Dr. April Masarik is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological Science at Boise State University. She earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and a M.S. in Child Development from the University of California, Davis, and a B.S. in Psychology from Boise State University. Her graduate and postdoctoral training focused on the identification of genetic, social, and psychological influences on human development and family functioning in European-American and Mexican-American families. She loves being back at Boise State University, where her love for research and developmental science was first nurtured. Her research interests (broadly speaking) include life course development, family relationships, stress, coping, and resilience.

 

Dr. Masarik started the Human Development and Ecology Lab in early 2016 to provide a space where she (and her collaborators) could better understand the various social, cultural, and biological influences on development. Her primary focus at the moment is understanding the stressors and protective factors that influence the educational achievements of refugee youth as they resettle in Boise. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and the Spencer Foundation recently funded this research. She collaborates with undergraduate research assistants, faculty on campus, community organizations, and cultural brokers to carry out this work. Findings from the project will be shared with stakeholders interested in promoting the health and wellbeing of refugee families during resettlement.  

 

Dr. Masarik serves on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Youth and Adolescence and is a member of the American Psychological Association, the National Council on Family Relations, and the Society for Research in Child Development to name a few. She also serves in the community as a Board Member for Tidwell Social Work and Consulting Services, a non-profit organization that provides trauma-informed and culturally sensitive mental health care.

 

Outside of her research in the HDE Lab, Dr. Masarik teaches upper-division courses in Child Development, Multicultural Perspectives on Children and Families, and Research Methods. She loves sharing her passion for research and developmental science with students (and learning from them too). In 2019, she was a Top Ten Scholar Honored Faculty Member.

For more information on Dr. Masarik’s training, published works, teaching, and more please check out her Curriculum Vitae here (updated July, 2022).