New Faculty Member Zhe Wang Joins Us Midway Through Academic Year

The HDFS department hired two new faculty members for the 2016-17 academic year. One, Monica Martin, joined us back in the fall. The other newcomer, Zhe Wang, found it a better fit with her studies to join us in January, which she did. In this posting, we learn a little about Dr. Wang through a Q-and-A.

Tell us about yourself.

I was born in China and came to the U.S. in 2008. I got my Ph.D. in Psychology and M.S. in Statistics from Virginia Tech and did a 2-year postdoc at The Ohio State University. I joined the faculty of HDFS at TTU in spring 2017.

What are your research interests?

My work primarily examines the development of individual differences in socio-emotional outcomes, cognitive abilities, and educational attainments in children and young adolescents. My research incorporates genetic, physiological, and behavioral approaches, and examines how factors at these various levels interact with environmental context to produce diverse developmental trajectories. Another interest of mine is to study parenting, in particular how child behaviors shape various parenting practices.

What courses are you teaching in your first semester?

I am teaching Dynamics of Family Interaction this semester. It is a new course to me as I have never taken a similar course myself, so it is a learning opportunity for me as well.

What kinds of things are you looking forward to at Texas Tech?

I am really looking forward to starting my independent research program here at Tech. My first project (which I am really excited about) will explore the non-cognitive aspect of mathematics performance. This project will include some really novel design that I haven’t seen in the literature, so hopefully it will make an important contribution to the field! I am also very looking forward to building some new collaborations with scholars across campus to sparkle some new and exciting ideas! Finally, I am hoping to fully exploit my statistics background, potentially through teaching a quant course and developing a new course on behavioral genetics methodology.

How are you adjusting to Lubbock thus far?

Everything is going smoothly so far. I have explored a couple of Asian restaurants and liked most of them. I love Market Street, in particular their air-chilled chicken and well-grown plants!

What do you like to do outside of school?

I like watching documentaries, doing puzzles, eating good food, and listening to music. I am really hoping to adopt a pair of dogs soon so that playing with my dogs will become my favorite thing to do outside work then!

Meet Monica Martin, Our Newest Faculty Member

The Texas Tech HDFS faculty is expanding by two members this year, Monica Martin and Zhe Wang. Monica has arrived and begun teaching for us in the Fall semester. Below, we introduce her via a brief Q&A. Zhe will not be joining us until January, so we’ll save her introduction until then.

Before arriving in Lubbock, Monica traveled to Europe over the summer, as shown in the following photo. “It is the town square of Delft, a city in the Netherlands. I went to a symposium in Amsterdam in June and spent a little bit of time exploring,” she said. The rest of the interview appears below the photo.

Tell us about yourself.

I was born in California, grew up in the Pacific Northwest and – until now — had always lived on the West Coast. Before coming to Texas Tech University, I worked as a research scientist on several National Institutes of Health funded studies at the Family Research Group in the Department of Human Ecology at the University of California, Davis.

What are your research interests?

My research examines the influence of economic disadvantage on the emotional and behavioral health of youth and families. I primarily study behavioral health involving problem behaviors that negatively influence health and well-being such as delinquency, antisocial behavior, and substance use and abuse. Much of my work examines the family processes through which economic hardship impacts families and individuals across time and multiple generations of family members.

What will you be teaching in the Fall?

HDFS 6363 (Advanced Topics in HD), a graduate seminar on poverty, risk and resilience.

What kinds of things are you looking forward to at Texas Tech?

I am looking forward to continuing my research program examining the ways in which economic disadvantage influences families and youth. I am also looking forward to collaborating with faculty and involving students in this and other research.

How are you adjusting to Lubbock thus far?

I am adjusting well. Summer in Lubbock is surprisingly similar to Sacramento, although I think the winters will take some getting used to. I have been enjoying the BBQ here and am looking forward to exploring Lubbock further.

What do you like to do outside of school?

I enjoy playing board games, reading mystery novels, spending time with my husband, and would like to travel more frequently.

New HDFS Chair Mastergeorge Profiled on Main University Website

Visitors to the main university website (www.ttu.edu) were greeted today by a profile of our new HDFS chairperson, Ann Mastergeorge. The profile article is available here.

Welcome Back for Spring 2015 Semester

We hope everyone had a good holiday break and is excited to be back for the Spring 2015 semester. Here are a couple of news briefs:

• Professor Yvonne Caldera and former Texas Tech colleague Eric Lindsey (now at Penn State-Berks) are the editors of a new volume entitled Mexican American Children and Families: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (link).
• This HDFS Ph.D. student appeared as a contestant on Jeopardy! in an episode that aired during the break. If you asked,”Who is Jennifer Harris?”, you would be correct. In case you missed the episode, you can watch it here.

Meet Wonjung Oh, Our Newest Faculty Member

We are pleased to introduce Dr. Wonjung Oh, who has joined the Texas Tech HDFS faculty this fall. Below the photo is a brief interview with Dr. Oh, to help readers get to know her…

Tell us about yourself.

Before I joined faculty at Texas Tech University, I had been fortunate to work with wonderful scholars in Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Michigan as Postdoctoral Fellow. I earned my Ph.D in Human Development at the University of Maryland, College Park, along with a Graduate Certificate (doctoral minor) in Measurement, Statistics and Evaluation. I received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. You might have noticed a wide range of geographical locations (East and North of USA and Northeast Asia) that I spent my years. To complement the compliments, I have traveled to Hawaii (the very West of USA), Southeast Asia (Thailand), Europe, and Australia, not in chronological order. And, now I live in Texas.

What are your research interests?

My research interests are in social and emotional development in childhood and early adolescence, with a particular interest in risk and protective factors for adaptive and maladaptive behavior. I am especially interested in the study of the developmental transition periods in school and family environments focusing on the influence of child biosocial characteristics, parent, peer and contextual factors (culture, school climate) on the child’s psychosocial functioning.

In doing my research, I actively seek novel, innovative approaches to address applied research questions pertaining to children’s development and the processes by which child, family and peer factors facilitate children’s developmental outcomes.

What are you teaching in the Fall?

HDFS 6343 Quantitative Methods III in HDFS, a doctorate-level Multivariate Data Analysis course.

What kinds of things are you looking forward to at Texas Tech?

I look forward to continuing my program of research on affective and behavioral regulation, relationship processes (peer and family) and developmental processes across the transitional periods in school and family environments. Having experienced warmth, encouragement and support from the teachers and mentors who have taken an interest in my own work, I look forward to continued opportunities to bring this process full circle with my own students at Texas Tech University.

How are you adjusting to Lubbock thus far?

Well. I have learned the usefulness of “Hi y’all” in both singular and plural manners, and am enjoying TexMex cuisine. I also have gone to a couple concerts at Lubbock Memorial Civic Center, which I enjoyed very much. Adjusting to the sunny weather in Texas from the Michigan weather is such a treat!

What do you like to do outside of school?

So many! Music – Listening to music, going to music concert, and playing music. Tasting and cooking. Traveling to the places with nature beauties, architectural wonders, fascinating markets & shops and, of course, the cuisine!

Welcoming Dana Weiser, Our Newest HDFS Faculty Colleague

The HDFS Department welcomes Dana Weiser, our newest faculty member. Dr. Weiser received her Ph.D. at the University of Nevada, Reno, from the school’s Interdisciplinary Social Psychology program.  Previously, she earned a Master’s degree at Cal State Los Angeles. As you can see, Dana’s years in L.A. left quite a mark on her! Below the photo are Dana’s answers to some questions to help us get to know her.

Tell us about yourself.

Now that I am living in Texas, I have lived in every time zone in the contiguous U.S. I was born in the Washington, DC area and spent my adolescence in Santa Fe, NM. I spent about six years in the Los Angeles area before moving up to Reno for graduate school.

What are your research interests?

My work primarily explores how prior family experiences relate to individuals’ romantic relationship outcomes and qualities. Specifically, my work focuses on intergenerational patterns of infidelity behavior. Other topics of interest include communication and forgiveness following infidelity, self-efficacy development, and sexual health policies.

What will you be teaching in the Fall?

I’ll be teaching HDFS 3321 (Human Sexuality from a Life Span Perspective).

What kinds of things are you looking forward to at Texas Tech?

I am really looking forward to continuing my program of research and getting a few larger projects started. I am also glad that teaching and mentorship are a central focus here as I really enjoy working with students.

How are you adjusting to Lubbock thus far?

Quite well! I did the First Friday Art Trail when I first arrived so I liked getting to see a bit of Lubbock that way. I have already learned a lot about Buddy Holly.

What do you like to do outside of school?

I enjoy cooking, wine tasting, watching football (Washington Redskins–which won’t make me very popular here in Texas!), and watching basketball (Los Angeles Lakers–which doesn’t make me very popular most places besides LA!).

Brief Items as We Begin Spring 2013 Semester

Welcome back to all HDFS faculty, instructors, students, and staff. Here are some brief items that you may find of interest:

• Our longtime colleague and current instructor Lane Powell was featured in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, in conjunction with her textbook being translated into Japanese.
• Two of our Ph.D. recipients from recent years published articles from their graduate work. Brittney Schrick, now a faculty member at Southern Arkansas University, had her work appear in Sex Roles. Kim Corson, now a faculty member at Louisiana Tech, had a paper accepted in Early Child Development and Care, which has been published online first (her topic is a “secret”).
• Faculty member Elizabeth Sharp, who is on leave in England but still teaching teleconference-based courses here at Texas Tech, e-mailed to say that, “I have given two talks here and I have an honorary Fellowship at Durham University.”
• Faculty member Alan Reifman and graduate student Tim Oblad just had an article come out on “helicopter parenting,” in the AHEPPP Journal (from the Association of Higher Education Parent/Family Program Professionals). Access via the AHEPPP website is limited to members, so please contact Dr. Reifman for a reprint, if interested.

If you have any news, please e-mail Dr. Reifman, the Associate Chair of the department, so he can include it in future postings on this blog.

Getting to Know Yoojin Chae, Our New HDFS Faculty Member

We are pleased to welcome Dr. Yoojin Chae to the HDFS faculty. The photo below was taken yesterday at the annual beginning-of-the-year meeting for College of Human Sciences faculty and staff, held at Texas Tech’s International Cultural Center. We tried to pose Dr. Chae by her native South Korea on the ICC’s giant rotating globe and it looks like we came pretty close! Beneath the picture, you will see Dr. Chae’s responses to some questions we posed, to help people start getting to know her.

Tell us about yourself.

I was born in South Korea and graduated from Yonsei University in Seoul. Then I earned my PhD at Cornell University and worked as a postdoc at the University of California, Davis.

What are your research interests?

My research emphasis concerns children’s eyewitness abilities and suggestibility, trauma and memory, developmental psychopathology, and the role of attachment in memory for negative experiences.

What will you be teaching in the Fall?

I’ll be teaching HDFS 3312 (Development During Childhood).

What kinds of things are you looking forward to at Texas Tech?

I look forward to furthering my research on child development by collaborating with other faculty and working side by side with many graduate and undergraduate students.

How are you adjusting to Lubbock thus far?

I’ve been exploring Lubbock by visiting various markets and restaurants. It’s quite a big city compared to the small towns where I lived before.   

What do you like to do outside of school?

I like to jog and cook in my spare time.

Welcome to Our News Blog and a New Semester!

Welcome, HDFS Students, Staff, and Faculty, to the Spring 2012 Semester!

I want to extend a big welcome to everyone, including all returning students, new admits, and transfer students. I hope the winter break provided everyone with “down time,” a change of scenery, good times with friends and family, travel, and/or time to reflect on goals for the New Year.

As the students move quickly into coursework, I would like to remind you that there are many resources on campus designed specifically for you (and paid for through your fees). If you have a question about where to find the assistance you need, you may visit or call:

• The Human Development & Family Studies office, 507 Human Sciences Bldg, phone (806) 742-3000, or
• The College of Human Sciences, Student Services Office, where Mr. Jeffrey Taylor, Director, can direct you to the unit on campus that can best provide help. His office is located in 154 Human Sciences, or he may be contacted at 742-3031 ext. 271. The Student Services Office has many valuable resources on its webpage.

Here on our newly created “news blog,” we will cover announcements, developments, and accomplishments of the HDFS Department.

I wish all students well in your studies this semester. Please know that your academic success is our priority! I also wish all faculty and staff a pleasant and productive semester.

Jean Pearson Scott
Professor and Chair