FSOS graduate students present research on national, international stage

Spring semester at the U finds graduate students in the Family Social Science doctoral program presenting their research at national and international conferences – a key component of the doctoral program that helps students showcase their accomplishments and network with scholars and future collaborators.

“Faculty advisors work closely with their advisees to prepare them for national conferences and build their portfolio of scholarly work,” says Catherine Solheim, professor and Director of Graduate Studies. “Over the course of their graduate experience, students present research at a variety of symposiums and conferences to develop as educators and academic professionals. Our goal is to prepare them to communicate their scholarship to academics, practitioners, and lay audiences following graduation.”  

Starting in March, FSOS graduate students travel across the U.S. and Europe to present their scholarly work. Several students’ travel was supported by the Ruth E. Hall Fund in FSOS.

Roun Said will make two presentations at the Muslim Mental Health Conference in East Lansing, MI in March. She will present, “Living on the Edges of Being Black, Muslim, Somali, and American: An Exploration of the Quad-cultural Experience of Somali Americans,” and “Are Muslim communities helping youth thrive?”

Cahya Yunizar and Jessica Simpson will present at the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Biennial Meeting, in March in Salt Lake City. Yunizar will present two papers: “Intergenerational Patterns of Child-Bearing in Early-Marriage Families in Indonesia” and “Adolescent Gender Identity during the Rise of Conservatism and Land Disposition in S Village, Indonesia.” Simpson will present the poster, “Tobacco Use of Indigenous Youth in Child Welfare.”

“Indigenous youth are overrepresented in child welfare, yet underrepresented in child welfare research,” says Simpson. “This presentation will give me the opportunity to present my research utilizing secondary data, network with peers and potential future employers, and represent UMN as a leader in health equity research. It will also raise awareness related to youth tobacco use and risk and protective factors that can inform policy and practice.”

Miguel Quiñones will present at the UMN’s virtual conference, March 31, “From Cultural Mismatch to Cultural Health.” He will present “The Tanda: An informal financial practice addressing the social, cultural, and economic needs of Mexican American families.”

Soyoul Song and Zamzam Dini will present at 2023 International Family Therapy Association World Congress in Malaga, Spain. Song will present “The effects of emotional support on the mental health of immigrant parents’ children with autism spectrum disorder.” Dini will exhibit the poster, “2nd Generation Refugees & Trauma: A Phenomenological Study,” and the presentation, “Double Minority: Understanding Refugee Minority Stress,” at the international congress.

“The conference is an international platform for therapists and clinicians,” says Song. “Our discussion, which focuses on Immigrant/Refugee families, is essential to highlight on a macro level and can serve to bring social equality in the mental health field and attend to families from these underrepresented diverse families. The Family Social Science Department is a pioneer in the field of immigrant & refugee family research and this presentation will further this legacy.”

Dini will also present at the Global Studies Research Network’s 16th Global Studies Conference in Oxford, England. She will present on “The Impact of Trauma in East African Refugee Communities: A 1.5 Generational Perspective.”

Samantha LeBouef, Lila Khan, Eunyoung Park, and Kathy Vasquez will present at the Society for Research on Adolescence in San Diego in April. LeBouef will present the paper, “Disrupting the Narrative: COVID-19 and Family School Partnerships-A YPAR Project.” Khan will present the poster, “Community-based youth mentoring for autistic adolescents by autistic adults.” Park will present the paper, “The fact behind the screen: Emotional experiences of teens and parents communicating via technology.” Vasquez will present “Understanding the digital media context for adolescent development: Data from individual and dyadic surveys, social media, and smartphones” as part of a symposia during the conference.

“I will present a paper in the symposium on understanding the digital media context for adolescent development,” says Park, a first-year doctoral student. “The study I will present represents a novel approach to the emotional experiences of parent-adolescent communications via technology which can contribute to the demands placed upon today’s adolescents. As a 1st year PhD student, I hope this conference will help expose me to new insights and perspectives in expanding diversity in the family science community focused on adolescence.”

Doneila McIntosh will present the paper, “Linked Lives and Empathic Failures: An examination of Disenfranchised Grief for African American Families,” at the Association of Death Education and Counseling in Columbus, Ohio in April.

“Presenting at the conference will help me explore possibilities of outreach as the topic of my paper responds to implications of race-based discrimination and violence, particularly for African American peoples,” says McIntosh. “While at the conference I also aim to network with leaders in the field of thanatology (the study of death and dying). Further, I aim to learn more about subject areas such as suffocated grief, disenfranchised grief, and pathological grief measures and examine the applicability of these subject areas with my emerging research.”

“In Family Social Science we are extremely fortunate to have funds to help support student travel to present at conferences,” says Stacey Horn, professor and Department Head. “Our generous donors understand the importance of professional development and networking as well as visibility for the program that happens at professional conferences.”