Amy Claessens is a third-year student in the Human Development and Social Policy program. She graduated with a BS in Social Policy from Northwestern University in 1998. After graduating she spent time doing research, direct service with homeless families, and finally policy advocacy work. Most recently, she worked as a policy associate at Action for Children (formerly Day Care Action Council of Illinois) doing state and federal policy analysis and advocacy for early childhood education and care programs. Her own work and research interests are in the area of early childhood education and care, as well as families in poverty. Currently, she works with Professor Greg Duncan on two main projects, the New Hope eight-year follow-up and research on school readiness using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of Kindergarten (ECLSK). She is excited to be a part of the innovative, multidisciplinary program in education and hopes to advance the field of early childhood education policy through her affiliation with the MPES program.

Genna Cohen is a senior at Northwestern University (NU) majoring in health care social policy in the School of Education and Social Policy (SESP). She graduated magna cum laude from the Woodward Academy in Atlanta, Georgia where she was a nationally ranked policy debater and founding member of her high school’s chapter of Amnesty International. At NU, Genna has worked as a Research Assistant with the Dr. Chase-Lansdale research team at the Institute for Policy Research (IPR) and at Cells to Society (C2S): The Center on Social Disparities and Health. She has also sat on the SESP Undergraduate Committee and volunteered with the Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization Illinois Affiliate.

Genna’s thesis project was generously supported by the Health Literacy and Learning Program (HeLP). Her study of health mindedness and health behavior among emerging adults was developed and executed with the help of Dr. Michael S. Wolf, Dr. P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale, and the Chase-Lansdale research team at IPR. Her favorite distractions from work are snowboarding, cooking, aerobic kickboxing, and Joey’s Brickhouse.

I am currently a senior undergraduate student in Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy. I will be recieving a Bachelor of Science in Education and Social Policy, with a degree concentration of Human Development and Psychological Services. I was born, raised, and currently make my permanent residence in Chicago, Illinois.

Laura is a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology (Ph.D.) at the Catholic University of America, in Washington, DC.  She is currently completing her predoctoral internship at the counseling center at American University, which will end in July 2008.  Upon completion of her internship, Laura will work as a postdoctoral psychology associate at a state psychiatric hospital in Maryland, in pursuit of licensure as a clinical psychologist.