11CEA Conference Awards

Dr. Sam McKay is a postdoctoral researcher at Orygen, and the Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne where he currently leads the education research stream in the Suicide Prevention research group. Sam’s research interests centre on youth mental health and the factors that promote healthy development during adolescence and emerging adulthood. He is currently leading the NHMRC funded Multi Modal Approach to Preventing Suicide in Schools (MAPSS) trial that is running across high schools in North West Melbourne. His other research explores the ways adapting to other countries and cultures influence international students’ identities, skill development, mental health, and wellbeing. Sam Completed his PhD as part of a partner program through Swinburne University and the University of Bordeaux. His doctoral research assessed the outcomes and underlying change mechanisms of university exchange programs with Australian and French students.

Jihan Mahmoud, PhD is a nursing professor at Florida Gulf Coast University where she is a member of an interdisciplinary research team that is focused on studying the mental and physical well-being of college students. As a scholar and academician, Dr. Mahmoud has a deep passion for promoting the well-being of emerging adult college students. In particular, she has a continuous interest in exploring cognitive-behavioral therapeutic and preventive strategies to facilitate adaptive and healthy transition for individuals in this population.Jihan has been a member at the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood (SSEA) since 2011. Her first participation at the biannual conference was sponsored by an SSEA travel award. However, she has been a dedicated reader of scholarly work and publications of pioneer theorists and leaders at SSEA since 2007 when she was a doctoral student at the University of Kentucky. Inspired by the emerging adulthood theory, Jihan developed an insight and a perspective on the sources of vulnerabilities in this population. Her published research work in this field examined anxiety, depression, stress, and coping.

Dr. Amber Davis attained her B.S. from the University of Florida and completed her MSW from Florida State University. She completed her PhD in Social Work from Howard University in 2019 where she focused on issues related to disability policy and transition-age youth with disabilities. Dr. Davis is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has a keen interest in the intersectionality of disability, race, and class in order to tackle obstacles to African American youth with disabilities achieving a successful transition to adulthood. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the UC Davis MIND Institute prior to her current postdoctoral fellow appointment at Johns Hopkins University where she engages in research on disabilities from an intersectionality perspective and trauma-informed lens. She is also dually appointed at Kennedy Krieger Institute where she provides trauma therapy to youth who are typically developing and youth with autism.