People

Dr. Patty Kuo

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Dr. Kuo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Child, Youth and Family Studies and director of the Nebraska Strong Families lab. She received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Michigan in 2016. She then worked at the University of Notre Dame from 2016-2019, where she was first a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology and then a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology.

Dr. Kuo has spent over a decade studying fathers & families and is most well-known for her research on hormone changes that accompany father-child interactions. Her program of research is aimed at understanding the development and maintenance of healthy individuals and relationships within families. She has presented her findings all over the world and her work has appeared in national and international news outlets. Dr. Kuo draws inspiration for her research from across social science fields and enjoys designing studies to ask big-picture questions about family & child development. She is currently an Associate Editor for the international family studies journal, Family Process.

Email: pkuo2@unl.edu

Link to Google Scholar Page

Maxwell Lottes

Senior Thesis Scholar 

Max is a Senior at UNL studying psychology on the neuroscience path, with minors in Biology and Childhood, Youth and Family Studies. This is Max's third year in the Nebraska Strong Families Lab, and he is currently working on his senior thesis investigating how hormonal reactivity and synchrony interact with emotions and emotional regulation in fathers and their children. Max is also employed at the universities Children's Center, and is teaching a lab section for Research Methods and Data Analysis class in the psychology department. 

Izy Corio

UCARE FELLOW

Izy Corio is an undergraduate student double-majoring in English and Global Studies. She has an interest in Linguistics, International Relations, and Human Development. She hopes to discover more about the world and develop her professional skills.

Jiabin Lyu

GRADUATE STUDENT

Jiabin Lyu is a first-year PhD student in the Child Development/Early Childhood Education program in the Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies (CYAF). She earned her Master’s degree from the University of Edinburgh, UK, and her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. 

Her research interests focus on how children's emotions develop within the family context, particularly in relation to parent-child relationships and children's social-emotional learning (SEL), especially among preschoolers. She is also interested in conducting Emotion Coaching Interventions with parents of preschoolers to help them improve their ability to nurture their children's emotional skills and well-being. 

Olivia Shultz

RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Hi everyone! My name is Olivia Shultz, and I am originally from Grand Island, Nebraska. I am a Junior majoring in Psychology and Classics, with a minor in Child Youth and Family Studies. This is my second year with the Nebraska Strong Families Lab, and I am super excited for the experience. 

Oluwatosin Alabi

GRADUATE STUDENT

Oluwatosin is a Nigerian citizen and doctoral student in Global Family Health and Well-being. She earned her Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from Zaporizhzhia State Medical University in Ukraine.

With more than five years of experience in family and child health, advocacy, and community engagement, she has worked closely with families in both clinical and community settings. These experiences fueled her passion for preventive care and her commitment to improving access to health services, especially in underserved communities.

Her current research explores how family dynamics influence children’s preventive health. She is particularly interested in finding ways to strengthen family systems so that children can grow up healthier and communities can thrive.

Angella Nguyen

RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Angella is an undergraduate Honors student at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln majoring in Human Development and Family Science with a minor in Psychology. She is planning to pursue graduate school in hopes of working in a field focused on supporting families, children, and communities. 

Katherine Pyle 

RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Katherine is a senior at UNL majoring in Human Development and Family Sciences with a triple minor in Educational Psychology, Ethnic studies, and Women's and Gender studies. After graduation Katherine plans to go to graduate school for Marriage and Family Therapy and hopes to optimize her research done in the lab by applying it to the intersectionality that comes along with family systems!