People

Dr. Patty KuoPrincipal Investigator

Dr. Kuo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Child, Youth and Family Studies and director of the Nebraska Strong Families lab. She received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Michigan in 2016. She then worked at the University of Notre Dame from 2016-2019, where she was first a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology and then a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology.

Dr. Kuo has spent over a decade studying fathers & families and is most well-known for her research on hormone changes that accompany father-child interactions. Her program of research is aimed at understanding the development and maintenance of healthy individuals and relationships within families. She has presented her findings all over the world and her work has appeared in national and international news outlets. Dr. Kuo draws inspiration for her research from across social science fields and enjoys designing studies to ask big-picture questions about family & child development. She is currently an Associate Editor for the international family studies journal, Family Process.

Email: pkuo2@unl.edu

Link to Google Scholar Page

Mona MillerUCARE Fellow

Mona is a Child, Youth, and Family Studies and Communication Studies major on the Pre-Law track. She is interested in pursuing Law school, focusing on Family or Juvenile law. Mona's work includes coding GoPro footage and joining in helping her coworkers in lab visits.

Aknur OrazovaGraduate Research Assistant

Aknur is a Fulbright Scholar from Turkmenistan and Master’s Student in Child Development and Early Childhood Education. Aknur’s academic interests include the social, emotional, and cognitive domains of child development. More specifically, Aknur is interested in the impact of parents on children’s behavior, social skills, emotional boundaries, and level of educational achievement.

Jasmin SmithGraduate Assistant

Jasmin is a Ph.D. candidate in Child Development/Early Childhood Education. She received her B.A. in Psychology from North Carolina A&T State University. Jasmin has researched preschoolers’ fruit and vegetable preferences, preschooler’s dietary intake, and children’s reading comprehension in relation to their cognitive flexibility. She has also conducted child assessments and assessed the social and physical environment at preschools. Jasmin’s research interests include children’s overall development, childhood obesity prevention, and children and family’s emotion expression especially during mealtimes. Working in the Nebraska Strong Families Lab, Jasmin is acquiring valuable skills working with families and knowledge on healthy family functioning.

Max Lottes Research Assistant

Max is a sophomore majoring in psychology and human development and family science. He enjoys working with kids, at the universities children's center and directing his summer community's daycare. After he graduates, Max hopes to continue participating in research in graduate school.

Betty Chebitok Graduate Assistant

Betty Chebitok is a Kenyan citizen and a Master’s Student in Child Development and Early Childhood Education. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology in May 2022 from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, her Master of Social Science in Educational Psychology in April 2018 from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, her Bachelor of Social Science (Honors in Psychology) in April 2016 from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and her Bachelor of Education Arts in August 2012 from Moi University in Kenya. Betty has researched university students’ sexual behaviors and their sexual risk prevention practices. Her research interests include but are not limited to sexual risk, contraceptive use, HIV testing, attachment in children, and parent-child interactions. In working in the Nebraska Strong Families Lab, Betty, being a trained educational psychologist, is acquiring a wealth of knowledge and skills on how things are in actual practice when working with children and their families, and healthy family functioning.