Dr. Solberg’s Team

Dr. V. Scott Solberg is working internationally and nationally on the design, implementation, and evaluation of effective career development programs and services for especially high-need, high risk youth populations, including youth with disabilities. His publications, reports, and curriculum translate career development research into practice and policy strategies that are being used by state leaders around the United States to guide their career development implementation and policy efforts and by districts and schools to construct K-12 career development programs and services. In Massachusetts, Dr. Solberg has partnered with the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy, MassINC, and the Mass Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to establish the Massachusetts Institute for College and Career Readiness which builds capacity among districts serving high-need youth populations to engage in career development efforts (Funded by USDoE, IES grant). In partnership with the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Dr. Solberg is also working with 160 schools to design and implement career development programs for high school age youth as part of the state’s MyCAP (My Career and Academic Plan) initiative. Nationally, Dr. Solberg collaborated with the Global Pathways Institute at ASU to establish the National Coalition on Career Development that brings together a wide range of national business and education leaders to discuss strategies for moving career development forward as a national security issue. In collaboration with the National Collaboration for Workforce and Disability for Youth and the Department of Labor, Dr. Solberg established and coordinates the State Leaders Career Development Network and presents regularly on the nature and promise of individualized learning plans. Professionally, Dr. Solberg regularly participates in the Society for Counseling Psychology of the American Psychological Association, the Society for Vocational Psychology where he is Chair, International Symposium sponsored by the International Center on Career Development Practice and Policy, the American Educational Research Association, International Association for Education and Vocational Guidance, National Career Development Association, Massachusetts Reach Higher, and the Massachusetts Career Development Association. He is also the author of ScholarCentric, a resilience curriculum used in schools throughout the country.

Dr. Judith L. Martin is a Research Scientist in the Department of Counseling Psychology and Applied Human Development. She currently conducts evaluation research with Dr. Solberg for the Vocational Rehabilitation Youth Technical Assistance Center (Y-TAC) led by the Institute of Educational Leadership and funded by the Rehabilitation Services Administration. This work evaluates training and technical assistance delivered by Y-TAC for vocational rehabilitation agencies in multiple states. She also helps coordinate the State Leaders Career Development Network that meets monthly with leaders from over 30 states to discuss career development topics and the implementation of individualized learning plans (ILPs). Other recent projects include career development research for the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth and a longitudinal research project on high school graduates. Dr. Martin has a BA in psychology from Boston College and an MS and Ph.D. in Educational Administration/Higher Education from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She has spent her career in higher education as an academic and student service administrator, teacher, and researcher.

Rhonda Basha is a Research Affiliate in Counseling Psychology and Applied Human Development. Before she joined the research team, she worked as the Special Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP). From 2013 through 2016, she served as the Supervisory Policy Advisor of ODEP’s Youth Policy Team, and from 2011 to 2013 as ODEP’s Chief of Staff. Prior to this, she was the Director of the Office of Disability Policy and Outreach at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), a new office charged with a resolution of disability civil rights-related complaints filed against TSA. From 2001 until 2009, she headed ODEP’s Youth Policy Team, where she was instrumental in developing national-level disability policy affecting transition-aged youth and young adults. From 1999 until 2001, she served on the staff of the Presidential Task Force on the Employment of Adults with Disabilities under the Clinton Administration, where she worked on a wide variety of issues related to disability employment at the national level. Earlier in her career, she was a supervisory attorney/advisor for DOL’s Benefits Review Board, where her work focused on the resolution of claims filed under the Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act and District of Columbia Workers’ Compensation Act. Ms. Basha earned her Juris Doctorate from Catholic University in 1984. In her current role as a Research Affiliate, she is mainly responsible for two projects – one that examines the current state of career advising in higher education (Higher Education Toolkit) and another that focuses on project-based learning/ MakerSpace and its connection to youth career development.

Dr. Chong Park is a Research Scientist in Counseling Psychology and Applied Human Development. She received her Ed.M. in Education Policy, Planning, and Administration and Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, both from Boston University. She completed her internship at the Office of Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz where she conducted research on dropout interventions and preventions. Working with Drs. V. Scott Solberg and Kimberly A.S Howard, Dr. Park’s research focuses on the examination of career development in K-12 and post-secondary settings, especially the programs and services for high risk, high need youth populations. Her research interests include college and career readiness, workplace skills, financial literacy skills, career pathways to STEM occupations, and Individualized Learning Plans. Dr. Park is currently managing a cross-cultural study of educator perspectives on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL IRN) where she provides support to career development researchers from 17 countries and runs the cross-cultural analysis. She is also responsible for a longitudinal qualitative study of young women who received financial literacy instruction in high school (Invest in Girls), and is involved in the career development curriculum design and implementation for a program that helps middle school youth enter STEM career pathways (Sociedad Latina). Dr. Park enjoys supporting the graduate students in the research team and helping them grow as future scholars.

Erin is currently a Research Scientist on Dr. Solberg’s research team at the Center for Future Readiness, where she is responsible for project management of an evidence-based collective impact collaboration focused on the design of high quality career and academic planning (MyCAP) lessons. Her work focuses on the design, implementation, and evaluation of effective career development, mentorship, and leadership programming for all youth. She supports multiple other projects within the center that utilize the MyCAP or connect with individualized learning plans in collaboration with interested local, national, and international educators, specifically Boston Public Schools.
Biography
Ms. Jaques has her B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Communication from Texas A&M University at College Station, and Ed.M. in Education Policy and Management from Harvard Graduate School of Education. She began her journey in education in San Antonio as a Teach For America corps member, where she gained experience as a middle school special education teacher in both public and charter school settings. In these roles, she created leadership programming opportunities for students focused on developing their sense of purpose and deep connection to the school community through volunteering across the campus. Her recent work includes collaboration with Boston Public School’s Office of Strategy and Innovation in developing the BPS Transformative Mentorship Initiative, a system that provides social emotional and mentorship support to students, in a way which response to their individual needs and identities. This initiative served 15 schools and nearly 1,000 students in its first year. Prior to this role, Ms. Jaques served as the Research Assistant for the Urban Education Institute at UTSA, founder and Executive Chair of San Antonio Prism – a regional branch of Teach For America’s initiative to support LBGTQ+ students and teachers, and mentor and trainer for Teach For America special education corps members.

Pronouns: She/her/hers

Mason is currently a Counseling Psychology doctoral student specializing in sport and performance psychology. Mason received a Bachelor of Science in Sport Psychology in 2016 from the University of Roehampton in London, England, where his research interests centered around the development of collective efficacy in team-sport athletes. Moving to the United States in 2016, Mason went on to the University of Denver to complete his Master of Arts in Sport and Performance Psychology in the Graduate School of Professional Psychology. At Denver, his research team explored the link between psychological flexibility and stress-related growth following athletic injury. Additionally, Mason has worked as a mental performance consultant at the Centre for Performance Excellence, where he provided performance enhancement services to academic institutions, sporting organizations, and individual clients. Mason is currently a fourth-year Glenn Fellow in the Counseling Psychology and Applied Human Development Program. He currently serves as Sport and Performance Psychology Coordinator for the Boston University Sport Psych Team, a group of graduate students providing mental performance consulting to the Boston University athletic department and College of Fine Arts. His current research is exploring the experiences of academy soccer players in the United Kingdom, and building programs to enhance their future readiness.

Hayoung is a doctoral student in Applied Human Development at the Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, Boston University. She earned M.A. and B.A. in Child Psychology and Education, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea. She worked at the Center of Youth Career Development of the National Youth Policy Institute of Korea as a researcher and at the Robert Bosch Korea as an intern. Her research interest is the positive development of adolescents and emerging adults with disabilities. Her publications covered diverse facets of adolescents such as resilience, self-determination, social support, and bullying. She has used large-scale data and advanced methods including big data analysis, Latent Class Growth Analysis, Growth Mixture Modeling to examine research questions. She is currently working with Dr. Scott Solberg on the projects of the positive career development of marginalized youth.

She completed a B.S in Neuroscience and a M.A in Clinical Mental Counseling both from the Ohio State University. She has done research on suicide prevention, the career concerns of immigrants and social justice in the counseling profession. She completed a year-long clinical internship at Ohio State’s college counseling center and was inspired by this experience to further her education and clinical training. Bushra’s clinical interests are marginalized college students and emerging adults. Her research interests include career development, coping, academic persistence and racial and ethnic identity development. Bushra is affiliated with the American Psychological Association Division 17 (Vocational Psychology) and Division 9 (Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues). In her spare time, she enjoys reading, watching films, and exploring Boston.

Luis is a doctoral student in Counseling Psychology program in the Department of Counseling Psychology and Applied Human Development at the School of Education, Boston University. Luis entered BU’s doctoral program in 2021 with a M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from New Mexico State University, and a B.S. in Psychology from a liberal arts university in Wisconsin. Luis’s research experience and current interests revolve around the applied practice and evaluation of positive youth development particularly within the context of supporting high needs high opportunity youth.

Yanling is a graduate student in the school counseling program at Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, Boston University. She received her MBA degree at Yunnan University, China. Yanling worked for three state-owned enterprises for seven years in China. The latest job was in Kunming Education Investment Co., Ltd, China, as a project manager. During that time, she had an excellent opportunity to get access to the K-12 education area. She noticed the gap in the education system that relates to career development and social and emotional learning. It inspired her to pursue graduate study in counseling. Currently, Yanling is following Dr.Scott Solberg working on SEL and career readiness. Her research interests include the impacts of SEL on academic achievement and career readiness, identity development. In her spare time, she is practicing yoga and also enjoys cooking, traveling, and freediving.

Yajing is a graduate student in the school counseling program at Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, Boston University. She earned a Master’s degree in Education at Pepperdine University and a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Psychology at Tianjin University of Commerce in China. She had several volunteer experiences in tutoring high school students. As an international student, she noticed lots of challenges for students, who are faced with various study and work choices. Her research interests are career development among senior high school students and college students, psychological scale designing, and trauma intervention. Currently, she is working with Dr. Scott Solberg on the project of higher education toolkit.

Aidan Kraus is a Master of Education student at Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development, earning a degree in Counseling with a Specialization in Sport Psychology. Aidan graduated from Smith College and earned a degree in American Studies with a focus in the Psychology of Sport. Aidan is particularly interested in how the mental health of student-athletes is influenced by collegiate athletics which stemmed from their interests in diversity and access among this population of college students. For the past two years, Aidan has worked as a strength and conditioning coach and social-emotional learning motivator for inner city youth through the Get Ready: Life Fitness Program at the Boston English High School under Dr. John McCarthy of Boston University. Currently, Aidan spends their time working with collegiate student-athletes as a mental performance consultant within the Boston area and is involved in multiple research projects within BU Wheelock College focusing on sport, youth advocacy, and inclusion and diversity. Aidan has been a member of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) for the past couple years and is a Student Delegate for the Social Justice Initiative and Co-Chair of the LGBTQ+ Topics in Sport and Performance Special Interest Group within the organization. Aidan also serves as a student representative on the American Psychological Association (APA) Division 17 Special Task Group: Making Room at the Table: Trans and Non-binary pipeline into Counseling Psychology and is an advocate and member of the LGBTQ+ community. They are also affiliated with APA Division 44 (Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity) and APA Division 47 (Sport, Exercise & Performance Psychology). Aidan plans to obtain their doctorate in the future and work within a collegiate athletic department as a mental health counselor and mental performance consultant for student-athletes, coaches, and administrators.

Turner is currently earning her Master of Education in Counseling with a specialization in sport psychology at Boston University. She completed a B.S. in Psychology at Fordham University, where she was also a member of the women’s soccer team. At Fordham, Turner worked as a research assistant on various studies looking at burnout in childcare providers, as well as longitudinal research on social and literacy development. After graduation, Turner earned a Fulbright Research Scholarship to travel to The University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia and look at athletic identity development of Para swimmers with cerebral palsy who have high support needs. After the completion of that research, she worked as an Employment Specialist for adults with disabilities at Job Path NYC. Currently, Turner works as a mental performance coach with collegiate athletes and is involved in numerous research projects at Boston University focusing on career development.

Dr. Xinghua Qi is an Associate Professor of Higher Education & Education Policy at the Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering which is located in Guangzhou, China. He is in a postdoctoral role with the research team for 18 months. His interest is identifying innovative career development policies and practices to serve youth who are living in rural settings.