Developmental Psychology

Development Across the Lifespan

Developmental Faculty and Graduates 2005-2006

Faculty in Developmental Psychology
From left to right:Dr. Julia Graber, Dr. Jeffrey Farrar, Dr. Robin West, Dr. Keith Berg, Dr. Susan Bluck, Dr. Scott Miller

Faculty

W. Keith Berg, Ph.D. (University of Wisconsin, 1973). Professor. Dr. Berg's primary research is on executive functioning processes, especially planning, problem solving, strategy use and working memory in childhood through later life. Brain, behavior and body processes related to executive functioning are assessed with psychophysiological measures including event related potentials, functional MRI, and heart rate changes as well as task performance.

Susan Bluck, Ph.D. (University of California, Irvine, 1997). Associate Professor. Dr. Bluck's research focuses on autobiographical memory and reasoning (how people remember and think about the events of their own lives) across the adult life span, and especially in later life. Her specific research interests include age differences and continuities in: (a) the everyday uses of autobiographical memory, reminiscence, and the life story, and (b) the relation of autobiographical memory to self-conceptions and well-being.

M. Jeffrey Farrar, Ph.D. (Emory University, 1985). Associate Professor. Dr. Farrar's research is focused on language development from a cognitive linguistic perspective. Current studies are examining connections between social-cognitive development, such as theory of mind, and language development in both toddlers and preschoolers. A second area of research is memory development with a special emphasis on autobiographical memory development.

Julia A. Graber, Ph.D. (Pennsylvania State University, 1991). Associate Professor & Area Director. Dr. Graber's research focuses on the transitional aspects of adolescence with particular interest in the entry into adolescence. Her research examines the development of psychopathology across the adolescent decade; the impact of pubertal timing on psychosocial functioning during adolescence and beyond; stress reactivity and psychosocial development in childhood and adolescence; and improving social competence among young adolescents.

Scott Miller, Ph.D. (University of Minnesota, 1971). Professor. Dr. Scott Miller’s research examines various aspects of children’s cognitive development. The most recent studies focus on developments that fall under the heading of theory of mind, including children’s understanding of false beliefs and the origins of knowledge.

Robin Lea West, Ph.D. (Vanderbilt University, 1980). Professor. Dr. West's research focuses on practical aspects of memory and self-regulatory factors that affect memory. This includes: a) the relationship between test performance and self-evaluation of memory (especially self-efficacy), b) techniques for improving the everyday memory skills of older adults, and c) goal-setting and beliefs about memory.

Associate/Affiliate Faculty

Lise Abrams, Ph.D (UCLA, 1997). Associate Professor of Psychology (Sensory and Cognitive Area). Research interests include memory, language, and aging.

Shari Ellis, Ph.D. (University of Utah, 1987). Affiliate Assistant Professor of Psychology. Development of mathematical and scientific reasoning; social and cultural influences on cognitive development; learning in school and informal settings.

Sheila Eyberg, Distinguished Professor (Ph.D., 1972, University of Oregon). Clinical child psychology, behavioral assessment, parent-child interaction therapy, and treatment research methology.

Fonda Davis Eyler, Ph.D. (University of Florida, 1979).  Professor of Pediatrics (Neonatology).  Research on effects of perinatal as well as later risk and protective factors on long-term outcome, including the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on cognitive/executive functioning and psychosocial development in a longitudinal cohort of children and adolescents.

Michael Marsiske, Ph.D. (Pennsylvania State University, 1992). Associate Professor of Clinical and Health Psychology. Cognitive aging, measurement of everyday/functional cognition in older adults, interventions to enhance elders' cognitive performance; collaborative cognition; sensorimotor-cognition relations.

Developmental Graduate Students
Graduate Students in Developmental Psychology:
Top row, left to right:
Molly McKay-Easters, Sarah Lynne, Virginia Holloway, Teri Delucca, Joseph McNamara, Michael MacKay, Katherine Clemans.
Bottom row, left to right: Erin Hastings, Sunghee Ahn, Lisa Sontag, Kim Anderson, Allisa Dark-Freuderman.
Not shown: Jacqueline Baron.

Current Graduate Students in Developmental Psychology (Graduate Advisor listed in parentheses)

Ahn, Sunghee: Self development across the life span (Miller)

Anderson, Kim: Executive functions, brain development (Berg)
URL: http://www.psych.ufl.edu/~anderson/

Ashwell, Sylvia: Early language and social-cognitive development (Farrar)
URL: http://plaza.ufl.edu/sashwell

Baron, Jacqueline: Lifespan development, autobiographical memory, memory sharing (Bluck)
URL: http://www.psych.ufl.edu/lifestorylab/

Clemans, Katherine: Adolescent social development, aggression, peer relations (Graber)

Cordell-McNulty, Kristi: Parental involvement in education, social support factors, and motivation (Co-Major Advisors: Ashton & Miller)

Dark-Freudeman, Alissa: Possible selves, self-regulation, and well-being (West)

DeLucca, Teri: Cognitive development, academic delays in low-income children (Berg)

Demiray, Burcu: Autobiographical memory, self and personality (Bluck)

Hastings, Erin: Everyday memory improvement, motivation, and aging (West)

Holloway, Virginia: Autobiographical memory, narrative development, and language (Farrar)

Lynne, Sarah: Puberty, drug use and violence prevention, developmental psychopathology (Graber)
URL: http://www.psych.ufl.edu/~lynne/

MacKay, Michael: Coping with death, successful aging, wisdom and ego-integrity (Bluck)

McKay-Easters, Molly: Social-cognitive development, language, theory of mind (Farrar)

McNamara, Joe: Executive function and psychophysiology (Berg)

Semegon, Angi: Autobiographical memory, self-concept and aging (West, Diehl)

Sontag, Lisa: Adolescent development, stress and emotion regulation, psychopathology (Graber)
URL: http://www.psych.ufl.edu/~sontag

Tamargo, Jennifer: Social problem solving, parent/child interactions, and cognitive development (Farrar)

Initial Job Placements of Developmental Psychology Ph.D Graduates

Derek Montgomery, Assistant Professor, Bradley University, 1993

James Forbes, Postdoctoral Fellow, Concordia University, 1993

Wendy Seier, Assistant Professor, Georgia Southern University, 1993

Kristina Baron, Assistant Professor, St. Michael College, 1994

Margaret Friend, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Berkeley, 1994

Michelle Boyer, Assistant Professor, Middle Tennessee State University, 1995

Heather Holmes, Assistant Professor, Southeastern Louisiana State University, 1996

Mark McManis, Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University, 1996

Melissa Welch-Ross, Assistant Professor, Georgia State University, 1996

Tom Coyle, Assistant Professor, University of Texas, San Antonio, 1997

Elizabeth Garner, Visiting Assistant Professor, University of North Florida, 1997

Lauren Fasig, APA Policy Fellow, APA, Washington, D.C.,1998

Jennifer Slawinski, NICHD Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pittsburgh/Penn State & Adjunct Instructor Carnegie Mellon University, 1998

Duana Welch, Assistant Professor, California State University, Fullerton1998

Monica Yassuda, Grant Project Manager, Georgia State University, 1999

Veda Brown, Assistant Professor, Prairie View College, Texas, 2000

Frances VanVoorhis, Network Facilitator and TIPS Coordinator, National Network of Partnership Schools, Johns Hopkins University, 2000

Dean Sabatinelli, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Florida, 2001

Sara Abraham, Assistant Professor, St. Edward's University

Nicole Alea, Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina, Wilmington, 2004

Laura Curry, Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of Child Health Policy, University of Florida, 2004

Joann Benigno, Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, 2004

Dana Byrd, Postdoctoral Fellow, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, 2004

Semegon, Angi: Clinical Research Coordinator, Gutstein Shelley and Associates

Staff

Patty Troll, Program Assistant, Room 114 Psychology Building