The CSC Welcomes Jenae Neiderhiser to Penn State

We are delighted to welcome Jenae Neiderhiser to Penn State!

Jenae has joined the Developmental area of the Psychology Department. A Pennsylvania native, Jenae is no stranger to Penn State, having received her doctorate from the Human Development and Family Studies department in 1994. She began her graduate studies with Robert Plomin, focusing upon the interplay of genes and environment. She is recently coming from a position as a Research Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at George Washington University.

Jenae’s past and present research interests compliment the multidisciplinary nature of our work here at the Child Study Center, as well as the Psychology and HDFS departments more generally. She is interested in children’s resilience factors, and curious about what internal resources children bring when overcoming adverse situations. Her research uses adoption studies to examine the influence of children in the interplay of genes and environment. Her work in this area is well-known, particularly in The Nonshared Environment in Adolescent Development (NEAD) project and the Young Adult Sibling Study (YASS), which examine complex family structures from the family, individual, and genetic level (with DNA samples). Jenae is excited about the Children, Youth, and Family Consortium’s (CYFC) initiative to build developmental behavioral genetics across multiple domains here at Penn State. She additionally cites the positive, supportive, and exciting environment here as a motivation for joining the faculty. Jenae hopes to interact with both faculty and students to mobilize neuroscience initiatives as well as focusing more of her time and energy on molecular genetics.

Welcome, Jenae!