Research Team
Winnie Chan, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Georgia State University. She received her doctorate in community psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2010. She then served as a NIHM postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota from 2010-2011. Her research focuses on promoting positive youth development among adolescents and young adults from diverse backgrounds. Applying the ecological model, her work examines the influence of individual and contextual factors on youth development. Her research investigates how different settings (e.g., schools, neighborhoods) affect the mental health and educational experiences of urban youth. Her work also addresses the development, implementation, and evaluation of youth programs designed to promote healthy living for children and adolescents who are at risk of developing problem behaviors. For more information, please visit Dr. Chan’s website.
Gabriel Kuperminc, Ph.D. is Professor of Psychology and Director of the doctoral program in community psychology at Georgia State University. Dr. Kuperminc is currently conducting two federally funded evaluations of school and community based youth mentoring programs. He is a research board member of the National Mentoring Resource Center, and serves as an advisory group member for the Canadian Women’s Foundation’s initiative on group mentoring programs for girls. He has consulted with the Georgia Governor’s Office on Children and Families’ on the development of After School and Youth Development Quality Standards, and served as a research fellow in the 2012 Summer Institute on Youth Mentoring at the Portland State University Center for Interdisciplinary Mentoring Research. As PI and Co-PI on numerous grants and contracts from federal, state, and private sources, he has conducted large- and small-scale evaluations using methods ranging from qualitative case studies to randomized trials. Dr. Kuperminc was recently appointed as Associate Editor of the Journal of Adolescent Research. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Society for Community Research and Action, and the Society for Applied Anthropology. Please visit Dr. Kuperminc’s website for more information.
Wesley West is a Teacher on Special Assignment hired to support the Mentoring For Success program Project Arrive: Group Mentoring in High Schools. He came to SFUSD with 15 years experience working in Nonprofits, Higher Education, and Public Schools. He has worked with a variety of populations (LGBTQ and MSM, Adults and Youth living with HIV and actively using substances, Transitional Age Homeless Youth) in South Florida, Chicago, and San Francisco. At the Univ. of Miami he supervised field research with the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS) project in partnership with the CDC. He also worked as an elementary/middle school teacher for 7 years in Chicago Public Schools at a high needs technology academy school. Most recently, he was an Associate Director with Larkin Street Youth Services overseeing college and career readiness programs for homeless high need young adults
Vida Merwin Sanford, MSW, PPSC is the District Program Coordinator for Project Arrive. She is a Learning Support Professional with experience in program management, community organizing, mentoring, database development, research and evaluation. Ms. Sanford joined Mentoring For Success in 2011. She focuses on recruiting high quality mentors, developing outreach and training for mentors; linking to community partners and furthering the research base on the group mentoring practice. Ms. Sanford also serves as a mentor to a small group of 9th graders through Project Arrive.
Loren Faust is a graduate student in the Community Psychology doctoral program at GSU, and her research interests focus on program evaluation, program development, and positive youth development through after school programming. Currently, Loren is working on her Master’s Thesis, a qualitative analysis of adolescent girl’s engagement in Cool Girls Inc., an after school program. Additionally, Loren serves as a project manager with EMSTAR Research, Inc. supervising and assisting with the evaluation of the Gateway Center, a local homeless shelter. In her free time, Loren enjoys spending time with her friends, family, two cats, two dogs, and tortoise.
Katie Hale is a doctoral student in GSU’s dual Clinical and Community Psychology Program. Prior to attending GSU, Katie worked in immigration law for a number of years. She also has professional experience with program evaluation, teaching, and research within non-profit organizations around the globe. Katie’s main research interests include mindfulness-based intervention strategies for positive youth development and resilience. In her personal life, Katie enjoys spending time with her husband and two young kids, practicing yoga and meditation, and traveling.
Christyl Wilson is a doctoral student in the Developmental Psychology program at GSU. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with minors in Child & Youth Development and African-American Studies at the University of San Francisco. Prior to starting graduate school, Christyl was a Teach For America corps member and taught elementary school for 3 years. Christyl is interested in positive youth development, education, health, and youth program evaluation. Christyl enjoys exercising, leisure reading, and traveling.