Oct. 27, 2025

I-Fen Lin

Dr. Lin earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to joining the Department of Human Development and Family Science at the University of Missouri in 2025 as Coleman-Ganong Endowed Professor in Family Structure and Family Process, she held the position of Professor of Research Excellence at Bowling Green State University. As a family scholar, Dr. Lin investigates parent-child relationships across the life course. With support from federal and non-federal funding sources, she has published extensively on union formation and dissolution, intergenerational transfers, and late-life caregiving. A hallmark of her scholarship is identifying and addressing conceptual…

Oct. 23, 2025

Jamlick Bosire

Dr. Bosire is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Family Policy and Research in Human Development and Family Science at the University of Missouri. He earned his Ph.D. in Human Sciences (Child Development/Early Childhood Education) with a minor in Quantitative, Qualitative, and Psychometric Methods from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 2024. Dr. Bosire’s research centers on the intersection of early childhood development, family engagement, and educational equity, with a focus on how parental cognitions, home learning environments, teacher beliefs, and educator-family relationships influence children’s language and literacy development. His work also addresses early childhood leadership, child care…

Nov. 25, 2023

Steven Krauss

Dr. Steven Krauss received an M.S. in Social Work from Columbia University (NY), and a PhD in Youth Studies from Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2005. His research program is grounded in an applied developmental systems perspective and broadly aims to understand the socio-ecological mechanisms that contribute to positive youth development. Through a youth-adult partnership lens, much of Dr. Krauss’ work has attempted to understand the different ways that developmental relationships support thriving among adolescents and young adults from diverse backgrounds, and within diverse program settings. With over 20 years of experience living and working in Southeast Asia, Dr. Krauss also…

July 25, 2023

Shinyoung Jeon

Dr. Shinyoung Jeon received her Ph.D. in Human Developmetn and Family Studies with a minor in Statistics from Iowa State University in 2017. Before joining Mizzou, Dr. Jeon worked as a senior research and policy associate in the Early Childhood Education Institute at the University of Oklahoma. She closely worked with local Head Start (HS) programs to evaluate the effectness of the programs on children’s school readiness under various research-practice partnerhip projects. She also partnered with public school districts to examine the longitudinal developmental outcomes of HS children (i.e., Alumni) by integrating early childhood edcuation program evaluation and public school…

July 6, 2023

Megan Gilligan

Dr. Megan Gilligan earned a Dual-Title Ph.D. in sociology and gerontology from Purdue University in 2013. She is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America. Dr. Gilligan’s research focuses on family relationships and well-being, with particular interest in parent-child and sibling relationships in the middle and later years. Much of her recent work has focused on family caregiving. She is the Principal Investigator on a K01 award from the National Institute on Aging on the health impact of sibling relations on caregivers for parents with dementia. Her work has been published in the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, The Gerontologist,…

June 26, 2023

So Young Park

Dr. So Young Park earned her Ph.D. in 2022 in Human Development and Family Studies along with a Juris Doctorate (JD) in 2021 from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her program of research examines the impact of family law and policy on diverse families particularly during critical transitions (e.g., divorce, childbirth, economic recession) from intersectional and ecological systems perspectives. Her research has centered on families in the justice system who have experienced domestic violence and how race and gender influence judicial decisions. Dr. Park conducts research from a multidisciplinary, multi-method approach. Her interdisciplinary work bridges family science and law to…

June 25, 2023

J. Clay Hurdle

Dr. J. “Clay” Hurdle obtained a Ph.D. in Agricultural Education and Communication (Specialization: Leadership Development) from the University of Florida in 2023. He also holds certifications in Leadership in Agriculture and Natural Resources as well as Teaching and Learning in Agricultural and Life Sciences. Dr. Hurdle’s scholastic interests include positive youth development, the teaching and learning of leadership, leadership identity development, leadership life skills development, and land-grant university history. His expertise is in qualitative and mixed methods designs. He also conducts needs assessments and program evaluations. From a programmatic standpoint, Dr. Hurdle is interested in developing opportunities for 4-H youth,…