Meet the team
Vianney Atugonza is a Family Social Science PhD student at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She earned her MA in Sociology from the St. Augustine University of Tanzania, and her B.A in Social Science from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. Her research area of interest is parent-child sexual health communication and the use of Participatory Action Research (PAR) with the goal to improve the well-being of adolescents and young people in developing countries and under-researched populations. In her previous work, she has worked with parents and young people using media to improve access to sexual and reproductive health information among youth in Tanzania. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, engaging in community service, listening to music, dancing, watching movies, and visiting conservatories and arboretums.
Elizabeth Hruska
Elizabeth Hruska is an established career development leader and consultant. She has a master's in Counseling Education and is a PhD student in Family Social Science, Family Science track. Her research is focused around College Families, First Generation College Students and also Families and Technology. She is currently investigating how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the parents of college students. When not working she can be found practicing hot yoga or navigating the screentime / fresh air / free play balance with her three young kids.
Celia Tseyen Lee
Celia Tseyen Lee is a PhD student in the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota. Before becoming a Gopher, she earned her M.S. in Human Development and Family Science from Florida State University and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of British Columbia. Her research focused on how technology affects adolescent well-being and how parenting behaviors shape adolescents' technology use. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with friends and family, taking nature walks, reading, jamming to her favorite songs, and traveling all over the world.
Eunyoung Park
Eunyoung (Young) Park is a PhD student in the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota, where she minors in Prevention Science with a concentration on methodology. Before becoming a Gopher, she earned her master's degree in Child and Family Studies and Human Life and Innovation Design at Yonsei University in South Korea. Her research focuses on adolescents' smartphone use through passive sensing, examining how digital behaviors relate to their interpersonal relationships and mental health. She also explores data-driven methods to identify more accessible and actionable strategies for developing healthy digital habits among adolescents, families, and communities. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, running, and finding new favorite novels.
Ting Xu
Ting Xu is currently in her third year as a PhD student in the Family Social Science Department at the University of Minnesota. Her educational journey began with a B.A. in Social Welfare, complemented by a minor in Psychology, which she pursued at Wuhan University. She furthered her academic pursuits by obtaining an M.S. in Social Science from the University of California, Los Angeles. Post-graduation, she embraced the role of a data manager at the Missouri Prevention Science Institute, affiliated with the University of Missouri. This experience paved the way to her current doctoral studies. Her research is primarily focused on the interface between technology and family dynamics, with a keen interest in understanding the impact of technological advancements on parent-adolescent relationships. In her free time, she enjoys traveling and savoring great food, which offers her a refreshing break from her academic pursuits.
Alumni
Jennifer Doty
Jennifer Doty is an associate professor in the Department of Counseling Psychology and Human Services at the University of Oregon and a research affiliate of the Prevention Science Institute. Prior to that, she was an Assistant Professor in the Family, Youth, and Community Sciences department at the University of Florida (UF) and a postdoctoral fellow in a T32 training grant in Interdisciplinary Research Training in Child and Adolescent Primary Care. Her research is focused on leveraging parent-child relationships and technology to promote adolescent mental health and well-being. Dr. Doty works to prevent youth aggression and cyberbullying and improve parenting practices both in person and online. In this line of research, she employs multiple methods to identify the factors that can be targeted by prevention programming. She is a Co-Investigator on a NIDA funded grant to develop a parent-based program to promote healthy technology use among teens. Additionally, she has launched a community participatory research project to understand the needs of Latinx families. She values integration of community perspectives and equity in prevention program development as integral to addressing systemic issues and ensuring long-term sustainability.
Heather Hessel
Dr. Heather Hessel (she/her) is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, where she teaches in the Human Development & Family Studies and Marriage & Family Therapy programs. Dr. Hessel's research interests include emerging adulthood, extended family relationships, and the use and impact of technology in families and in clinical practice. She also maintains a small private practice as a licensed therapist and supervisor.
Hailey Holmgren
Hailey Holmgren is an Assistant Professor in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University. Her research examines how parents and children communicate using technology, with particular focus on the emotional and relational processes that shape these interactions. She studies patterns of media use in families, and how maternal well-being influences digital and in-person communication. Her work includes contributions to Project MEDIA, a long running study of family media use and development, and a new texting study that uses naturalistic parent-child text message data to understand warmth, support, and communication patterns in daily life. Across these projects, her research highlights the central role of healthy and well-supported parents in fostering positive communication and healthy media practices in families.
Angela Keyzers
Angela Keyzers is Program Evaluator at Centerstone's Institute for Clinical Excellence and Innovation. She joined Centerstone in 2022 and currently serves as lead/supervising evaluator on four federally funded grants focused on improving substance use and mental health outcomes, and suicide prevention. Angela holds a B.A. in Psychology from Hamline University, and a M.A./PhD in Family Social Science from The University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Her research interests include parent-child relationships, mental health, substance use, technology use, and suicide prevention.
Samantha LeBouef
Samantha LeBouef is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota with joint appointments in the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health (Department of Pediatrics) and the Department of Family Social Science. She earned her M.A. in Family Social Science in 2018 and her Ph.D. in 2023 from the University of Minnesota. She remains connected to the lab through regular participation in lab meetings and ongoing collaboration. Samantha also teaches Technology in Parenting and Family Relationships. Her research examines how family support shapes adolescents’ and emerging adults’ well-being and educational pathways, with a particular focus on first-generation college students.
Angel Martinez-Johnson
Angel Martinez-Johnson is a recent graduate from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She has a bachelor's of science in Family Social Science and a minor in leadership. She is currently working as a trauma support staff at an emergency domestic violence shelter called Women of Nations. Additionally, she is in the process of applying to graduate school for marriage and family therapy. During her time with the TECH lab, her research focused on the association between parental technology choices and adolescent self-disclosure.