Upload a picture representing you and write your responses to the following questions:

1. What would you like to be called in class?

2. What pronouns do you use?

3. Fun fact(s) about yourself?

3. What you would like to get out of this class?

My name is Pia Horton (she/her/hers).

I am looking forward to getting to know everyone.

Fun fact-I love to watch Columbo reruns.

I want to learn how to conduct meaningful and practical research that focuses on issues important to my community.

My name is Kristen Durkin (she/her) and I am excited to have the opportunity in this class to take a deep dive into a topic of special intertest this semester (exactly what is TBD).

A fun-ish fact about me is that I worked in Kazakhstan and Russia for 6 years after completing my MA in Foreign Affairs and Economics back in the mid-late 90s. I had a career in strategic communicatons before I took time off to raise my three children (now 21, 20 and 17) and now I am back to school so when my youngest goes off to college next Fall, I will be happily pursuing my next career as a social worker!

Also I love to cook and in case you're wondering that's a Magnolia Bakery Banana pudding (with Nilla Wafers) in my photo that my kids LOVE! I'd love to to make it for our class sometime. :)

My name is Natalia (she/her/hers), but you can call me Nati :)

A fun fact about myself is that I did my first part-solo Europe trip this summer. Something I would like to get out of this class is to learn how I can disseminate helpful or informative research findings with my clients when appropriate!

My name is Clyde (he/him)

Fun fact about me is that I have different am and pm deodorants  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

I am looking forward to better understanding how to do literature reviews and leveraging research in my clinical work.  

My name is Ana (pronounced ah-nuh) (they/she) and a fun fact is that my family and I are very musical! My sister and I are classically trained on the piano and I also play the guitar and bass. Looking forward to learning about research and how it integrates itself into social work practice and roles.

My name is Aleyah but I prefer to go by Leah! And my pronouns are She/Her.

A fun fact about me is that I enjoy figure skating and used to be a licensed USFS Learn to Skate Coach!

I hope to learn in this course how to efficiently and effectively dissect research and better understand how to attribute it to the work I do.

I hope to come away from this class with some hands on research experience, as well as a better understanding of the research process and how to interpret the research of others that I might come across in social work readings or various other capacities.

I had positive research experiences during undergrad, so I am excited to dive in to research at the graduate level! I would like to leave this class with a clearer understanding of ways to measure outcomes in qualitative research. 

I'm Sydnee-Marie Edusei, but please call me Syd. My pronouns are she/her/hers or they/them.

Fun Fact(s): I loveeee to travel. My favorite places to travel to are the Caribbean and West Africa. I also love playing video games(mostly indie games) in my free time. I also love watching people play video games. Sometimes I play games competitively.

I hope to get more comfortable with doing research. I often feel like research isn't my strong suit and shy away.

I come from a family of sociologists so I feel like I've been around research and that I understand the value of it, but have never taken a class myself. I am looking forward to being able to apply research information to social work practice.

A fun fact about myself is I love hermit crabs and recently got to see many of them while visiting Vieques.

I was involved in qualitative social psychology research in undergrad and I'm curious to see what similarities there are with research on social work and policy issues.

I'm obsessed with yin yoga and pasta carbonara. I practice both at least once a week.

I'm looking forward to learning how to better understand and interpret research to support my clinical work with clients.

I'm CJ (he/him or they/them) (with cameo from Blimp the dog). A fun fact is that I grew up working with dairy cattle. I have a social sciences degree in public policy and Middle Eastern politics so I have some familiarity with qualitative/literature review research, but am looking forward to learning more about the parameters, limitations, and possibilities in social work research. I'm particularly interested in how to balance evidence-based practice with things that are harder to measure, such as longer-term and more open-ended therapy treatments.

Quick fun facts I love being outside around nature. Specifically being in my garden growing what I can. This year I had a surplus of tomatoes and grew tropical plants because of the vibrant colors and shapes.

I am looking forward to strengthening my research skills on a graduate level and learning how it intertwines with us as social workers and the clients we serve. As well as utilizing this class for any future research I may conduct in the future.

I love nature, flowers, hiking and art. Previously I worked in the arts and have a master's in arts admin and policy. Research tells a story and I would like to learn how to interpret it and understand it. I would also like to be more proficient in understanding data and graphs. Looking forward to learning with you all.

My name is Stephanie Polanco (she/her)

Fun fact about me is that I am a huge animation nerd, I always welcome any and all conversation about your favorite animated shows.

I am also a born but not raise new yorker living in Ridgewood for my first few years of live and moving to the Dominican Republic to do my K-12 education.

I am very interested in having research play a role in my future career and I am excited to have the opportunity to dig deeper on what research looks like.