Principle Investigator

Sunhye Bai, PhD MPH
Sunny Bai is an assistant professor of Human Development and Family Studies at the Pennsylvania State University. She received her MPH degree from UC Berkeley in 2010, specializing in Maternal and Child Health, and received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from UCLA in 2017, where she also completed her pre-doctoral clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship. Her research broadly focuses on adolescent development in the context of daily family and school life. This work integrates human development, family studies and clinical and health research, and relies heavily on naturalistic measures of youth and family functioning including daily diaries, passive recordings, and actigraphy.

Dr. Bai's faculty webpage.

Doctoral Students

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Avery Chahl
Avery (pronouns: she/her) is in the Human Development and Family studies doctoral program at the Pennsylvania State University. She is from Houston, Texas. In 2020 she received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with honors from the University of Texas at Austin. Her research is focused on peer relationships in childhood and adolescence. Specifically, she is interested in the ways peers can shape well-being and positive youth trajectories. She is also interested in understanding peer influence through network analysis.
email: aac5873@psu.edu

Kelly Ngigi
Kelly (she/her) is a doctoral student in the Human Development and Family studies program at Pennsylvania State University. She earned her Bachelor's of Science at Washington State University with a major in Psychology and minor in HDFS. Her research focuses on parenting, social and emotional development in the parent-child context, psychological well-being, as well as the overall emotional climate of the family. In addition to her research interests, Ms. Ngigi is interested in prevention and intervention research. 
email: kwn5131@psu.edu
Shou-Chun (Nathan) Chiang
Nathan (pronouns: he/him) is a doctoral student in the Human Development and Family studies at the Pennsylvania State University. He is from Taiwan where he received M.A. in Counseling Psychology and  B.A. in Education from the National Chengchi University. His research interests are adolescent mental health and well-being, parent-adolescent processes, and family dynamics.
email: smc7184@psu.edu

​Yan (Joyce) Lou
Yan (They/Them) is in the Human Development and Family studies doctoral program at the Pennsylvania State University. They are from Hangzhou, China. They received their Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology with a concentration in Education Studies from the Oberlin College in 2022. Their research focuses on adolescent/emerging adult close relationships, in particular, child-parent relationships and family-school dynamics in cross-cultural and long-distance contexts. They are also interested in queer international students’ experiences in the U.S. (the multi-level challenges they face and their overall well-being) and prevention and intervention research.
email: yxl6209@psu.edu

Research Project Coordinator

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Kaitlyn Ewing 
Kaitlyn Ewing is the Research Coordinator for the SAFE Lab in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Pennsylvania State University. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and English in from Washington & Jefferson College, and she is currently working towards her M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling through Liberty University online. She was a research assistant in her undergraduate program, and she completed two internships in private and public counseling centers. Kaitlyn also has worked in an inpatient behavioral health unit as a mental health tech. Her experience also includes serving in the United States Army as an officer and platoon leader. 

Undergraduate Research Assistants

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Tiancheng (Angel) Wang
Angel is a Junior at Penn State University majoring Psychology with minors in Rehabilitation and Human Services and Human Development and Family Studies. She is from Suzhou, China. Angel is involved in multiple organizations at Penn State, including Centrehelps, Chinese Undergraduate Student Association, and World in Conversation. She has a passion to help people and advocate for adolescent and family. She loves doing archery for leisure activities.





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Caroline Horn
​Caroline is a Junior at Penn State University studying Human Development and Family Studies, Early Childhood and Elementary Education.  She is from Philadelphia and plans to become a teacher once she obtains her teaching certificate.  Caroline is part of Apollo, a key fundraising organization supporting Penn State’s THON, the largest student-run philanthropy in the world. Caroline also works as a teaching assistant at a local preschool and spent her summer designing activities and facilitating a science summer camp in State College.  In her free time, you can find Caroline on the beach with a good book or enjoying hiking and being outside with her friends and family.





​Mengyun Chen
Ms. Chen is a first year M.Ed. student at Penn State University, majoring in Counselor Education focusing on mental health counseling in schools and communities. From Jiangsu, China, Mengyun graduated from Ewha Womans University in South Korean where she majored with Psychology and minored in Life Science. Mengyun’s research focus is on adolescents, family dynamics, and factors contributing to teenagers’ resilience. She plans to pursue a doctorate in human development with a research focus on adolescents’ well-being.

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Maeve Kenny
Maeve is a third year undergraduate student studying Health and Human Development at Penn State University. She plans on majoring in Biobehavioral Health and minoring in Global Health. She is from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania and participates in THON and the Biobehavioral Health society. In the future, she hopes to advocate for equality in health care systems all around the world. 




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Shixing Yuan
​Shixing is a third-year undergraduate student at Penn State University studying Secondary English Education and Human Development and Family Studies. She is from Beijing, China. Shixing also works as a part of the New Student Orientation Team, welcoming students and facilitating activities that would help new students from various identities get more involved. She loves to help others and in her free time, she also volunteers at a local animal shelter.

 



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Meghan Riccio
Meghan is a third-year undergraduate student at Penn State University majoring in Neuroscience with a minor in Rehabilitation and Human Services. She is from Montgomery, Pennsylvania and is involved in WorkLink and Book Club. Previously she worked as a Behavior Technician at Merakey. Her current goals after graduation is to get a masters degree and continue to get more experience in the research field.​


​Emily Geller
Emily is a third-year undergraduate student at Penn State University studying Human Development and Family Studies with a minor in Rehabilitation and Human Services. She is from Bedford, Pennsylvania and is involved with THON and HDFS USO. In the future, she plans on attending graduate school and making an impact in the mental health counseling filed. 


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Natnael Abate
Natnael Abate is a fourth year undergraduate student at Pennsylvania State University majoring in Biobehavioral Health with a minor in Human Development and Family Studies. He is from Washington DC and has an interest in learning ways to attain equitable access to healthcare and developing health policies and strategies to improve health and well-being. He plans on getting his MHA after graduation and pursue a career as a Health Policy Analyst.








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Alumni

 ​Emily Schriver - School Counseling
Cassandra Yaegel - Nursing
​Michael Kim - Medicine
Rachel Mascio
Maya Kaufman
​Amanda Powell
Maanasi Gothoskar
Rae (Yunzhao) Gao - Masters in education Columbia University
​Laura Smith
Tatum Chamberlain
Olivia Adams
Kaitlyn MacMillan - MPH Penn State University 
Ge Jiang - Masters in Education
Emily Geller - Masters of Social Work