Anthony Licciardone (’22)
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Anthony is a senior at Penn State majoring in Psychology and minoring in Human Development and Family Studies. His interest in both developmental psychology and, more specifically, gene-environment interactions on family relationships led him to Dr. Jenae Neiderhiser’s Gene Environment Interplay Across the Lifespan Lab.
As a research assistant (RA) in Dr. Neiderhiser’s lab, Anthony has contributed to the PA Twins Study. This study is building a registry of twins in Pennsylvania to encourage twin research and develop an understanding of how genetic and environmental factors influence family relationships and childhood adjustment. Anthony has taken on various responsibilities in the lab including data entry, data cleaning, managing the registry, and recruiting participants. He hopes his work on the project will help further project aims and encourage future longitudinal research using twin populations. He also works on the Young Adult Sibling Study, which is part of a longitudinal study of 720 twin and sibling pairs in two-parent families with both parents and twins/siblings participating. Anthony’s primary role has been to check and enter survey data, which he quickly mastered, fixing problems independently and showing excellent attention to detail. His time as an RA has provided him with the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of the research process.
Outside of research, Anthony works as a hotline counselor at Centre Helps providing short-term emotional support and crisis intervention. He is also a member of Psi Chi. Anthony hopes to pursue a doctoral degree in counseling or clinical psychology and to study the accessibility of mental health services and how these services can improve an individual’s well-being. He has greatly valued his experience as an RA and the opportunity to work closely with Dr. Neiderhiser. He encourages any undergraduate student with aspirations for research to get involved with a lab.
The CSC wishes Anthony all the best in his future academic pursuits!