STAFF

Our success is built upon a unique set of highly talented and skilled staff representing a wide array of professional expertise and experience. Every project benefits from the contributions of all the teams working in collaboration to produce the most innovative, high-quality, effective products possible.

Our 3C Team

Kamran Ahmad

QA Analyst

Peter Allen, M.Ed.

Software Engineer

Robert Alvord

QA and Support Technician

Christopher Cheng

Web Developer

Deb Childress, PhD

Chief of Research and Learning Content

Thea Cox, MA

Research & Technology Specialist

Melissa DeRosier, PhD

Chief Executive Officer

Stacy Lynch Dodd

Grant and Contract Administrator

Caroline Doyle

Research and Technology Specialist

Igor Eremeev

Lead Front End Engineer

Kelly Fish

Director of Design Team

Katie Garard

Chief Financial Officer

Angela Giovinazzo

Project Coordinator

Jessica Goldblum Ph.D.

Research Associate

Roy Goulet

Chief Technology Officer

Steve Grothmann, MA

Director of Project Management

Jordon Hankins

QA and Support Technician

Lauren Hill

Senior Content Editor

Chris Hehman

Chief Software Architect

Morgan Huegel

Front End Developer

Randi Ingram, MS

Research Associate

Brenda Keppel

Office Manager

Catherine Lavenburg

Project Coordinator

Edie Lindley

Research & Technology Specialist

Grace Little

Research and Technology Specialist

Elizabeth Manda

Graphics and Web Designer

Kate Melillo M. Ed. CCC-SLP

Research and Technology Strategist

Suzanne Messina, MA

Instructional Designer

Adam Morelli

Web Developer

Tamica Phillips

Senior Graphic Designer

Kimberly Pifer, MA

Director of Editorial Team

Sheiniz Rich

Lead Web Applications Developer

Chelsea Sanchez

Research & Technology Specialist

David Schreffler

QA & Support Technician

Fernando Sierra

Game Developer

Josh Smith, MA

Senior Content Editor

Wes Sommer

Director of Video Team

Ben Thomas

Web Developer

Allison Williams

Web Applications Developer

Caitlin Wood

Research and Technology Strategist

DEB CHILDRESS, PHD

Chief of Research and Learning Content

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Childress obtained her PhD in psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to coming to 3C Institute, she served as a research associate and a postdoctoral fellow in the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill working on a longitudinal imaging study aimed at identifying the early markers of autism through behavioral and imaging methodologies. She has 19 years of autism research experience, during which she has examined the behavioral, personality, and cognitive characteristics of individuals with autism and their family members. Dr. Childress also has experience developing behavioral and parent report measurement tools, coordinating multi-site research studies, and collecting data from children and families. She has taught courses and seminars in general child development, autism, and cognitive development at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Expertise

  • autism
  • early development
  • behavioral measurement
  • integrating behavioral and biological measurement

Education

  • Postdoctoral fellowship, Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (Institutional NRSA-NICHD), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • PhD, developmental psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • BS, psychology (minor in sociology), University of Iowa

Selected Publications

  • Elison, J. T., Wolff, J. J., Heimer, D. C., Paterson, S. J., Gu, H., Hazlett, H. C., Styner, M, Gerig, G., & Piven, J. (in press). Frontolimbic neural circuitry at 6 months predicts individual differences in joint attention at 9 months. Developmental Science.
  • Wassink, T. H., Vieland, V. J., Sheffield, V. C., Bartlett, C. W., Goedken, R., Childress, D. & Piven, J. (2008). Posterior probability of linkage analysis of autism dataset identifies linkage to chromosome 16. Psychiatric Genetics,18(2),85-91.
  • Losh, M., Childress, D., Lam K. & Piven, J. (2008). Defining key features of the broad autism phenotype: A comparison across parents of multiple- and single-incidence autism families. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 147B(4):424-33.
  • Wassink, T. H., Piven, J., Vieland, V. J., Jenkins, L., Frantz R., Bartlett, C. W., Goedken, R., … Sheffield, V.C. (2005). Evaluation of the chromosome 2q37.3 gene CENTG2 as an autism susceptibility gene. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 136, 36-44.
  • Barrett, S., Beck, J., Bernier, R., Bisson, E., Braun, T., Casavant, T., Childress, D., … Vieland, V. (1999). An autosomal genomic screen for autism. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 88, 609-615. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-8628(19991215)88:63.0.CO;2-L
  • Piven, J., Palmer, P., Landa, R., Santangelo, S., Jacobi, D. & Childress, D. (1997). Personality and language characteristics in parents from multiple-incidence autism families. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 74, 398-411.
  • Piven, J., Palmer, P., Jacobi, D., Childress, D. & Arndt, S. (1997). Broader autism phenotype: Evidence from a family history study of multiple-incidence autism families. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 185-190.

MELISSA DEROSIER, PHD

Chief Executive Officer

BIOGRAPHY

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.

 

KATIE GARARD

Chief Financial Officer

BIOGRAPHY

As the Chief Financial Officer for 3C Institute, Ms. Garard’s primary job responsibility is overall financial management including both analysis and daily functions. She is a member of executive management and supervises the administrative, information technology, human resources, project management, and grants management departments. Ms. Garard has extensive experience in financial and accounting management, strategic planning, and personnel management. She joined 3C in 2007 and continues to ensure the financial health and stability of 3C as the company expands and evolves. Ms. Garard received her BS in business administration with a concentration in finance and communication from Meredith College in Raleigh, NC.

Expertise

  • financial reporting and analysis
  • budgeting
  • forecasting
  • executive management
  • federal grant and contract administration
  • personnel management
  • inventory management