Naomi Duran (Ph.D., 2025)
Dissertation: Neighborhoods and Educational
Opportunity Structures: An Examination of Factors Affecting Sense of Belonging Among High School Students
Current position: Research Scientist at the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)
Learn more about Dr. Duran’s current work here
Tamekia Wilkins (Ph.D., 2015)
Dissertation: Racial socialization, achievement and socioemotional development among Black children during the early years of schooling: The role of family, school, and neighborhood contexts
Current position: Evaluation Coordinator and Research Analyst, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Davis, California
More about Dr. Wilkins’s current work: Employee Spotlight University of California —Curiosity about race, behavior paves a path for Wilkins from Alabama to California, February 2024. University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Joanna Wu Gerhardt (Ph.D., 2015)
Dissertation: Education, occupation, and family patterns of second-generation immigrant youth in the U.S.: The importance of embeddedness in social relationships in the transition to adulthood
Current position: Director of Quality Assurance in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, Evaluation and Inspections Division, Washington, D.C
More about Dr. Wu Gerhardt’s work when she was at USPS Office of Inspector General in a Postal Hub Podcast: “Generation Z and the mail”
Claudia Rangel (Ph.D., 2013)
Dissertation: Choosing success? Inequalities and opportunities in access to school choice in nine United States school districts
Current position: Strategy and Foresight Data Specialist, United Nations Development Programme, Halifax, Nova Scotia, CANADA
Learn more about Dr. Rangel’s current work at the UN in her report The Signals Spotlight 2024
Kari Keating (Ph.D., 2011)
Dissertation: Training civic bridge builders: Outcomes of community leadership development programs
Current position: Teaching Associate Professor of Business Administration, Gies College of Business, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Learn more about Dr. Keating’s work here
Celina Trujillo (Ph.D., 2009)
Dissertation: College involvement and leadership development in higher education: The role of race, ethnicity, sex, and mentoring relationships
Position: Research Development Manager, Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Learn more about Dr. Trujillo’s work here
Master’s Students
Jailene Aguirre (M.S., 2021)
Master’s Thesis: The Dynamics of Family Poverty and Immigrant-Origin Children’s Socioemotional Development and Executive Functioning
Current position: Policy and Research Legislative Fellow in IL State Representative Carol Ammons office
LaKisha David (Ph.D. 2022)
Research Advisor 2016-2019
Current position: Assistant professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Learn more about Dr. David’s work here
So Young Park (PhD., 2023, J.D. 2021, M.S. 2013)
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Human Development and Family Science, College of Education and Human Development, University of Missouri
Learn more about Dr. Park’s work here
Sarai Coba-Rodriguez (M.S. 2012 advisor; Ph.D., 2013)
Master’s Thesis: Nonstandard Work and the Cognitive and Behavioral Development among Preschool Children in Single Mother Families
Current position: Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago
Learn more about Dr. Coba-Rodriguez’s work here