As of September 16, 2024, Susan Davis, one of our LEO EdD graduate students, will begin a postdoctoral research position at the School of Education at UNC-Chapel Hill, working under the esteemed guidance of Dr. Dorothy Espelage. In this new role, Susan will conduct research in applied developmental sciences and special education, focusing on social and emotional learning curriculum, supported by two Institute of Education Sciences Awards.
Her work will focus on evaluating interventions designed to prevent bullying among students with disabilities in elementary schools. Susan will coordinate efforts between the UNC Principal Investigator (PI) and school districts across North Carolina and Miami-Dade, FL. This will include recruiting schools in North Carolina for a comparative randomized clinical trial to assess the effectiveness of a social-emotional learning (SEL) program in elementary schools.
In addition to coordinating staff training, distributing parent consent forms, and developing and implementing surveys for students and teachers, Susan will play a key role in study design, curriculum testing, and disseminating research outputs to academic and practitioner audiences.