Steering Committee : Center for Research on Families : UMass Amherst

The CRF Steering Committee is an interdisciplinary committee composed of faculty from the College of Natural Sciences (CNS) and the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS). The steering committee is dedicated to boosting the impact of the Center's work by providing guidance to the Center's staff and faculty director regarding development of resources and activities to accomplish CRF's mission.

Nilanjana Dasgupta

Professor, Psychological and Brain Sciences
Director of Faculty Equity and Inclusion, College of Natural Sciences
Family Research Scholar, 2006-2007 & 2012-2013

Nilanjana Dasgupta's research focuses on prejudice, stereotyping, and the self-concept, with special emphasis on the ways in which societal expectations unconsciously or implicitly influence people's attitudes and behavior toward others and, in the case of disadvantaged groups, influence their self-concept and life decisions.

View Profile

Sarah Fefer

Assistant Professor
Department of Student Development, College of Education
Family Research Scholar, 2018-2019

Sarah Fefer’s research and clinical interests include disruptive behavior in children and adolescents, assessment and intervention related to academic and behavioral competence, and working with families and communities to support student success.

View Profile

Steven Goodwin

Deputy Chancellor and Chief Planning Officer

Steve Goodwin's research interests include microbial synthesis and degradation of biopolymers, microbial ecology, anaerobic digestion and bioremediation, bioenergetics of microbial growth in extreme environments, microbiology and redox chemistry in groundwater, microbiology of solid waste disposal, compost microbiology and spore formation.

Dr. Goodwin most recently served as the Dean of the College of Natural Sciences at UMass Amherst for a decade.

View Profile

Linda Isbell

Family Research Scholar, 2015-16

A fundamental assumption in Dr. Linda Isbell's work is that affective feelings convey valuable information that guides individuals’ thoughts, judgments and actions. Her program of study embraces the notion that affect and cognition are necessary allies that work in tandem to produce adaptive responses to the world. As a Family Research Scholar, Dr. Isbell aims to better understand the ways in which affect influences ordinary, everyday information processing and judgment across a number of important social psychological and real-world domains.

View Profile

Airín Martínez

Family Research Scholar, 2019-2020

Assistant Professor, Health Promotion and Policy, School of Public Health & Health Sciences

Dr. Martínez’s research examines the sociopolitical and institutional arrangements that produce chronic disease disparities among Latinx immigrants and their US-born children. Dr. Martinez’s current research examines how the local implementation of immigration enforcement policies creates material deprivation and psychosocial stress among Latinx mixed-status families, with at least one unauthorized immigrant.

View Profile

Joya Misra

Professor, Sociology and Public Policy
Family Research Scholar, 2004-05-& 2013-14

Joya Misra’s work focuses on gender inequality among advanced welfare states, where gender equality has made the most progress but also where national variation is most apparent. Her research analyzes this variation over time, considering how gender inequalities have changed over the last 25 years and the extent to which family and household dynamics contribute to this variation.

View Profile

Maureen Perry-Jenkins

Past Director of CRF

Family Research Scholar, Public Engagement Project, Principal Investigator

Maureen Perry-Jenkins is a nationally renowned scholar whose contributions on the national, state, regional and university levels have had a profound impact on family research. Her work focuses on the ways in which socio-cultural factors such as race, gender, and social class shape the mental health and family relationships of parents and their children.

View Profile

Lindiwe Sibeko

Assistant Professor, Extension Faculty, Nutrition
Family Research Scholar, Steering Committee Member; 2015-16

Nutrition researcher and Board Certified Lactation Consultant Lindiwe Sibeko possesses an expertise in maternal and child health focused on socially and economically vulnerable and underserved populations in local, national and international settings.

View Profile

Laura Vandenberg

Assistant Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Family Research Scholar, Steering Committee Member; 2015-2016

Laura Vandenberg's research explores how early life exposures to chemicals and chemical mixtures can predispose individuals to diseases that manifest later in life. Classical toxicology often focuses on how fetal chemical exposures can produce birth defects, an important part of chemical safety.

View Profile

Wendy Varner

Director of Faculty Development

Wendy Varner creates and directs programming to support faculty across the career continuum with a particular focus on new and early-career faculty. She is responsible for the administration of the Scholarly Writing Program, New Faculty Orientation, Mutual Mentoring Program, and the First Year, First Friday Series. She also oversees the development of the website.

View Profile