Melissa Richards successfully defends doctoral dissertation

January 13, 2015 – Congratulations to Melissa Richards (mentor: Calvert) on the successful defense of her doctoral dissertation, “Young Children’s Parasocial Relationships: Media Characters as 21st Century Playmates.”

Melissa has accepted a competitive postdoctoral fellowship in the child and family research section at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Child Development (NICHD) under the direction of Dr. Marc Bornstein. In this position, which is the result of an inter-agency agreement between the NICHD and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Melissa will investigate the developmental characteristics, safety, and age appropriateness of child play with toys.