I will not be considering applications for graduate students for fall 2024.

I study adolescent development, with an emphasis on LGBTQ+ health and wellbeing. Much of my research is guided by a commitment to create social change to support healthy development. I am most proud of my research that has been used to shape local and state policies and laws for school safety, and my most rewarding work is with trainees: I work with an amazing group of postdoctoral scholars, graduate and undergraduate students, and I find supporting their development and learning from them to be the most satisfying part of my job.

Read profiles of current graduate students: Armin Dorri, Andre Gonzales Real, and Alfredo Velasquez.

I have been an elected board member of the National Council on Family Relations (2005-2008), was President of the Society for Research on Adolescence (2012-2014), and am a member of the Governing Council of the Society for Research in Child Development (2019-2025), the Board of the Council on Contemporary Families, and served for many years on the Board of Directors for SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change.

Diversity & Inclusion: Diversity and inclusion are a central focus of my research, teaching, service, and administrative leadership. I was pleased that our department received recognition for outstanding leadership in diversity in fall 2017. I have chaired the college's Diversity & Inclusion Committee when it was established in 2016, until 2019. For the university, I co-chair both the President's LGBTQ Advisory Council, as well as the Provost's Advisory Council on LGBTQ+ Faculty Access, Equity and Inclusion. My undergraduate teaching is designed to expose students to diverse perspectives and experiences in adolescence and human sexuality, and my research focuses on intersectionality in the health and wellbeing of LGBTQ+ populations, with a focus on practices and policies that contribute to wellbeing.