Catherine Diercks is a fourth-year doctoral student in Developmental Psychology at Penn State. She completed her undergraduate and post-baccalaureate work at the University of Oregon under the guidance of Drs. Philip Fisher and Caitlin Fausey. 

Catherine works with her primary mentor, Dr. Erika Lunkenheimer, to better understand the role of parental cognitive factors (e.g., attributions, executive functions) in the etiology of harsh and neglectful parenting, especially in parents who experienced their own early life adversities. 

Catherine also works Dr. Douglas Teti to learn more about supporting parents as these processes unfold across the transition to parenthood, and with Dr. Timothy Brick to learn more about improving the ecological validity of methods used to observe harsh and neglectful parenting.