Elizabeth Shewark

Biography

Dr. Shewark is an incoming Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology, starting Fall 2024. The core question driving Dr. Shewark’s research is how contextual influences (i.e., family, school, and neighborhoods) and individual genetic influences jointly impact the development of youths’ competence over time (i.e., social, emotional, academic). She has employed cutting-edge research and statistical methods to (1) conduct interdisciplinary longitudinal research to illuminate the developmental trajectories of youth competency, (2) consider biological and environmental mediational pathways on those trajectories, and (3) understand how nested environmental contexts can increment each other in their impact on competency development. Most recently, Dr. Shewark has focused on understanding not only how adverse environments can negatively impact youth adjustment, but also identifying both proximal (family and school) and distal (neighborhood) protective factors that can promote youth resilience in the face of significant adversity. Thus, Dr. Shewark’s research program focuses on understanding the underlying processes by which youths’ genes and their environmental experiences jointly contribute to their competency and resilience development. In this way, she aims to illuminate youth competence and resilience development as a multifaceted developmental process.