Nicole Ja

NDr. Ja came to ASR with over 14 years of research experience that combines her strong content expertise in youth development, mental health, community health, child development, and education with diverse methodological tools to enhance health and well-being among young people and their families, with particular attention paid to promoting outcomes among the most vulnerable community members. She has designed mixed method evaluations aimed at improving developmental outcomes among low-income ethnic minority youth through school activities and community programs. At the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research at Cornell, Dr. Ja evaluated adolescent sexual health community workshops conducted across NY State, evaluated the 12 Collaborations for Community Change as part of the ACT for Youth Evaluation Team, and advised young international scholars as part of The Leadership Alliance Summer Research Early Identification Program at Cornell. In addition to teaching courses in adolescence and emerging adulthood, life-span development, children’s cognitive, emotional, and social development, and qualitative methods, Dr. Ja has conducted youth sport interventions and helped carry out research on daily race-related uplifts and microaggressions and the mental health and well-being of Asians and Asian Americans, as well as a longitudinal study evaluating the effects of a clinical intervention on family relationships.

As a Senior Research Analyst at ASR, Dr. Ja collaborates on a variety of assessments and evaluation research projects in the areas of youth probation and recidivism, opportunity youth, and adolescent sexual health.

Dr. Ja received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the Department of Human Development at Cornell University, and her B.A. in Psychology and English Literature (double major) from UC Berkeley. She received postdoctoral training at the Roy McKenzie Centre for Youth and their Families in the School of Psychology at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, where she conducted multi-wave longitudinal research on the role of family, school, and peer connectedness in promoting outcomes among “lost” adolescents. Dr. Ja has published her research in peer-reviewed journals such as Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Journal of Counseling Psychology, and Health Education Research.

In her free time, Nicole enjoys spending time with her husband and 2 year old twins, practicing yoga, hiking, cooking, and traveling.