Meet the Team
Director
Rina Das Eiden
Director
Current projects include a randomized clinical trial to promote co-parenting and reduce father/non-pregnant partner hazardous drinking in expectant parents; a translational (human-animal) study of prenatal tobacco and cannabis exposure effects on middle childhood outcomes in a sample recruited in pregnancy; developmental pathways to violence, victimization, and substance use in a sample exposed to cocaine and other substances in utero; and a collaboration with Dr. Mary Dozier on a clinical trial for opioid-dependent mothers living in poverty. Finally, in collaboration with Drs. Jenae Neiderhiser and Danielle Downs, we are examining risk and protective processes among rural families with the larger goal of understanding rural health disparities.
Lab Manager
Rebecca Lim
Lab Manager
Becca is the lab manager for the Development, Risk, & Resilience Lab at Penn State. She holds her Bachelor’s in Psychology and Education from UC San Diego, where she assisted with research studying child and community wellbeing, child development, and social emotional learning (SEL) in diverse school and community contexts. Becca has worked with children and adolescents in a number of K-12 settings, and she is interested in community-engaged approaches to researching mental health and educational equity. She hopes to eventually attend graduate school to study how school, family, and community-based programs can advance equitable developmental outcomes for children and empower under-resourced communities.
Graduate Students
Miglena Ivanova
Doctoral Student
Miglena Ivanova, M.S., is a fourth-year doctoral student in Developmental Psychology, working with Dr. Rina Eiden and Dr. Jenae Neiderhiser. Miglena is also a Prevention and Methodology Training (PAMT) pre-doctoral fellow, working with Dr. Ashley Linden-Carmichael, and secondary advisor Dr. Qiushi Chen. Her research interests center on the understanding of differential pathways via which early risk 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, including longitudinal 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. When not working on her research, Miglena dedicates her time to mentoring students, advocating for more representation of and equity for neurodiverse individuals in academia, and exploring new ideas and novel analytical methods.
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.
Madison Kelm
Doctoral Student
Rachel Marcus
Doctoral Student
Rachel Level
Doctoral Student
Post-Doctoral Scholars
Danielle Seay
Postdoctoral Scholar
Kristin Perry
Postdoctoral Scholar
Research Coordinators
Makenna Luzenski
Research Study Coordinator
Research Assistants
Hannah Brownstein
Undergraduate Researcher
Keelia Chilberg
Undergraduate Researcher
Nina Dillon
Undergraduate Researcher
Judson Dommer
Undergraduate Researcher
Alison Harvey
Undergraduate Researcher
Alison Harvey is a first-year student in the Schreyer Honors College majoring in biobehavioral health. After graduating from Penn State, she plans to attend medical school and eventually specialize in pediatrics. Alison is interested in how physical health and well-being are directly related to the environment a child lives in and the social experiences they have. In her free time, Alison enjoys hiking, snowboarding, working out, and traveling.
Kavya Iyer
Undergraduate Researcher
Kavya is a third-year student double majoring in Psychology as well as Human Development and Family Studies. She hopes to work with adolescents and young adults after graduating. She is specifically interested in pursuing a career that combines both of these majors, such as clinical psychology or behavioral health therapy. Her specific interests include anxiety, PTSD, and LGBTQIA+ topics. In her free time, she loves reading, playing tennis, traveling, and being with friends and family.
Leyi Liu
Undergraduate Researcher
Peri Manoff
Undergraduate Researcher
Ella McCoy
Undergraduate Researcher
Ella is a Junior majoring in Psychology with a minor in Human Development and Family Studies, as well as a Business Fundamentals Certificate. She intends to go to graduate school to pursue a master’s degree in counseling and work with children and families in the future. Ella spends her free time reading, working out, being outdoors, and getting involved in her THON organization as much as she can.
Christopher Miscannon
Undergraduate Researcher
Yejin Park
Undergraduate Researcher
Nicole Siciliano
Undergraduate Researcher
Ashley Tarud
Undergraduate Researcher
Macy Watkins
Undergraduate Researcher
Macy is a junior in the Schreyer Honors College pursuing a double major in Psychology and Spanish with a minor in Political Science. Macy is fascinated by many fields of psychology but finds developmental psychology particularly interesting as she holds a strong desire to help children. After graduation, Macy plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology. Outside of psychology and the lab, Macy works as a mentor at Penn State’s Public Speaking Center where she enjoys helping her peers feel more comfortable with public speaking. Macy also volunteers with THON and is very passionate about the work THON does to improve the lives of children and families impacted by childhood cancer. Macy is looking forward to Spring 2024 where she will be spending the semester in Granada, Spain immersing herself in Spanish language and culture.
Rachel Weis
Undergraduate Researcher
Collaborating Staff
Meghan Casey Leising
Lab Manager
Elizabeth Young
Coding Supervisor
Elizabeth has worked in the lab at SUNY at Buffalo for 20 years in the area of child development and on several addiction studies. She started as a research tech after college, conducting assessments with parent-child dyads. With an interest in the education system, she then moved on to become a school coordinator, scheduling and conducting observations in schools across western New York. Elizabeth currently holds a coding supervisor position in the lab. She trains students and staff on various observational coding paradigms from infancy to adolescence.
Shannon Shisler
Data Manager and Analyst
Dr. Shisler has worked in Dr. Eiden’s lab for over 17 years on multiple studies of child development in substance-exposed children. Her research interests include the impact of cumulative risk on child development, which may be particularly salient for prenatally substance-exposed children as they may be exposed to larger constellations of risk factors. Shannon serves as a data manager and analyst for several of Dr. Eiden’s projects. She also works for the Department of Pediatrics (SUNY at Buffalo) and is a Senior Research Fellow for the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie, London, UK).
Junru Zhao
Data Analyst
Dr. Zhao is working as a data analyst in the lab and is interested in the role of community violence in predicting child outcomes. She is a developmental scientist by training.