April Rose Vollmer
Doctoral Candidate
Graduate Research Assistant
5057 Woodward Ave., Suite 7403
Website(s)
Social media
bsky.app/profile/aprilrosevollmer.bsky.social
www.linkedin.com/in/aprilrosevollmer
Department
Psychology
April Rose Vollmer
April (she/they) is a third-year doctoral candidate studying Developmental Science under the mentorship of Dr. Olivenne Skinner. She is passionate about investigating trajectories and mechanisms related to positive youth development. Her research focuses on the associations between identity development and various psychosocial (e.g., anxiety) and academic (e.g., educational aspirations) outcomes. As a developmental scientist and advocate for positive social change, April's mission is to produce research findings that can support and inform policy, advocacy, and intervention work designed to advance positive youth development within educational institutions (e.g., public schools, universities), especially for underserved student populations. Part of that work requires understanding the various societal and systemic forces that impact adolescents and their families. Therefore, her work is guided by my core values of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) within educational contexts.
Research interest(s)/area of expertise
April uses ecological system theories to study adolescent identity and academic development to address and advocate for positive youth development in underserved populations.
Areas of expertise:
- Adolescent identity and academic development.
- Gender and gender identity development.
Education
- M.A. Psychological Sciences
- B.S. Psychology & Spanish
Selected publications
- Vollmer, A. R., Zhu, D., & Cheah, C. S. L. (2025). Development in context: Commonalities and specificities. Journal of Genetic Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221325.2025.2496772
Perkins, K. A., Skinner, O. D., Burnett, M., Vollmer, A. R., Kurtz-Costes, B., & Rowley, S. J. (2025). Longitudinal associations between math self-concept and math Black–White stereotypes among Black adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 35, e70014. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.70014 - Skinner, O., & Vollmer, A. R. (2024). Gender identity development. In W. Troop-Gordon & E. Neblett (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Adolescence (2nd ed., pp. 162–173). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-96023-6.00120-2
- Jenson, R., Lee, M., Vollmer, A. R., Maroushek, E., & Hughes, A. (2024). Exploring programmatic elements that foster neurodiverse children and adolescents’ participation in informal STEM learning programs: A systematic review. Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Science Education Research, 6(22). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43031-024-00113-9