Our People

Graduate Fellows

R. Gabriela Barajas (rgb2016@columbia.edu) is a third-year doctoral student in Developmental Psychology and a graduate research fellow at the National Center for
Children and Families. Her research interests include the effects of poverty, acculturation
and maternal depression on child development. She is particularly interested in the self-perceived competence, health behaviors and scholastic achievement of children in "at risk" environments. Before entering the doctoral program, Ms. Barajas was the Special
Projects Coordinator for First 5 Ventura County (California). She earned her B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University (2001) and her M.A. in Developmental Psychology at Teachers College (2005). At the Center, Ms. Barajas works on The Yonkers Family and Community Project and the Fragile Families project.

Katherine A. Beckmann (kab2154@columbia.edu) is a doctoral student in Developmental Psychology and a graduate research fellow at NCCF. She is particularly interested in exploring the intersection of child development and public health policy with the multi-dimensional goal of preparing infants and toddlers for lifelong education. Before entering the doctoral program, Ms. Beckmann was a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Emerging Leaders Fellow at the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development. Ms Beckmann earned her B.A. in Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis and her M.P.H. in Health Policy and Administration at Yale University. At NCCF, she works on the Fragile Familes project. She is also the recipient of a 2007-2008 Fellowship for Policy from the Office of Policy and Research at Teachers College.

Jondou Chen (jjc2172@columbia.edu) is a first-year doctoral student in Developmental Psychology and a graduate research assistant at the National Center for Children and Families. Mr. Chen's research interests involve the intersection of adolescent, moral, and cross-cultural development as well as neighborhood effects on development. Before coming to NCCF, Mr. Chen was a program director at the La Jolla Presbyterian Church and, prior to this, Mr. Chen served as a social studies teacher at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and a director at the University Lutheran Homeless Shelter. Mr. Chen graduated from Harvard College in 2001 with a B.A. in Intellectual History and from the Harvard Graduate School of Education with an M.Ed in 2005. At NCCF, Mr. Chen is currently working on the Early Head Start Follow-Up Study and the Fragile Families project. Earlier, he had worked on the Yonkers Housing Project.

Alejandra Cortazar Valdes (ac2488@columbia.edu) is a doctoral student in the Early Childhood Policy program and a graduate research fellow at NCCF. Her research interests include the effect of early attachment interventions in children's development, and how quality early childhood programs can help bridge the achievement gap among children from different backgrounds. Before joining NCCF, Alejandra worked in Chile at an NGO on early childhood programs in poverty communities in Santiago. Ms. Cortazar earned her psychology degree at Catholic University, Chile, and her M.A in Developmental Psychology at Teachers College. At NCCF she works on the New York City Unified Performance Measurement System project.

Aleksandra Holod (ah2574@columbia.edu) is a doctoral student in Developmental Psychology and an NCCF graduate research fellow. Her research interests include the effects of poverty and related risk factors on children’s development, and the potential of intervention programs to mediate these risk factors. A second area of interest is child care quality, including efforts to measure the relationship between quality and children’s long-term outcomes, and efforts to improve quality. Before entering the doctoral program, Ms. Holod conducted policy analysis for a pre-k advocacy campaign in California; directed a multi-million dollar fund for children’s programs in Oakland, California; and worked as a preschool teacher. She has also worked with the National Women’s Law Center to improve federal policies for low-income women and their families. Ms. Holod was named an “emerging leader” in early care and education by the Children's Defense Fund. She holds a B.A. from the College of William and Mary in Virginia and an M.P.P. from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.

Sasha L. Heinz (adl2126@columbia.edu) is a first-year doctoral student in Developmental Psychology and a graduate research fellow at NCCF. Before joining the team at NCCF, Ms. Heinz earned a B.A. in Social Anthropology from Harvard University and a Master’s in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. Since graduating from UPenn, Sasha worked on a national early child development initiative called “Mind in the Making: The Science of Early Learning” at the Families and Work Institute in New York City. Sasha's primary research at NCCF includes work on the New York City Unified Performance Measurement System.

Anna D. Johnson (adj2106@columbia.edu) a graduate research fellow at the National Center for Children and Families, is a fourth-year doctoral student in Developmental Psychology and concurrently a Master of Public Administration student at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. Ms. Johnson graduated from
Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut in 2002 with a double major in Psychology and Government. Immediately after graduating, Ms. Johnson served as a Trial Preparation Assistant at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, in the Child Abuse and Family Violence Unit, where she managed a caseload of approximately 300 investigations into cases of alleged child abuse and neglect. After leaving the District Attorney's Office and prior to coming to Teachers College, she taught English in Southern Italy. At NCCF, Ms. Johnson manages data collection for the Fragile Families kindergarten study, and is the training coordinator for an NCCF project with New York City's Administration for Children's Services to develop, field test, and evaluate a unified quality assessment tool for the city's child care programs. Ms. Johnson's research interests primarily center around the availability and use of government subsidies for child care, and factors that influence low-income families' selection of and access to early child care and education programs.

Lizabeth Malone (lmr51@columbia.edu) is earning her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology. As a graduate research fellow at NCCF, she works on the Head Start Quality Research Center project and on the Afterschool Time project. Her research interests focus on early education experiences. Specifically, she is interested in home activities and extracurricular activities that enhance children's learning. Before entering the doctoral program in Fall 2003, Ms. Malone worked for the American Institutes for Research assisting with the U.S. Department of Education's Early Childhood Longitudinal Studies. She earned her B.A. in early childhood education and in psychology from Hood College (1996) and her M.A. in developmental psychology at Teachers College (1999).

Selected Publications and Presentations of Lizabeth Malone

Nina M. Philipsen (nmp2102@columbia.edu) is a third-year doctoral student in Developmental Psychology and a graduate research fellow at NCCF. Nina graduated from the University of Texas with a BA in Psychology in 2003. Ms. Philipsen earned a masters degree from Purdue University in Child Development and Family Studies. At Purdue, she studied relationships in Early Head Start (EHS) between parents, EHS caregivers, and children and how the quality of these relationships is associated with child and family outcomes. At NCCF, Nina works on the Fragile Families project and is also analyzing data from the ECLS-B. Her primary research interests include early childhood relationships and health with a specific focus on infant feeding.

Aliza Pressman (atw2101@columbia.edu) is a doctoral student in Developmental Psychology and a graduate research fellow at NCCF. Her research interests include public health from a developmental perspective, neighborhood violence, and the influence of a range of adverse circumstances on children's developmental trajectories. Before entering the doctoral program, Ms. Pressman was a research assistant at the New York State Psychiatric Institute in the Research Unit of Pediatric Psychopharmacology. Ms. Pressman earned her A.B. from Dartmouth College and her M.A. in Developmental Psychology at Teachers College, with a concentration in Risk, Resilience and Prevention. At NCCF, Ms. Pressman works on the Fragile Families project.

Jeanne Reid (reidj280@aol.com) is a fourth-year doctoral student in the early childhood policy program and a NCCF graduate research fellow. Ms. Reid has a master's degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She worked as a Senior Research Associate and Special Assistant to the President at the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, where she conducted research on policy related to women and children living in poverty and a national demonstration program to prevent substance abuse, truancy and delinquency among children. Her research focuses on economic integration policy to foster excellence and equity in programs for young children. At NCCF, she is working on Policy Matters, early learning standards for infants and toddlers and a study of the alignment of state-level learning standards and assessments.

Kate Tarrant (kct2102@columbia.edu) is a third-year doctoral student in Curriculum and Teaching, concentrating on early childhood policy. As a graduate research fellow at NCCF, Ms. Tarrant works on the Early Care and Education Workforce Initiative and Policy Matters. In addition, she is currently the Assessment Coordinator for the NCCF project with New York City's Administration for Children's Services to develop, field test, and evaluate a unified quality assessment tool for early care and education programs in New York City. Her research interests include the application of early care and education policy to teachers in different types of early learning settings. She is also interested in the development of comprehensive and inclusive early childhood systems. Ms. Tarrant earned her Masters Degree in Public Administration at Columbia University 's School of International and Public Affairs, with a concentration in Social Policy. She is a consultant for New York City's Administration for Children Services Division of Child Care and Head Start. Previously, she worked as the Public Policy Specialist for Good Beginnings Alliance - Hawaii, an early childhood intermediary organization.

Selected Publications and Presentations of Kate Tarrant