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Department: Early Childhood, Youth, and Family Studies

Research Focus: Parental experiences of children with disabilities and grandparents raising grandchildren.

Potential Student Project(s):

Students can assist in the review of literature on family caregiving, and the development of policy briefs/papers. Students will gain hands-on coding experience and learn how to facilitate small focus groups. Students will complete a literature review examining father caregiving and kinship caregiving, help to develop an interview study, collect data, and present findings at a conference or write a manuscript for publication as a policy brief.

Attributes/skills/background sought in undergraduate:

I am seeking students who would like to learn more about family caregiving throughout generations. I seek students who are eager to turn research into practice. The skills needed to complete any research project include strong writing, rigorous analysis, creativity, and clear findings. Another component of effective research is the use of academic sources that address one's research question.

Mentoring Plan:

We will meet on a weekly basis to review progress on assigned research tasks. Students must be familiar with Google Drive and BSU library databases. I will provide guidance and suggestions, and for those interested, they may join in local conferences or talks related to the research topic. The student will spend 5 hours per week on research and meet with me for 1 hour per week, either face-to-face or online.

Contact: 765-285-5166, TC 635

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