Maria Elder (’25)

Maria is a third-year student at Penn State from Arlington, Massachusetts. She studies Biology with a focus on vertebrate physiology and is minoring in Psychology. Maria’s studies reflect her long-held passion for pediatrics, and she credits courses like developmental psychology at Penn State for helping cement her interest in working with children. Maria hopes to learn more about how parents may shape developmental outcomes for their children as well as how children learn to interact with others and the world around them. After graduation, she plans to work for a few years to gain experience in the medical field before enrolling in physician’s assistant school.

Maria has had a wide breadth of research experiences at Penn State. She is currently working with Dr. Amy Marshall as an undergraduate research assistant on the Children, Intimate Relationships, Conflictual Life Events, and Stress Study (CIRCLES), which is designed to understand how past and present stress impacts the way individuals and families experience conflict. Maria works as a coder on the project by reviewing participant interviews designed to understand and organize the ways in which they experience conflict. She also composes newsletters that are sent out to families participating in the study. Maria is currently planning an honors thesis with Dr. Marshall. She expects to evaluate how parents similarly evaluate their child’s wellbeing. Maria has also worked with Dr. Claire Thomas, associate professor of biology at Penn State, and Dr. Sunny Bai, assistant professor at The Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health at the University of Oregon.

Outside of the lab and the classroom, Maria enjoys going to the gym, doing Pilates, cooking, and baking. She is the treasurer of Schreyer for Women, a career development organization in the Schreyer Honors College, and is the president of the Tri-Beta Biological Honor Society.

The CSC wishes Maria all the best in her future academic pursuits!