Our Team

Erin is a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in applied developmental and educational psychology at the Lynch School. Her research focuses on positive youth development (PYD), purpose development, and contribution behaviors. She is particularly interested in how young people can be supported to develop a sense of purpose and engage meaningfully with their communities, as well as how PYD unfolds across different sociocultural contexts.

She is currently in South Korea conducting her dissertation research, an ethnographic case study of a public alternative “transition year” high school program designed to provide a break from the stress of academic competition and support students in finding meaning and direction in life. Using the PYD framework, she is examining how students develop over time within this unique ecological asset—exploring how the school supports their growth and well-being amid intense academic and social pressures.

Sarah Her is a third-year Ph.D. student in Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology at the Lynch School. Her research focuses on positive youth development (PYD) and the influence of social capital on PYD. Sarah is particularly interested in examining how the contextual factors at different levels - family, school, and community - affect the socioemotional development of children and youth. Specifically, she is interested in studying the types and quality of relationships children and youth have with their families, friends, and other adults and how they shape positive social and emotional development.

Yvonne is a third-year Ph.D. student in Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology at the Lynch School. Her research focuses on Positive Youth Development (PYD) , with a particular emphasis on family contexts and parent adolescent relationship. She views family dynamics and family function as significant ecological assets to youth thriving, and she is also interested in understanding how diverse family functioning and different sociocultural contexts contribute to well-being and thriving in young people.

Lin Zhang is a first-year Ph.D. student in Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology at the Lynch School. Her research interests are positive youth development (PYD), family engagement, and well-being, with a specific focus on parent-child relationships. She is particularly interested in examining patterns of parent-child interactions and identifying family dynamics that help shape youth character attributes and promote positive youth development. She is also interested in examining how PYD extends beyond adolescence into young adulthood, shaping individuals’ character strengths, psychological well-being, and adaptive functioning during this transitional life stage.

Trang earned her PhD in Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology from Boston College Lynch School in 2023. Her research focuses on positive youth development and youth civic engagement. Throughout her graduate career at Boston College, Trang contributed to multiple mixed-method, longitudinal studies of positive youth development, where her responsibilities included a multitude of charges, from developing research protocols to analyzing data and communicating findings to research partners and academic audiences. Trang is currently working as a program evaluator for the Center for Workforce Development at William James College, where she utilizes her research and evaluation expertise to analyze the impacts of programs aiming to diversify the behavioral health workforce.

She is currently in South Korea conducting her dissertation research, an ethnographic case study of a public alternative “transition year” high school program designed to provide a break from the stress of academic competition and support students in finding meaning and direction in life. Using the PYD framework, she is examining how students develop over time within this unique ecological asset—exploring how the school supports their growth and well-being amid intense academic and social pressures.

Mary earned her Ph.D. in Child Study and Human Development from Tufts University in 2019. Her research focuses on positive youth development and, in particular, on the development of empathy. Mary is a research assistant professor at Tufts University. In collaboration with Dr. Richard Lerner from Tufts University and Dr. Jacquelne  Lerner from Boston College, Mary was the project director of the Reconnection and Replication of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development. This project aimed to extend and replicate the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (2002-2012).  The new 4-H Study of PYD study recontacted participants of the original study, who are now young adults, and collected information about their work activities, health and well-being, and, especially, the family, community, and national contributions and civic engagement of these young people. In addition, to extend the youth-development leadership of 4-H programs to the current generations of American youth, the research team conducted a small replication of the original 4-H study.