Development in School Contexts
George Mason University
Timothy W. Curby
Dr. Curby joined the Psychology Department faculty in Fall 2008 as an assistant professor of applied developmental psychology. Dr. Curby’s work focuses on teacher-student interactions and applying advanced statistical models to school-based research. Dr. Curby had a rich graduate experience at the University of Virginia (Ph.D. 2008, Curry School of Education). For his last two years, he was a fellow in the IES-funded pre-doctoral training program in education sciences. During this time, he has had intensive school-based research training by Sara E. Rimm-Kaufman and Robert Pianta and fruitful research experiences in the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning.
Craig S. Bailey
Craig is a doctoral student originally from South Dakota. As an undergraduate, he worked for five years in childcare developing a passion for fostering positive development in children. Having earned a B.S. in Psychology from South Dakota State University, Craig is now happily living in Northern Virginia. With his passion for research, he aspires to investigate preschooler’s development of self-regulation, making a point to focus on caregiver-child interactions and resulting socio-emotional skills.
Abby Carlson
Abby is a doctoral student in the ADP program. She received her B.S.
in Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University. She has worked in
numerous areas of early childhood education over the years, developing
an interest in cognitive development and predictors of academic
achievement. Abby’s current research interests include the development
of fine motor skills, visual-motor integration, working memory and
their contributions to academic achievement.
Noora Hamdan
Noora is a first year M.A. student from Northern Virginia. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from James Madison University with a B.A. in political science in 2011. As an undergraduate, she worked to take as many foundational upper level psychology courses as possible, in order to increase her own knowledge base as well as feed her passion for the field. She is in general interested in gaining an enlightened understanding as to what is involved in encouraging positive development in children. Specifically, she seeks to investigate young children's development of academic and socio-emotional competencies in relation to caregiver-child dynamic and interaction.
Grace Howarth
Curriculum Vitae
Helyn Kim
I graduated from the University of Virginia in 2007 with a B.A. in psychology and a Masters of Teaching in the Early Childhood & Developmental Risk program. I worked as an early childhood special education teacher in the Fairfax County Public School system for three years before coming to George Mason. I am a second year masters student in the ADP program and am currently working in Dr. Curby’s lab. I am currently looking at the associations between early motor skills, cognitive skills, and social skills in preschool-aged children with developmental disorders.
Lauren Royster
Beth Warsof
Beth is in her third year of doctoral studies in Applied Developmental Psychology. She earned her B.A. in Elementary Education at American University and developed an interest in developmental disabilities while working with students with autism in her special education classroom. She went on to earn her M.Ed. in Educational Psychology at the University of Virginia and has continued her study of child development at George Mason. She is particularly interested in the neurocognitive profile of Autism Spectrum Disorders and its application for improving diagnosis and intervention. With her degree, she hopes to work with families to provide diagnostic, educational, and family support services for individuals on the autism spectrum.
Mike Widerman
Mike is a second-year M.A. student in the ADP program. He received his B.A. in psychology from McDaniel College in 2008 before working for the Research Institute on Aging as a Research Assistant for a year. His research interests include looking at how learning is affected by certain situations and in the presence of various external stimuli (e.g., music). He would like to study what social and environmental contexts facilitate or hinder the learning process and other cognitive functions, such as memory and attention span.
Matt Willis
Matt is a returned Peace Corps volunteer who served in Namibia from 2005 to 2007. He received his B.S. in mathematics from James Madison University. His interests include social and emotional development and the application of developmental research to international education programs.