Family Research Scholars Program
THE 2009-2010 SCHOLARS
Miliann Kang
Women's Studies (Assistant Professor)
College of Humanities and Fine Arts
Asian American women and the opting out debate
Kang’s research addresses how the decision to “opt out” or remain in the workforce after having a child affects the well-being of Asian American women. As a Family Scholar,she will develop a grant proposal for a study that will interview and survey two groups of Asian American women: those who opt out of the workforce when they have children and those who remain in the workforce. By taking cultural differences, gender, and racial discrimination into account, Kang’s work aims to address the lack of consideration for Asian American issues in the current opting out debate.
David Kittredge
Professor and Extension Forester
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Families and their land: the future of landscapes and ecosystem services through woodland ownership and decision-making
Kittredge is interested in the role that families can play in the conservation of U.S. forests. In the northeastern U.S., over 75% of all forests are owned by non-government parties, many of them families. As a Family Scholar, Kittredge will develop a grant proposal to address considerations about families who own forests. The goal of this research is to improve understanding of family decision-making about land, to inform both outreach programming and public policy.
Jacquie Kurland
Department of Communication Disorders, (Assistant Professor)
School of Public Health and Health Sciences
The psychosocial impacts of aphasia on individuals and families of persons with aphasia
Kurland is interested in the psychosocial effects of stroke induced aphasia (acquired neurogenic language impairment). Her work investigates brain reorganization following intensive therapy for individuals with aphasia. Her proposal centers around the idea that family members of affected individuals can be highly influential in improving outcomes of intensive language therapy for those with aphasia. As a Scholar, Kurland will develop a grant proposal to administer a residential summer program of intensive language therapy. Family members would receive counseling and training in conversation techniques aimed at reinforcing the therapeutic gains of individuals receiving the therapy.Little is known about the changes to quality of life associated with aphasia. As part of her grant proposal, Kurland hopes to develop a formal tool for assessment of changes in quality of life for those with aphasia.
Jacqueline Mosselson
Educational Policy Research and Administration (Assistant Professor)
The School of Education
Education and fragility in Haiti, Uganda and Thailand, with a focus on youth
Mosselson’s research centers around the unique issues facing young people in conditions of extreme economic and governmental uncertainty. Prior research has found that school has a positive impact on a youth’s sense of agency in fragile contexts. As a Family Scholar, Mosselson will develop a field study to better understand the relationship between education and youth outcomes in fragile contexts. Her study will compare the experiences of young people in Haiti, Uganda, and Thailand over multiple years. Findings from this study will provide important information for international relief organizations and governmental policies about effective youth interventions in fragile contexts.
Wenona Rymond-Richmond
Sociology (Assistant Professor)
College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Neighborhood process and change; families in public housing in Chicago
Rymond-Richmond is interested in the effects that neighborhood characteristics can have on families in public housing within those neighborhoods. Recent trends in housing reform have focused on building “mixed-income” housing communities in the place of low-income housing. The idea driving this shift in housing policy is that low-income families will benefit from proximity to higher income families. As a Family Scholar, she will develop a grant proposal which will follow a group of families going through this process of “redevelopment” of public housing developments into mixed-income communities. The study will be an extension of Rymond-Richmond’s earlier work with researchers studying this neighborhood intervention on the Near West Side of Chicago. Her proposal will also address the role that higher income gentrification plays in the process of neighborhood change.
Lisa Scott
Psychology (Assistant Professor)
College of Natural Sciences
Visual influences on infants; perceptual abilities, face recognition and other-race face bias
Scott is a developmental psychologist whose research involves the study of the neural mechanisms of perceptual category learning and perceptual experience in developmental populations. Using both behavioral and electrophysiological methods, her work focuses on how specific visual experiences influence how infants and adults learn to recognize and categorize various types of objects. As a Family Research Scholar, Scott is proposing to focus on infants’ perceptual abilities, face recognition and other-race face bias. The proposed research will consist of several experiments to examine the consequences of perceptual narrowing on the development of perceptual, cognitive, and affective development during the first year of life.
Linda Tropp
Psychology (Associate Professor)
College of Natural Sciences
How intergroup relations among family and peers affect adolescents’ willingness to engage in intergroup contact and develop positive relations with other groups.
Tropp’s research will examine how family members and peers influence adolescents’ positive interactions with other ethnic groups. She will use her Family Scholar Fellowship to develop a proposal for a longitudinal study of adolescents from both majority and minority ethnic backgrounds. The goal of her study is to illuminate how normative views of families and peers influence the development of positive intergroup relationships.
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