Family Social Science professors awarded grants

Xiaoran Sun, assistant professor, and Lindsey Weiler, associate professor and Family Social Science Department honors faculty representative, have been awarded grants for research projects.

Xiaoran Sun’s research project, “Using Machine Learning and Large-Scale Longitudinal Data to Identify Key Adolescent Social Determinants of Educational Attainment in White, Black, and Latinx Adults,” has been awarded a $50,000 Spencer Foundation grant.

Sun uses innovative statistical and computational methods to understand family dynamics and youth well-being across the lifespan. Her research leverages a variety of data types, including multi-member family panel data, national longitudinal databases, and high-intensity digital data to understand the ways family systems and processes shape achievements and well-being during adolescence and young adulthood.

Lindsey Weiler has been awarded a Mental Research Institute $25,000 grant for the research project,“Improving Human Relationships through Youth Mentors’ Use of Emotion Coaching.”

Weiler is a recognized expert in community-based research and a member of the Research Board of the National Mentoring Resource Center. Her research has contributed to the growing science of relational preventive interventions, including the establishment and testing of innovative trauma-informed program models specified for children exposed to adverse childhood experiences.