Niyantri Ravindran

Department of Psychology
The Pennsylvania State University
208 Moore Building
University Park, PA 16802
Email: nur374@psu.edu
Phone: (202) 904-0544

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Human Development and Family Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 2018

Dissertation Title: Interactive Contributions of Children’s Negative or Positive Behavior and

Maternal Cardiac Physiology to Parenting in Real Time: An Integration of Biology and
Context

Dissertation committee: Drs. Nancy McElwain (Chair), Laurie Kramer, Kelly Tu, Heidemarie
Laurent, Daniel Berry

M.S., Human Development and Family Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 2016

B.A., Psychology, University of Minnesota 2012

PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS

Postdoctoral Research Scholar 09/2018-present

Departments of Psychology and Human Development and Family Studies
The Pennsylvania State University
Development of Self-Regulation Dynamics Project (RO1HD076994)
Advisors: Pamela M. Cole, PhD, and Nilam Ram, PhD
Tasks: Developing and testing innovative second-by-second observational coding
systems to capture aspects of child self-regulation (and parent-directed regulation
of child state); using advanced statistical analyses to examine real-time dynamics
of children’s self-regulation and developmental shifts from parent-directed
regulation to children’s independent self-regulation

RESEARCH INTERESTS

 Dynamics of parent-child interactions

 Sociocultural and individual determinants of parenting behavior
 Parental socialization of children’s emotion regulation and coping
 Physiological stress reactivity and regulation in parents and children
 Children’s emotion and self-regulation, social competence, and peer relationships
RESEARCH GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS

Graduate College Dissertation Completion Fellowship (declined) 2018

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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$5000 The Dolores Norton Research Grant 2017

Illinois Association of Infant Mental Health
Project title: Mothers’ Dispositional Distress Reactivity, Physiological Regulation,
and Supportive Behavior: A Dynamic Approach
The Claretta Walker Graduate Research Fellowship 2013-2014
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Illinois

$1700 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Award 2012

University of Minnesota
Project title: Relation Aggression in Families and Links to Adolescent Adjustment

AWARDS AND HONORS

International Society for Developmental Psychobiology Postdoctoral Travel Award 2019

Russell Sage Foundation Travel Grant to Summer Institute on Integrating Biological 2019
Approaches in the Social Sciences

Society for Research in Child Development Early Career Travel Award 2019

List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students 2014, 2015

2017, 2018
University of Illinois Graduate College Travel Award 2015
Sharon Borine Award in recognition of the Best Capstone Paper of Fall semester 2012 2012
Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota

PUBLICATIONS (PEER-REVIEWED)
Ravindran N., Hu, Y., McElwain, N. L., & Telzer, E. H. (forthcoming). Dynamics of mother-
adolescent and father-adolescent autonomy and control during a conflict discussion task. Journal of
Family Psychology.

McElwain, N. L., Ravindran, N., Emery, H. T., & Swartz, R. (2019). Theory of mind as a
mechanism linking mother-toddler relationship quality and child-friend interaction during the
preschool years. Social Development. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/sode.12377

Ravindran, N., Berry, D. & McElwain, N. L. (2019). Dynamic bidirectional associations in negative
behavior: Mother-toddler interaction during a snack delay. Developmental Psychology. Advance
online publication. doi: 10.1037/dev0000703

Ravindran, N., McElwain, N. L., Berry, D., & Kramer, L. (2018). Mothers’ dispositional distress
reactivity as a predictor of maternal support following momentary fluctuations in children’s aversive
behavior. Developmental Psychology, 54, 209-219. doi: 10.1037/dev0000418

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Ravindran, N., Engle, J. M., McElwain, N. L., & Kramer, L. (2015). Fostering parents’ emotion
regulation through a sibling-focused experimental intervention. Journal of Family Psychology, 29,
458-468. doi: 10.1037/fam0000084

INVITED BOOK CHAPTERS/ENTRIES

Ravindran, N. (2018). Sympathy. In Bornstein, M. H., Arterberry, M. E., Fingerman, K. L., &
Landsford, J. E. (Eds.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development, Vol 5 (pp. 2194-
2197). New York, NY: Sage.

Kramer, L., Conger, K. J., Hollifield, C., & Ravindran, N. (2019). Siblings. In B. H. Fiese (Editor-
in-Chief), APA Handbook on Contemporary Family Psychology. Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association.

ORAL PRESENTATIONS
Ravindran, N., McElwain, N. L., & Kramer, L. (March 2019). Parenting under Challenge:
Interactive Contributions of Child Behavior and Maternal Cardiac Physiology. In D Berry and N
Ravindran (Chairs), Dynamics of Physiological Processes in Interpersonal Contexts: Correlates
and Outcomes. Paper presented at the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting,
Baltimore, MD.

McElwain, N. L., Chen, X., Ravindran, N., McCormick, E. M., & Telzer, E. H. (March 2019).
Maternal Sensitivity during Toddlerhood Predicts Amygdala-PFC Functional Connectivity During
Early Adolescence. In N. L. McElwain (chair), Normative Variation in Early Caregiving:
Longitudinal Links to Brain Structure and Function. Paper presented at the Society for Research in
Child Development Biennial Meeting, Baltimore, MD.

McElwain, N. L., Berry, D., Cole, J.M., & Ravindran, N. (March 2019). Fluctuations in Maternal
Speech Prosody and Preschool-Aged Children’s Behavioral and Physiological Regulation during a
Challenge. In M. A. Fields-Olivier (Chair), Emotion in the Voice: Leveraging Automated Assessment
to Study Communication and Regulation in Early Childhood. Paper presented at the Society for
Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting, Baltimore, MD.

Ravindran, N., McElwain, N. L., & Telzer, E. H. (April 2018). A Balancing Act: Dynamic
Associations Between Maternal and Adolescent Behavior during a Conflict Discussion. In K. M. Tu
(Chair), Mother-Adolescent Interactions: A Context for Understanding Mother and Adolescent
Behaviors and Adolescent Adjustment. Paper presented at the Society for Research on Adolescence
Biennial Meeting, Minneapolis, MN.

Ravindran, N., & Tu, K. M. (April 2018). Maternal Social Coaching and Adolescent Peer
Adjustment: The Moderating Role of Skin Conductance Level Reactivity. In T. M. L. Kaufman
(Chair), Spillover Between Adolescents’ Relationships with Parents and Peers: Physiological,
Cognitive and Behavioral Correlates. Paper presented at the Society for Research on Adolescence
Biennial Meeting, Minneapolis, MN.

Ravindran, N., Hamilton, T., & Kramer, L. (November 2017). Taking More Fun with Sisters and
Brothers Online: Broadening Impact. Paper presented at the National Council on Family Relations
Conference, Orlando, FL.

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Ravindran, N., Berry, D., & McElwain, N. L. (May 2016). Moment-to-Moment Bidirectional
Associations between Maternal Support and Child Dysregulation in a Challenging Situation. Paper
presented at the Biennial International Congress for Infant Studies, New Orleans, LA.

Dworkin, J., Doty, J.L., Connell, J.H. & Ravindran, N. (November 2013). It’s Not Just for Teens:
Parents Use of Social Networking Sites. Paper presented at the National Council on Family Relations
Conference, San Antonio, TX.

POSTER PRESENTATIONS

Ravindran, N., Zhang, X., Green, L. M., Cole, P. M., Gatzke-Kopp, L. M., & Ram, N. (2019,
October). Dynamic fluctuations in children’s RSA at “slow” and “fast” timescales. Poster to be
presented at the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology, Chicago, IL.

Ravindran, N., Zhang, X., Green, L. M., Cole, P. M., Gatzke-Kopp, L. M., & Ram, N. (2019, May).
Children’s physiological regulation in response to negative emotional intensity: Maternal
physiological regulation as a moderator. Poster presented at the Association for Psychological
Science Annual Convention, Washington, DC.

Ravindran, N., McElwain, N. L., McCormick, E. M., & Telzer, E. H. (2019, March). Support and
hostility in mother-adolescent relationships: Associations with adolescents’ neural responses to
angry faces. Poster presented at the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting,
Baltimore, MD.

Ravindran, N., Emery, H. E., McElwain, N. L., Groh, A. M., & Roisman, G. I. (2017, April).
Mothers’ physiological reactivity and regulation: Interactive contributions to parenting during
mother-toddler interactions. Poster presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in
Child Development, Austin, TX.

Ravindran, N., Emery, H. T., & McElwain, N. L. (2015, November). Parental distress and toddler
temperament combine to predict child adjustment. Poster presented at the National Council of
Family Relations, Vancouver, CA.

Ravindran, N., McElwain, N. L., Berry, D. J., & Kramer, L. (2015, March). Mothers’ distress in
response to others’ distress: Contributions to parenting in a challenging situation. Poster presented
at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Philadelphia, PA.

Ravindran, N., Engle, J. M., McElwain, N. L. & Kramer, L. (2014, November). Getting a grip:
Sibling-focused intervention improves parents’ emotion regulation. Poster presented at the Special
Topics meeting of Society for Research in Child Development: New Conceptualizations in the Study
of Parenting at Risk, San Diego, CA.

Ravindran, N. & Hetherington, C. (2013, May). Relational aggression in families and its impact on
adolescent development. Poster presented at the Midwestern Psychological Association Psi Chi
Convention, Chicago, IL.

Ravindran, N., Pitula, C., Lingras, K., & Englund, M.M. (2013, April). Longitudinal and
concurrent contributions of ego control, ego resilience and social functioning to relational
aggression and victimization in middle childhood. Poster presented at the Biennial Meeting of the
Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, WM.

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DOCTORAL RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Interdisciplinary Lab for Social Development 2014-2018
Graduate Research Assistant, University of Illinois, Supervisor: Dr. Nancy
McElwain
These NSF-funded interdisciplinary research studies investigate (1) the role of
maternal speech prosody in preschoolers’ physiological and behavioral
regulation, and (2) longitudinal and concurrent associations between parent-child
relationships in early childhood and adolescence and adolescents’ neural
responses to stress.
Tasks:
 Pilot tested tasks for data collection, prepared protocols, and trained
undergraduate research assistants for data collection
 Monitored, cleaned, and processed cardiac data of participants
 Developed and supervised observational coding schemes for parent and
child/adolescent behavior
 Conducting literature reviews for grant proposals

ADDITIONAL RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

More Fun with Sisters and Brothers Project, University of Illinois 2015-2018
Graduate Research Assistant, University of Illinois, Supervisor: Dr. Laurie Kramer
This is a USDA-funded online intervention to help parents improve relationships
between their children.
Tasks:
 Created program content for an online intervention to help parents improve
relationships between their children.
 Designed research instruments, including developing a new measure to
assess coparenting quality while raising siblings

Middle School Transition Project 2016-2018

Graduate Research Assistant, University of Illinois, Supervisor: Dr. Kelly Tu

This study investigates the role of parental coaching and advising to youth
adjustment across the transition to middle school and assesses mothers’ and
children’s physiological responses during challenging discussions in the lab
Tasks:
 Collected, cleaned, and edited physiological data using MindWare (i.e.,
RSA, skin conductance, impedance)
 Developed observational coding schemes for mother-child interaction tasks

Just in Time Parenting Project 2013-2014

Graduate Research Fellow, University of Illinois, Supervisor: Dr. Aaron Ebata
This project was focused on developing, disseminating and evaluating research-
based electronically delivered newsletters on child development for parents of
children from birth-5 years of age.

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Tasks:
 Manage the electronic delivery system for JITP
 Enter content of newsletters for the JITP mobile website

Office of Academic Programs, College of ACES Summer 2015

Graduate Research Assistant, University of Illinois
Tasks:
 Analyzed and summarized data from a survey completed by graduating
seniors in the College of ACES which assessed students’ perceptions of the
quality of the undergraduate programs

Midwest Expansion of the Child-Parent Center Education Program January-July 2013

Post-baccalaureate Research Assistant, University of Minnesota, Supervisor: Dr.
Arthur Reynolds

Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation 2012

Undergraduate Research Assistant, University of Minnesota, Supervisor: Drs.
Byron Egeland and Michelle Englund

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Co-Instructor, Introduction to Human Development (online), 35 students Summer 2016

Responsibilities: Creating the online course, monitoring forums online, grading
weekly assignments and a final project (included providing detailed feedback to
students because this was an online course).

Teaching Assistant/Lab Leader, Introduction to Research Methods 2017-2018

Instructor: Dr. Nancy McElwain
Responsibilities: Teaching weekly lab sections, helping students develop and test
research questions, providing feedback on assignments and final observational
project, one-on-one writing conferences.

Teaching Assistant/Discussion Leader, Introduction to Human Development 2014-2015

Instructor: Jan Brooks
Responsibilities: Facilitating discussion sections and class activities, grading
assignments.

GUEST LECTURES
Guest Lecturer, HDFS 305: Middle Childhood 2017, 2018
Title: Sibling Relationships in Middle Childhood
Guest Lecturer, HDFS 105: Introduction to Human Development 2015-16
Title: Research Methods: Infancy and Early Childhood
Guest Lecturer, HDFS 450: Practicum in HDFS 2015
Title: Using Attachment Theory in Research and Applied Settings

MENTORING OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

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Mentored undergraduate students with conducting literature reviews and developing research questions,
analyzing data, summarizing and interpreting results, and presenting findings
Supervised Zhanea James on James Scholar Honors Project 2017-2018
Project Title: Effects of Marital and Coparenting Quality on Teens’ Problem-Solving
Ability During a Dyadic Discussion Task
Co-supervised Fan Xia on undergraduate research project funded by the UIUC Office of 2018
Undergraduate Research
Project Title: Bidirectional Effects in Mother-Adolescent Interactions
Supervised Ian Enriquez on Psychology Bachelor’s Thesis 2016
Project Title: Individual and Joint Contributions of Maternal Depression and Anxiety to
Maternal Support During a Challenge
Supervised Cayla Bollinger on James Scholar Honors Project 2015-2016
Project Title: Maternal Support and Child Temperament: Differences by Child Gender

STATISTICAL TRAINING
Analyzing Intensive Longitudinal Data with Group Iterative Multiple Model Estimation, May 2019
Drs. Kathleen Gates and Stephanie Lane
Modeling Within-person Associations in Longitudinal Data, Dr. Lesa Hoffman May 2018
Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling with Intensive Longitudinal Data, Mplus Team August 2017
Introduction to Longitudinal Multilevel Models, Dr. Lesa Hoffman May 2017
Structural Equation Modeling with Latent Variables, Dr. Kristen Bub August 2016

METHODOLOGICAL TRAINING
Integrating Biological Approaches in the Social Sciences, Northwestern University June 2019
Selected to attend intensive summer training on biomarkers of stress

NIH Grant-Writing Series, Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute, University of Illinois Fall 2017
CardioEdit/CardioBatch Workshop on editing heart-rate data, Brain-Body Center, October 2015
University of Illinois at Chicago

PEDAGOGICAL TRAINING
Mentorship Development: Understanding Diversity, The Pennsylvania State University July 2019
Planning your First Course, The Pennsylvania State University March 2019
Writing Across the Curriculum, University of Illinois August 2017
Strategies for Facilitating Student Engagement in the Classroom, University of Illinois July 2017
Practical Tips for Incorporating Intersectionality in the Classroom, University of Illinois April 2017
Teaching about Diversity & Inequality, University of Illinois November 2016

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
Ad Hoc Reviewer:

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Developmental Psychology
Emotion
International Journal of Behavioral Development
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology (with supervision)
Journal of Family Psychology (with supervision)
Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting in 2017, Social, Emotional and Personality
Panel (with supervision)

UNIVERSITY SERVICE
Member, HDFS Diversity and Inclusion Committee, University of Illinois 2017-2018
Organizer, Department of Human Development and Family Studies Orientation for Summer 2017
Teaching Assistants
Judge, Undergraduate Research Symposium, University of Illinois 2017
Co-founder and member, International Student Working Group (a sub-group of the 2015-2017
Graduate Employee Organization which focuses on employment rights and issues of
international graduate students), University of Illinois
Treasurer, Human Development and Family Studies Graduate Student Organization, 2015-2016
University of Illinois

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
Association for Psychological Science
International Congress for Infant Studies
International Society for Developmental Psychobiology
Society for Research in Child Development