Director

Erika Lunkenheimer, Ph.D.

Dr. Lunkenheimer is a Professor of Developmental Psychology, Coordinator of the Developmental Psychology area, and a faculty affiliate of the Child Study Center at Penn State. She is also an Associate Director of the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network, housed in the Social Science Research Institute at Penn State, and an Associate Editor of the journal Developmental Psychology. She has received funding for her work from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Institute for Education Sciences (IES), including K01 and R01 grants from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Her research has been published in many scientific journals, including Developmental Psychology, Development and Psychopathology, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Developmental Psychobiology, and the Journal of Family Psychology.

Dr. Lunkenheimer’s research program revolves around risk and protective processes in the parent-child relationship, with special attention to the role of physiological, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral regulatory processes in the parent, child, and parent-child dyad. Her work involves the dual goals of (1) understanding how mother-child and father-child interaction and regulatory patterns contribute to developmental psychopathology and (2) uncovering malleable interaction and regulatory processes that could aid in the tailoring and improvement of preventive intervention programs for families at risk. 

Grounded in dynamic systems theory and using innovative dynamic time series statistical approaches, Dr. Lunkenheimer studies the moment-to-moment coordination of emotions, goal-oriented behaviors, and physiology between parents and young children in relation to familial risk factors and child outcomes. A primary interest is examining the role that these parent-child coregulation patterns play in the development of child maltreatment, and their association with related maltreatment risk factors. Ultimately, this work achieves a better understanding of regulatory processes between parents and children to maximize their use in improving parent-child interaction patterns in family-based interventions and preventing child maltreatment.

Post-Doctoral Scholars

Longfeng Li

Longfeng is a postdoctoral research scholar working with Dr. Erika Lunkenheimer. She received her PhD in Family and Human Development at Arizona State University. She is originally from China and got her BA and MA in Psychology at Beijing Normal University (Beijing, China). Her research interests focus on individual and contextual impacts on children’s maladaptive socioemotional, cognitive, and behavioral development. Central to her current work is the investigation of how to best measure and model parent-child dyadic processes and how the dyadic processes impact and are impacted by parental and children’s characteristics, including self-regulation and psychopathology.

Jane Lee

Jane is a postdoctoral research fellow working with Dr. Erika Lunkenheimer. She received her M.Sc and Ph.D in Child Development and Education at the University of Oxford. Jane’s research interests focus on investigating typical and atypical processes of development, and identifying risk and protective mechanisms that attenuate or exacerbate children’s risk for mental health problems and associated difficulties. With Dr. Lunkenheimer, she aims to examine children’s self-regulatory processes within their network of evolving and interacting factors that affect a child’s outcome cumulatively.

Savannah Girod

Savannah is a postdoctoral research fellow working with Dr. Erika Lunkenheimer. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and received her B.S. in Psychology from Stevenson University. Savannah’s research is focused on identifying multilevel (e.g., cognitive, psychological, physiological, and contextual) predictors of parenting behavior and understanding the processes by which parenting shapes children’s socioemotional outcomes. Her work with Dr. Lunkenheimer is focused on understanding how parent-child dyadic processes are influenced by parent characteristics and the context in which parenting is assessed. 

Graduate Students

Kivilcim Degirmencioglu, M.S.

Kıvılcım is a second-year doctoral student in the Developmental Psychology program at Penn State working with Dr. Erika Lunkenheimer. She earned her Master’s degree in Psychology from Bogazici University (Istanbul, Turkey) in 2020. Her broad interests are parents’ socialization of negative emotions and emotion regulation in early childhood. Her thesis focused on the link between maternal control and infants’ regulation during a laboratory task. Kıvılcım hopes to investigate parent-child coregulation patterns in contexts with different types and levels of challenge to better capture the early parent-child coercive cycle.

Jianing Sun, M.S.

Jianing is a second-year doctoral student in the Developmental Psychology program working with Dr. Erika Lunkenheimer and Dr. Kristin Buss. She received her master’s degree in psychology from Beijing Normal University, China in 2022. Her research interests are the impact of family risks (e.g., child maltreatment) on child outcomes, physiological pathways between childhood adversity and health, and individual differences in above associations. In pursuing her Ph.D., she hopes to further investigate how familial adversities and parent-child dynamics contribute to child physiology and psychopathology, and the protective processes in parent-child relationships. 

Sohee Park, M.A. 

Sohee is a first-year doctoral student in the Developmental Psychology program working with Dr. Erika Lunkenheimer. Sohee received her B.A. in Psychology and M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea. Her research topic is exploring risk and protective factors among children at risk, especially child maltreatment, and identifying intervention target within the parent-child dynamics. In her free time, Sohee enjoys hiking, weightlifting, cooking, and watching Harry Potter.  

Project Coordinators

Aislinn Thomas

Aislinn is the PRESH Project Coordinator at University Park. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Penn State University in 2022. During her time as an undergraduate, she spent three years as a research assistant in the Cognitive Aging and Neuroimaging Lab studying memory and aging using behavioral and neuroimaging data collection methods. She is especially interested in executive functioning across the lifespan. Outside of the lab, Aislinn enjoys spending time with family and pets, baking, and teaching classes at a local creative studio. 

Project Staff

Helena Her

Helena works as a staff research assistant on the PRESH project. Helena received her B.A. in psychology from the University of California, Davis. Her research interests include parenting, adolescence, and psychophysiology. Her senior thesis focused on warm parenting and psychophysiology among Mexican-origin youth. She is especially interested in understanding how parenting among diverse populations differentially impacts child outcomes. In her free time, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her three sisters.

Alexa Nordine

Alexa is a staff research assistant for the PRESH project. Alexa earned her B.A. in Psychology from McGill University in 2022 where she worked on a wide variety of research projects including a senior research project focusing on perinatal stress and depression. Her undergraduate research has spanned a wide range of topics and disciplines from social and counseling psychology to family medicine and neuroscience. Alexa is currently Clinical Psychology Graduate Student at the University of Waterloo.

Adriana Méndez-Fernández

Adriana Méndez-Fernández works as a Research Assistant for the PRESH project, focusing on data collection, affect coding, and participant recruitment. She finished her bachelor’s degree in special education with an emphasis on Behavioral and Emotional Disorders at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus in June 2022. Since her graduation, she has been involved in projects associated with the relationship between Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and aggression in the household; the interactions between parents and children when exposed to stressful circumstances; the portrayal of women who have experienced Intimate Partner Violence; Traumatic Brain Injuries’ effects in women who have experienced Intimate Partner Violence. Adriana aspires to do a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. 

Undergraduate Research Assistants

Lauren Ade

Lauren majors in Psychology (B.A.) and plans to minor in Child Maltreatment and Advocacy Studies. She plans to pursue a career in clinical psychology for children. She enjoys reading, traveling, and working with kids in her free time.

Grace Behr 

Grace is a third-year psychology student minoring in global health. She plans to go to graduate school in the future to pursue a field in global mental health. In the lab, Grace is on the physio team editing EDA data. She is interested in research on how childhood experiences impact development. In her free time, Grace likes to run, hike, cook, and travel.  

Clara Eroles 

Clara is a senior undergraduate majoring in Psychology and minoring in Crime, Law & Psychology. She plans to attend graduate school to pursue a doctorate and a future career in child clinical psychology. In the PRESH project she takes the role of E2 in the lab as a part of the data collection team and is on the coding team. Clara is interested in research with children’s emotional regulation, behavior, cognition and development. At Penn State, she is involved in Epsilon Sigma Alpha, a community service organization that is invested in fundraising for THON. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, being with family and friends. 

Julianna Keller

Julianna is a sophomore majoring in Biology with a minor in Psychology. In the lab, Julianna is a research assistant on the data collection team and focuses on the kids during sessions! She plans on attending medical school to become a developmental-behavioral pediatrician. She is very interested in how early childhood experiences impact future development. In her free time, Julianna likes to volunteer with LifeLink, paint, and spend time with her family and friends.

Anjali Krishnan

Bianca Silva

Bianca Silva is a second-year undergraduate student majoring in Psychology and Human Development & Family Studies. She works in the PRESH lab in the data collection team, as Experimenter 2. She plans to go to graduate school and get her PhD in Clinical Psychology. Her interests lie in social, personality, and analytic psychology and understanding why people are the way they are and act in the ways that they do. In her free time, she enjoys reading, writing, drawing, working out, and doing everything with friends! 

Ciara Maith

Isabelle Mitchell

Kayleen Montanez

Stephanie Paglia

ToniAnn Servider

ToniAnn Servider is a fourth-year undergraduate psychology major with a concentration in neuroscience and a minor in child maltreatment and advocacy studies. ToniAnn works on the recruitment team of the PRESH Project. At Penn State, ToniAnn is additionally involved in the Greek life organization, Sigma Delta Tau, and social media chair for the campus’s human trafficking awareness club, Hope Here, Hope Now, and is also a McNair scholar. She plans to attend graduate school to pursue a career in child clinical psychology. ToniAnn’s interests are primarily focused on attachment style, abnormal behavior, trauma, and stress. In her free time, she loves to attend Pilates classes, journal, read, socialize with friends, and listen to music! 

Amanda Toland

Amanda is a fourth-year Psychology major with a focus in Neuroscience.  She plans to attend graduate school to pursue a future in clinical research, specifically in child psychopathology. 

Rachel Tambor

Rachel majors in Psychology. She plans to attend graduate school and pursue a Master’s degree in Child Psychology. In her free time, she enjoys traveling and spending time with her friends.

Riley Wendling

Liza Yeaney

Yinghe Liu 

Liu is a senior undergraduate majoring in Psychology with a minor in Human Development and Family Study. Currently, Liu is helping in editing the Electrodermal Activity (EDA) data in the PRESH project. His academic journey has been defined by a deep interest in understanding the development of decision-making mechanisms with a focus on cognitive flexibility. He is also planning on a post-undergraduate education after graduation. Outside of his academic interest, Liu is an enthusiastic player of the game of Go, a complex board game that has significantly shaped his perspective on human intelligence. 

Madeleine Wolfrom 

Madeleine is a junior studying Psychology with a business option. Madeleine works in the affect coding group for the PRESH lab. After graduation she plans on going to graduate school to pursue a higher education. At Penn State she holds a leadership position in Kappa Alpha Theta, and she is an active member of PSU Psi Chi which is the Psychology honor society. In her free time, she enjoys running, cooking, traveling and testing out new food!