Mariah Contreras

Mariah Contreras, Ph.D., completed her doctoral training in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development at Tufts University in 2015. She holds a B.A. from Colgate University in Educational Studies and Art and Art History and an M.A. from Tufts in Applied Child Development. Her dissertation, Young Mothers’ Early Ethnic-Racial Socialization and Children’s School Readiness, was supported by a National Academy of Education/ Spencer Dissertation Fellowship and was among the first studies to utilize TIER data from the MHFE-2 Early Childhood Study.

Mariah’s program of research focuses on linguistically and ethnically diverse populations in the U.S. context; with specific aims to document the development of adaptive parenting processes (e.g. ethnic-racial socialization) and parent-child dynamics across early childhood, and understand how these processes link to young children’s well-being and school readiness.

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Tufts University (2011 — 2015)
• M.A. Tufts University (2008 — 2011)
• B.A. Colgate University (1999 — 2003)

Companies

• Instructor Tufts University (2016)
• Research Scientist Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development (2022 — 2022)
• Teaching Fellow Harvard University Graduate School of Education (2019 — 2020)
• Postdoctoral Scholar Tufts Interdisciplinary Evaluation Research (TIER) (2015 — 2017)
• Doctoral Research Analyst Tufts University (2008 — 2015)
• Prospect Development Coordinator Weill Cornell Medical College (2006 — 2008)
• Development Associate Weill Cornell Medical College (2004 — 2006)
• Development Associate The New York Botanical Garden (2003 — 2004)