Core Developmental Faculty Accepting New Students
Jeffrey T. Cookston, Ph.D.
Jeff Cookston’s research addresses the family system with specialized attention to the role of marital conflict, fathering, and divorce. He is currently analyzing a 12-year longitudinal dataset on fathering and preparing grants to study the causes and consequences of divorce. Visit his website to learn more. cookston@sfsu.edu
Juliana Karras-Jean Gilles, Ph.D.
Juliana Karras-Jean Gilles’ work straddles both developmental and social research areas by focusing on the social development of children and adolescents in context. Specifically: the intersection of race, inequality, and civic development; attitudes towards and conceptions of children’s human rights; and ethnic/racial inequality across contexts. The goal of her work is to advance the human rights of children through actionable science by generating empirical knowledge that researchers, practitioners, and policymakers can use to identify and rectify social systems that reproduce inequality in development. jkarrasjeangilles@sfsu.edu
Jae Paik’s research focuses on the development of early cognitive and social cognitive skills. She is particularly interested in the intricate relation between language, culture, and conceptual development. She is currently conducting various studies examining the cross-cultural differences between English, Korean, and Chinese speaking children’s cognitive development. http://developmentalpsych.sfsu.edu/content/jae-h-paik-phd. jaepaik@sfsu.edu
Affiliated Faculty Accepting New Students
Note. Affiliated faculty may serve as Primary Thesis Supervisor and mentor students as they complete the Developmental Psychology Program.
David Gard is in the Clinical Concentration. His research focuses on severe psychopathology including schizophrenia and major depression. online.sfsu.edu/dgard/
Melissa Hagan is in the Clinical Concentration. Her research focuses on early life adversity, post-traumatic stress disorder, early childhood, parenting, chronic stress, and psychophysiology. mjhagan@sfsu.edu
Shasta Ihorn, Ph.D.
Shasta Ihorn is in the School Concentration. She is engaged in applied, community-based research to inform and improve the work that teachers and mental health professionals do with historically underserved groups. sihorn@sfsu.edu
Sarah Holley is in the Clinical Concentration. Her research focuses on Intimate relationship processes, emotional functioning, and mental and physical health. www.rehlabsfsu.com/ sholley@sfsu.edu
Zena Mello is in the Social Concentration, and her research fosters the well-being of racial/ethnic minority and low-income adolescents. She examines time perspective and perceptions of group membership.
Web: http://faculty.sfsu.edu/~zmello/home
Email: zmello@sfsu.edu
Amy Smith, Ph.D.
Amy Smtih's research focuses on legal psychology, legal decision making, effects of incarceration, and social justice. smithae@sfsu.edu
Affiliated Faculty not Accepting Students
Sacha Bunge, Ph.D.
NOTE - Sacha Bunge is the Dean of Faculty Affairs and is not currently supervising students
Sacha Bunge's primary research area is child abuse prevention with a special focus on the application of attachment theory to understanding cycles of abuse. She is currently conducting a longitudinal study that examines the role of attachment relationships in the intergenerational cycle of abuse in a sample of African-American and Latina teenage mothers. She has a joint appointment in developmental and clinical psychology at SFSU. sbunge@sfsu.edu
Patricia Miller's research focuses on cognitive development during childhood. More specifically, she studies cognitive strategies, executive function, metacognition, memory, attention, social cognitive development, theory of mind, and gender. Her theoretical interests include theories of development and feminist theories of knowledge. One current topic of interest, the effects of exercise on children's executive function and school achievement, is funded by NIH. phmiller@sfsu.edu
Emeritus faculty
Thomas D. Spencer, Ph.D.
Tom Spencer's research interests are broadly defined in the areas of social, emotional, and personality development across the life span. Of particular concern are changes and consistencies in developmental patterns during the preschool and early childhood years. Current emphasis has been on naturalistic observation research. Tom Spencer retired in May of 2010 and is currently the President of the SFSU Retirement Association. tspencer@sfsu.edu