Research Associates
Rusti (Eleanore) Berent, Ph.D.
Research Associate, Children's Institute
(585) 458-2208 (ext. 15)
Dr. Berent's research interests include the study of how parents and children change as a result of their participation in community-based educational programs. In addition, she studies issues surrounding program evaluation and its use in documenting outcomes, improving programs, and making policy.
Stephen L. Fielding, Ph.D.
Research Associate, Children's Institute
(585) 295-1000
Dr. Fielding conducts evaluations for elementary schools and non-profits. Recent evaluations include his role as principal investigator for the Monroe County Office of Mental Health's system of care grant, and Catholic Families Center's prisoner re-entry program, among others. A sociologist, his prior research focused on women's health, medical malpractice claims, and patient socio-economic status and hospital stay.
A. Dirk Hightower, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Senior Research Associate, Children's Institute
(585) 295-1000
Dr. Hightower's primary interests include social and emotional assessment, promoting healthy skill development, evidenced-based prevention interventions for young children, community collaboration and the use and development of web-based decision support systems to enhance the translation and use of information.
Jody Todd Manly, Ph.D.
Clinical Director, Senior Research Associate, Mt. Hope Family Center
Assistant Professor (part-time), CSP
(585) 275-2991
Dr. Manly has been involved in research and clinical intervention with maltreated children and their families for more than fifteen years. Her research interests broadly include various aspects of developmental psychopathology, with a particular emphasis on treatment evaluation for intervention with maltreated children, definitions of child maltreatment, risk and protective factors relating to school adaptation, familial violence, early childhood development, and trauma in childhood.
Paul McAfee, M.B.A.
COMET Director and Research Associate, Children's Institute
pmcafee@childrensinstitute.net
(585) 295-1000
Primary interests include the application of web-based relational databases and their effects on student performance when used to track social and emotional, as well as academic, development longitudinally, and to measure the efficacy of related interventions.
Research Associate, Mt. Hope Family Center
(585) 275-2991 ext. 318
To investigate the clinical and developmental processes that underlie relations between child maltreatment, psychopathology and substance use among adolescents. Specifically, studying how child personality, behavior and biological systems underlie the relationship between maltreatment and youth development of SUD.
Shira May Peterson, Ph.D.
Research Associate, Children's Institute
(585) 295-1000 (ext. 233)
Dr. Peterson is an educational researcher whose interests include research in early childhood education, adult-child discourse, language environments in preschool, early literacy, and the role of language in cognition. She is currently involved in the evaluation of a mentorship program for early childhood educators.
Christie L. Petrenko, Ph.D.
Research Associate, Mt. Hope Family Center
christie_petrenko@urmc.rochester.edu
(585) 295-2991 (ext. 241)
Broadly, Dr. Petrenko’s research focuses on the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on child development. She is currently developing a preventive intervention with the aim of reducing adverse outcomes (e.g., mental health problems, substance use, delinquency) in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Related research interests include developmental psychopathology, risk and protective factors, maltreatment, out-of-home care, and neuropsychology.
Fred Rogosch, Ph.D.
Senior Research Associate, Mt. Hope Family Center
Associate Professor, CSP
(585) 275-2991
Dr. Rogosch's research interests include developmental psychopathology, risk/protective processes, parenting, socio-emotional development, developmental pathways, resilience, and prevention.