Our Research Team.

Current Lab Members.

Andy Mashburn
Principal Investigator

bio
Dr. Andrew J. (Andy) Mashburn is a Professor of Developmental Psychology at Portland State University and the Associate Chair of the Department of Psychology.  The primary goal of Andy’s work is to identify, develop, and test new approaches to support the development and well-being of young children and their teachers.  Before coming to PSU, he was involved in studies of a wide range of early childhood education programs, including Georgia’s universal pre-k program, the Head Start Impact Study, MyTeachingPartner pre-k teacher professional development program, the Read it Again-Pre-K Literacy curriculum, and the Minds in Motion fine motor skills program. At PSU, he has been involved in studies of the implementation and impacts of SEL and Mindfulness training programs for children and teachers.  Andy is also interested in educational measurement, with a focus on reliability and validity of observational measures of quality of teacher-student interactions.

For a complete list of published works, follow this link to google scholar.

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hGE5HP8AAAAJ&hl=en

Tessa Stadeli 
​​​Research Director

bio
Tessa Stadeli is the Research Director for the Portland Mindful Pre-K Project. Tessa began working as a Research Assistant within the Applied Psychology track as an undergraduate at Portland State University. Her interests in implementing mindful practices and neuroscience education with children led her to work on projects related to Contemplative Psychology in former PSU professor Dr. Robert Roeser's research lab.  She worked on the MP3 and M-Power projects with Dr. Roeser's and Dr. Mashburn's labs from 2013 to 2017 and has been working on the MPK Project with Dr. Mashburn's lab since 2018. Tessa is most interested in promoting mindful awareness and neuroscience education in early childhood as a foundation for healthy development, specifically related to empathy, compassion, and empowerment.

Corina McEntire
​​Implementation Director

bio
Corina McEntire is the Mindful Pre-K Implementation Director at Portland State University. She has over twenty years of experience working with young children, their families, and early learning educators. Corina's expertise lies in relationship-based work, reflective practice, and mindfulness practices supporting children and adults. Her previous work leading P-3 initiatives positioned her to work with a variety of professionals in the field. She has been a member of Harvard University's Center for the Developing Child Frontiers of Innovation community, contributed to research with the University of Washington's Center for Child and Family Well Being, and managed the school-based MP3 project with Portland State University. Corina obtained her Master's of Public Affairs degree from Washington State University.

Robert Roeser
Co Principal Investigator

bio
Robert W. Roeser is the Bennett Pierce Professor of Caring and Compassion, and a Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, in the College of Health and Human Development at Pennsylvania State University. He received his Ph.D. from the Combined Program in Education and Psychology at the University of Michigan (1996) and holds master’s degrees in religion and psychology (Holy Names College), developmental psychology and clinical social work (University of Michigan). He has held faculty appointments at Stanford University, Portland State University, and Penn State University.
 
In 2005 and 2016, Dr. Roeser was a United States Fulbright Scholar in India; and from 1999-2004 he was a William T. Grant Faculty Scholar. From 2006 to 2010, he served as the Senior Program Coordinator for the Mind and Life Institute and a coordinator for the Mind and Life Education Research Network (MLERN). Since, that time, Dr. Roeser has served in numerous roles with the Mind and Life Institute and currently is a member of its Steering Committee.
 
Dr. Roeser’s main research interests are in the areas of human motivation, identity and learning; adolescence and early adulthood, schooling as a central cultural context affecting students’ academic, social-emotional and identity development; and the implementation and impacts of mindfulness and compassion training programs on parent, teacher and student outcomes with respect to health and wellbeing, teaching and learning, and the creation of compassionate and equitable learning environments in schools. He also has a deep scholarly interest in indigenous Asian Indian psychologies and related forms of pedagogy, and conducts developmental and educational research in India on efforts at holistic human development and holistic education based on these indigenous ideas.
 
His recent scholarly articles have focused on mindfulness in education, compassion in human development, and the need for new forms of holistic education to meet pressing global challenges.

Jaiya Choles 
​​​Consultant

bio
​Coming Soon!

Eli Labinger
​​Graduate Research Assistant

bio
Eli Labinger is a fifth year graduate student in Applied Developmental Psychology at Portland State. His research interests include: Preschoolers’ development of Social Emotional Learning competencies; Promoting healthy transitions to kindergarten for children and families; and Moderating factors of social-emotional adjustment and positive learning outcomes.

Eli grew up in Los Angeles and West Hollywood, CA. Before moving to the Pacific Northwest, he attended college at the University of California, Riverside, where he conducted research in perception-action psychology as an undergraduate research assistant and Chancellor's Research Fellow. Eli graduated from UCR in 2018 with a B.A. in psychology.
Brielle Petit
Graduate Research Assistant
bio
Brielle Petit is a fourth year graduate student at Portland State University in the Applied Psychology program in the Developmental track. Her primary research interests include how young children's emotion regulation and self-regulation influence their relationships in school and home, promoting positive transitions to kindergarten, and how mindfulness can influence positive outcomes for children and their teachers.
Prior to attending Portland State University, Brielle attended Lawrence University where she received her B.A. in psychology and Spanish. While there, she was part of a project research team that implemented and assessed outcomes of a mindfulness-kindness curriculum for preschool teachers, children, and their families.
Cristin McDonough 
Graduate Research Assistant
BIO
Cristin McDonough is a second year graduate student in Applied Developmental Psychology at Portland State. Her research interests focus on autonomy in early childhood education, improving the transition to kindergarten, and the effectiveness of kindergarten programs. 

Cristin grew up in Massachusetts, and before moving to Oregon, attended college at the University of Southern Maine. As an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Fellow, she researched academic motivations and children’s understanding of success and failure in comparison with their parents’ perceptions and attitudes about success and failure. Cristin graduated from USM in 2020 with a B.A. in psychology.
Bio

2022-2023 Research Assistants​. 

  • Anna Travis
  • Anthony Valverde
  • Chaya Krieg
  • Gina Carruth
  • Kaitlyn Lane

2019-2020 Research Assistants. 

  • Natalie Pruett
  • Xander Kahle
  • Zoe Potter
  • Kristen Raine
  • Acsa Lopez
  • Andrew Stadem
  • Anna Mannex
  • Arecelia Pena-Baltazar
  • Danielle Rosenscruggs
  • David Wilton
  • Emily Mishler
  • Gabrielle Harris
  • Jonathan Navarro
  • Karla Gonazales 
  • Nancy Munoz-Garcia
  • Natalie Hern

Lab Alumni. 

  • Amy Cordier, Research Associate, McREL
  • Price Johnson, Stumpt
  • Cristi Pinela, Program Director, Oregon Health and Science University, Wy'East Pathway, Rise Initiative
  • Jessica Robbeloth, Elementary School Teacher, International Bilingual School
  • Danielle Rosenscruggs, Graduate Student, University of Michigan
  • Cynthia Taylor, Oregon Health and Science University
  • Elizabeth Tremaine, SRCD Pre-doctoral policy fellowship, Oregon Early Learning Division
  • Emily Weiss, Graduate Student, University of Pennsylvania
  • Rita Yelverton, Research and Evaluation, KinderCare
SEL and Mindfulness Research Team
Richard and Maureen Neuberger Center
1600 SW 4th Ave.
Portland, OR  97201
email Andy for more information:  mashburn@pdx.edu