LISA SHANTY
Lisa Shanty is a doctoral candidate in the Applied Developmental Psychology Ph.D. program. Her dissertation research focuses on how infant/toddler home visitors promote positive parent-child interaction during their home visits, the barriers they encounter, and how they can be better supported in their work with high-risk families. Her applied work has focused on early identification and intervention for developmental delays and disabilities in infants and toddlers, as well as the promotion of early childhood social and emotional development. She currently works as a senior research assistant at the Center for Autism and Related Disorders at the Kennedy Krieger Institute.
ANIKA AQUINO
Anika is a third-year graduate student in the Applied Developmental Psychology Ph.D. program. She is interested in prevention and intervention strategies that support early childhood education and care, particularly among families of color and immigrant families. She hopes to unpack relationships (with a cultural lens) that occur between early childhood service providers and the children/families they serve, and the implications these have on 1. quality of services and 2. family and child outcomes. She is currently involved as a Center Specialist in the Home Visiting Training Certificate Program at UMBC that supports the professional development of federally funded home visitors in the state of Maryland. She aspires to conduct participatory research that will promote equity, empower others, and inform systems on how to best support and protect early childhood experiences for these historically marginalized communities.