Tips and Tricks for Applying

Paige Greenwood, Ph.D. is a second-year SRCD Federal Agency Fellow in the Office of Head Start in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 2021. She was a postdoctoral research fellow at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and was awarded a T32 for Translational Research in Child Psychiatric Disorders. Her research focused on the compounding effects of prenatal exposure to air pollution and proximal measures of socioeconomic disadvantage on the brain and academic outcomes in childhood using functional MRI. 

Christian Clesi, Ph.D. is the Director of Global Government Relations at Special Olympics International. He was an SRCD Federal Congressional Policy Fellow in the Office of Senator Bob Casey, where he worked as a member of the Disability Policy team on the Special Committee on Aging. Dr. Clesi is a developmental psychologist and received his Ph.D. from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Christian’s dissertation implemented and evaluated a psychoeducation program for parents and providers of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder. At UAB, Christian was also a LEND/UCEDD trainee at the Civitan-Sparks Clinics, where he completed interdisciplinary evaluations for children with concerns of developmental disorders. Dr. Clesi also worked to help establish the Alabama Regional Autism Network, a system designed to provide comprehensive care for the ASD community and to research and advise on state policy initiatives. He earned his M.A. in Psychology from UAB and his B.S. in Psychology from Birmingham-Southern College. 

Dr. Mayra Parada served as an SRCD Pre-Doctoral State Fellow in the Office of Early Childhood at the Virginia Department of Education between 2018-2019. She earned her PhD in Applied Developmental Psychology from George Mason University, where she researched the academic trajectories of immigrant students in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Mayra is currently a Data and Research Analyst in the Office of Child Care at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Lindsay Turner Trammell is the Director for Policy at SRCD and oversees the SRCD U.S. Policy Fellowship program. Lindsay is a policy professional with over a decade of nonprofit leadership, policy analysis and strategic planning. She has been the executive director of a K-5 education nonprofit in Alabama, consulted with Scottish Parliament on gender disparities for elected officials, and was the Director of the Social Mobility Commission for the UK government. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama and a master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of Cambridge. She holds dual citizenship in the US and the UK. 

Dr. Jennifer Brooks specializes in the use of evaluation, metrics, and evidence-based policy to amplify the benefits of social programs for children and families. She provides expert advice on building more effective programs and policies to foundations, government, and non-profit organizations. Through an IPA between the University of Chicago and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Brooks facilitates a federal peer learning group focused on the role core components frameworks can play in enhancing evidence-based policy and, ultimately, the outcomes of social programs. Previously, Dr. Brooks served as Senior Program Officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, helping to shape the foundation’s strategic investments in high quality public early learning programs. Prior to that she directed the human services, workforce, and economic development portfolios at the National Governors Association’s Center for Best Practices, where she led then-Governor Hickenlooper Chair’s Initiative, Delivering Results. She also led the Head Start research and evaluation portfolio in the federal government for ten years. Dr. Brooks received her Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Human Development and Family Studies from Penn State University and a MA in Public Policy from the University of Chicago.