Jessie is a Family Social Science M.A./Ph.D. student from Kensington, Maryland. She received her bachelor’s degree in human development and family studies from Penn State in 2008. She has been a research assistant on several projects assessing the effectiveness of family-based and school-based prevention programs. The most interesting project she worked on required her to watch children's media (Sesame Street, Blue's Clues, Dora the Explorer) in preparation for a study investigating whether very young children learn from children's educational programming. For the past few summers, she has worked as a tutor/mentor with Upward Bound, a program that supports low-income high school students in developing their skills and desire to continue their education beyond high school. She has a wide range of research interests, but currently her primary interests consist of the inclusion of technology in prevention and intervention programs for children and families, and technology's impact on family interactions.
