Soto , Danya

Danya Soto Leyva (she/her) is a doctoral student in the School Psychology area within the Department of Educational Psychology. Steve Quintana is her advisor. Danya was born and raised in Mexico City and as a teenager moved with her family to the U.S. She graduated from DePaul University in 2019 with a degree in psychology and minors in early childhood education and political thought. Her research interests include community-based research, participatory action research, mindfulness interventions for BIPOC youth, race-based stress, acculturation, biculturalism, and child and adolescent psychopathology.

Bednarek, Gina

Gina Bednarek is a doctoral student in the School Psychology area within the Department of Educational Psychology and is advised by Dr. Andy Garbacz. She earned her BS in Psychology from UW-Madison and after graduation worked as a Research Specialist at the HealthEmotions Research Institute investigating childhood anxiety disorders. Gina currently collaborates with Dr. Garbacz to assist different state and community organizations with their goals surrounding family-school-community partnerships. Her research interests include learning how we can improve child and adolescent social-emotional assessment practices to better support families, schools, and clinicians.