Melissa DeRosier, PhD

Dr. DeRosier founded 3C Institute in 2001. Dr. DeRosier serves as director of the Institute, managing 45 professional research, clinical, and technology staff. In an effort to advance 3C Institute’s mission of integrating research and practice within real-life service settings, Dr. DeRosier founded 3-C Family Services (3-C FS) in 2003, an outpatient mental health practice with 15 multidisciplinary clinicians providing the full range of psychiatric and psychological services. Dr. DeRosier serves as executive director of 3-C FS. The collaboration between 3C Institute and 3-C FS creates a synergy where real-world practice informs and is informed by research.

Dr. DeRosier is a clinical psychologist whose research and clinical work has been dedicated to development of evidence-based social-emotional interventions for children and families. She has written extensively in this area, publishing dozens of journal articles and book chapters. She has also authored several rigorously researched intervention curricula which are currently used by schools and clinics with thousands of children across the United States and abroad. A particular focus of Dr. DeRosier’s work is understanding those elements that impact implementation of evidence-based programs in school and community mental health settings. This work has informed development of usability guidelines for curriculum development as well as innovative technologies to support quality implementation. Dr. DeRosier has been awarded multiple NIH-funded grants to develop and test 3C Institute’s web-based implementation support tools.

For the past 15 years, Dr. DeRosier has worked with school systems across the country to develop, test, and implement evidence-based programs for children’s social-emotional health. She has a long-standing relationship with the Wake County Public School System of NC for which she directed a violence prevention program in its elementary and middle schools as part of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant through the U.S. Department of Education. Much of Dr. DeRosier’s work with schools focuses on prevention of school violence. She has served on the School Safety and Threat Assessment Review Group (headed jointly by Department of Education, Safe and Drug Free Schools Program, and U.S. Secret Service) to develop the Threat Assessment in Schools Guidelines.

In addition to her positions with 3C Institute, Dr. DeRosier is actively engaged in training research scientists. She holds faculty appointments as research assistant professor in the School of Education at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH), consulting associate faculty in Medical Psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center (DUMC), and adjunct assistant professor of psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). She serves as faculty and mentor for researcher training programs, including the Center for Developmental Science at UNC-CH, the Leadership Training Institute for underrepresented research scientists, and the Research Career Development Institute at UPMC. Dr. DeRosier also leads several NIH-funded projects examining how technology can be used to effectively enhance training of mental health and behavioral scientists.

Dr. DeRosier obtained her MA in child developmental psychology from the University of Virginia and received her PhD in clinical psychology from UNC-CH. She completed her post-doctoral fellowship in mental health services and systems research jointly through UNC-CH and DUMC. Dr. DeRosier is a licensed psychologist and health services provider specializing in the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents.

Expertise

• child and family clinical psychology
• developmental psychology
• social relations and their impact on health
• interventions for schools and community agencies
• curriculum development

Education

• PhD, clinical psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
• MA, developmental psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
• BA, psychology with a philosophy minor, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
• post-doctoral fellowship, developmental epidemiology and mental health services research, Duke University, Durham, NC

Selected Publications

DeRosier, M. E., Kameny, R., Holler, W., Davis, N. O., & Maschauer, E. (2013). Career progress in online and blended learning environments. Academic Psychiatry, 37, 98-103. doi: 10.1176/appi.ap.11070137

DeRosier, M. E., Craig, A. B., & Sanchez, R. P. (in press). Zoo U: A stealth approach to social skills assessment in schools. Advances in Human-Computer Interaction.

DeRosier, M. E. & Lloyd, S. W. (2011). The impact of children’s social adjustment on academic outcomes. Reading and Writing Quarterly, 27, 25-47.

DeRosier, M., McMillen, J., Davis, N., Kameny, R., & Hoffend, C. (2011). Tools to support career advancement of diverse social, behavioral, and mental health researchers: Comparison of in-person and online training delivery modes. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 7. Retrieved from http://jolt.merlot.org

Thomas, J. M. & DeRosier, M.E. (2010). Toward effective game-based social skills tutoring for children: An evaluation of a social adventure game. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Foundations of Digital Games, Monterey, California: USA.

Mercer, S. H., & DeRosier, M. E. (2010). A prospective investigation of teacher preference and student perceptions of the student-teacher relationship. Psychology in the Schools, 47, 184-192.

DeRosier, M. E. & Mercer, S. H. (2009). Perceived atypicality as a predictor of social rejection and peer victimization: Implications for emotional adjustment and academic achievement. Psychology in Schools, 46, 375-387.

Harrell, A., Mercer, S., & DeRosier, M. E. (2009). Improving the social-behavioral adjustment of adolescents: The effectiveness of a social skills group intervention. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 18, 378-387.

Mercer, S. H., McMillen, J., & DeRosier, M. E. (2009). Aggressive and prosocial classroom descriptive norms as predictors of change in children’s aggression and victimization.Journal of School Psychology, 47, 267-289.

DeRosier, M. E. (2008). Peer relations research. In W. A. Darity (Ed.), International encyclopedia of the social sciences (2nd ed.). MI: Macmillen Reference.

DeRosier, M. E. (2008). Social skills interventions. In W. A. Darity (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2nd Edition. MI: Macmillen Reference.

Mercer, S. & DeRosier, M. (2008). Teacher preference, peer rejection, and student aggression: A prospective study of transactional influence and independent contributions to emotional adjustment and grades. Journal of School Psychology, 46, 661-685.

DeRosier, M. E. & Gilliom, M. (2007). Effectiveness of a parent training program for improving children’s social behavior. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 16(5), 660-670.

DeRosier, M. E. & Mercer, S. H. (2007). Improving student behavior: The effectiveness of a school-based character education program. Journal of Research and Character Education, 5, 131-148.

DeRosier, M. E. & Marcus, S. R. (2005). Building friendships and combating bullying: Effectiveness of S.S.GRIN at one-year follow-up. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 34(1), 140-150.