Who We Are

Jane Powers, Ph.D.

As a developmental psychologist trained at Cornell, Jane has always been interested in adolescent development, especially the prevention of risky behavior.  Today she is a  researcher at the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research, where she has studied child maltreatment and violence across different contexts and populations including homeless youth, teen parents, and military families. Since 2000, her research and outreach efforts have focused on promoting the health and well being of adolescents through her work on the Assets Coming Together (ACT) for Youth initiative.  She directs an academic Center of Excellence based at Cornell and funded by the New York State Department of Health that connects  youth development research to practice, provides training and technical support, evaluation assistance, and resources to communities and youth serving programs across New York State. She is interested in the application of knowledge to practice and in translating research to improve the lives of children, youth and families.

Sheri Hall

Sheri is a freelance writer based in Ithaca, New York. She studied journalism at Northwestern University and held a staff position at the Detroit News for seven years, where she wrote about everything from the state’s educational system to the financial health of Detroit’s hospital systems.  Sheri has also worked at  Pfizer Inc., where her job included helping scientists explain how drugs function in the human body, and most recently at Cornell’s College of Human Ecology, where she covered topics ranging from the student fashion show to academic studies about how chaos affects children’ s lives.  You can reach her at shall.writing@gmail.com.

Karl Pillemer, Ph.D.

whoweare-pillemerKarl is a professor of human development in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University, where he is also the Associate Dean for Extension and Outreach. He also holds positions as a faculty member at the Weill Cornell Medical College and is the director of the Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Aging. On the academic side, he has a Ph.D. in sociology with a specialization in gerontology. For more information, you can check out Karl’s professional bio. The idea for the blog emerged from his work as a professor with responsibilities in the Cooperative Extension system, which works to move scientific findings from universities out to people and communities who can use them. Today, the field is called translational research. It is all about taking basic research and “translating” it into interventions and educational programs to improve people’s lives.  You can reach Karl at kap6@cornell.edu.

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