interventions to improve the lives of young children, especially those at-risk. Throughout my career, I have applied my knowledge of how relationships and the environment affect early childhood development (ECD) to inform planning and evaluation of programs and use data generated to improve program quality and influence policy. At the Inter-American Development Bank, I focused on the development of a regional population-level measure of ECD, Regional Project for on Child Development Indicators (PRIDI), and coordinated with data collection in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Peru. While working at the Bernard van Leer Foundation in the Hague, Netherlands, I provided technical expertise to grantees working on ECD projects in eight different countries, and I managed a large grant portfolio of global ECD research initiatives. Before starting a doctoral program, I prioritized experience working directly with parents of young children to better learn about their strengths and struggles. As a parent aide for Child and Family Services of New Hampshire and as a parent education specialist, I supported parents who had lost custody of their children to improve their parenting skills and coordinated parenting workshops with tailored materials and resources based on the concerns and needs of my participants.
With Dr. Helen Raikes
At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, I continued to deepen my understanding of ECD and expand my knowledge of research design through my coursework and research assistantship. For the Educare of Lincoln program evaluation, I conducted classroom observations and child assessments of language and executive function in both English and Spanish. This experience demonstrated how data from evaluation activities can be used to assess program quality and identify areas for improvement that the program uses in decision-making. Additionally, I led a qualitative study with Dr. Helen Raikes, as co-principal investigator, to explore staff and caregiver understanding of family engagement (FE). As part of the Global Scale for Early Development (GSED) Nebraska team led by Dr. Abbie Raikes, I was instrumental in shaping the content of a scale of children’s psychosocial skills and building a complex Qualtrics survey used for data collection, as well as other activities around the development of measures of ECD. I continue to look for opportunities to explore different areas of research in ECD and promote policies and practices that support the development of the youngest children and the wellbeing of their families.
On a personal note, I was born and raised in Londonderry, New Hampshire. While I have moved around a bit in the last decade, I still call New Hampshire home and try to visit as much as possible to see my two nieces and three nephews. In my spare time, I enjoy traveling to different places and exploring different cultures, spending time with families and friends, and volunteering with local organizations in Lincoln, Nebraska. Currently, I am most involved with Domesti-PUPS, an organization that trains service dogs for children.