Erika Y. Niwa Brooklyn College, The City University of New York, USA

Erika Y. Niwa is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Children and Youth Studies at Brooklyn College, the City University of New York. She is also the Faculty Director for the Brooklyn College Community Partnership (BCCP), a unique youth development program that bridges developmental science with community-based programs. Dr. Niwa's work examines how culture and context shape the developmental pathways of children and young people, with a focus on inequality. Specifically, her research examines how cultural context, particularly ethnicity and race, shapes the social, emotional, and cognitive development of ethnically diverse youth and adolescents. Her research program focuses on three main areas: the impact of ethnic-political violence and discrimination on social-cognitive and psychological adjustment among children and adolescents; the role of perceptions of opportunity and inequality in shaping academic, social, and psychological adjustment among adolescents; and the development of ethnic and racial identities. Dr. Niwa earned her PhD in Developmental Psychology from New York University and holds a BA in Child Development and African Studies from Tufts University.