MARCH 2025

This month, Project Coordinator Makenna Luzenski accepted her offer of admission to join the Developmental Psychology doctoral program at Penn State. Makenna will be continuing her time with Dr. Eiden in the DRR Lab as a graduate student matriculating Fall 2025. Alongside her acceptance, Makenna was also awarded a University Graduate Fellowship. Congratulations, Makenna!

Graduate student Rachel Marcus finished writing her comprehensive exams! She wrote the breadth portion of the exam on three topics: how dynamic systems theory evolved, the strengths and weaknesses of social ecological theory, and a comparison on the methodological designs in adolescent substance use research. She really enjoyed her depth portion and getting to learn more about the dynamics of parent-adolescent interactions and how these dynamics impact adolescent outcomes. She’s looking forward to her comprehensive exam defense and getting to discuss all she’s learned with her committee!

FEBRUARY 2025

Graduate student Madison Kelm has recently accepted a NIAAA T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship with the Alcohol Research Training Grant at UCSD/SDSU to work with Dr. Sarah Mattson Weller examining effects of prenatal alcohol exposure across development. Congrats Maddie!! 

AUGUST 2024

Graduate student Madison Kelm won first place at the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network Conference for a poster titled “Maternal Childhood Maltreatment, prenatal Substance Exposure, and Postnatal Adversity: Implications for Child Autonomic Functioning at Early School-Age.” This project was led by Madison alongside graduate student Olivia Bell and Drs. Pamela Schuetze and Rina Eiden.