Miglena Y Ivanova
Who Am I?
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Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Penn State. Former NIH T32 fellow.
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Research interests in the development of psychopathology & substance use prevention and intervention. Methods & data analytics nerd!
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Passionate about my work mentoring underrepresented & neurodiverse individuals. Advocate for equity across dimensions of diversity.
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Social media is my lab—I test, tweak, and create content that actually works!
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Big on turning research into real-world impact: policy, programming, and change.
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Not into just talking about problems—I roll up my sleeves and solve them.
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Quirky. Creative. Want to do good work—and do it right.
My Passions
Research, teaching, mentoring, and advocacy are not just a job for me... They're the driving force behind my journey.
My research interests focus on the understanding of differential pathways via which early childhood risk and protective factors predict youth codeveloping internalizing and externalizing behavior problem trajectories, and subsequent unique patterns of adolescent substance use and psychological disorders. I am interested in examining these processes by adopting both variable- and person-centered methodologies.
My teaching and mentoring approaches center on active learning. To achieve that, we need to invest the time and effort in meaningfully engaging everyone in order to foster collaborative learning in line with each student's needs. I always aim for my efforts to encourage inclusive engagement, through seeking continuous feedback from my mentees, adapting to individual needs and goals, capitalizing on their strengths, and coaching/teaching them accordingly.
In the latter part of my graduate journey, I have undergone a transformative experience, actively engaging in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) advocacy efforts. I have actively led efforts to increase diversity in ongoing studies and more participatory research. I have aimed to engage academics by prompting important conversations about the multidimensional nature of diversity and the intersection of diverse identities.
