This fall, the TSS Group welcomed two new graduate students to our team: Maria-Ernestina Christl and Adi Rosenthal. We asked them a few questions to help you get to know them.
Q: Welcome to the TSS Group. Tell us about yourself, please!
Maria-Ernestina: Hi! I am from Alabama and moved to Colorado for grad school. I am enjoying everything Colorado has to offer and am preparing for winter weather very intensely.
Adi: Hello! I grew up in the Bay Area in California and my family is originally from Israel. I went to undergraduate school at Emory University in Atlanta and then worked in an early psychosis research and clinical program for a couple years before moving to Denver. I love to travel and recently visited Brazil and Cuba. Since moving here, I’ve joined a water polo team, explored some of the beautiful parks Denver has to offer, and leaned into my new life as a graduate student.
Q: As a first year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Program, what are your current research interests?
Adi: I would like to explore the barriers faced in engaging with services among maltreating families and survivors of sexual violence. I am particularly interested in further understanding disparities in access to services among minority groups. I am also very interested in understanding the relationship between cognition and adaptive coping with trauma, especially across development.
Maria-Ernestina: I am interested in identifying variables that contribute to revictimization and the intergenerational transmission of abuse as well as investigating the effects of violence and trauma on the immediate and long-term well-being of mothers and their children to develop effective prevention and intervention services. I am especially interested in working with Latino families.
Q: What drew you to the TSS Group?
Maria-Ernestina: The emphasis on community partnership as well as consideration of multicultural influences were especially important to me. The TSS Group has consistently taken research into the community to contribute to its overall growth which was an important draw.
Adi: I was primarily drawn to the group because the research that is being conducted is both impactful in the academic field and extends beyond academia to meaningful, real-world applications. I greatly appreciate the group’s activist and feminist approach to research.
Q: What do you hope to accomplish as a member of the TSS Group?
Adi: I am excited to contribute to the body of knowledge examining the impacts of trauma and violence exposure, with an eye on improving interventions and access to services. I hope to develop both as a research professional and a contributing member in the community of advocates for women and children across a wide range of policy and service-provider groups.
Maria-Ernestina: I hope to learn as much as possible from the individuals in the TSS Group and the different domains within it. This extends beyond research and into the community by working with community partners and different fields to better serve the needs of survivors.
Trauma Research Notes 