Hector Nolasco: Student Spotlight

The OSU Center for Family Resilience (CFR) team at OSU-Tulsa works to translate research about families and family life into strategies that help communities become resilient.

OSU Human Development and Family Sciences Ph.D. graduate Hector Nolasco is taking the program and research experience he gained at the Center for Family Resilience back home to the west coast. He has accepted a position as an assistant professor in the department of Child, Adolescent and Family Studies at California State University-Bakersfield.

“Family Science is interesting to me because of the important role family has in shaping an individual’s future,” Nolasco said. “By studying the family, we capture a larger picture as to what influences a person’s development – and in turn, who they become.”

After starting his educational journey at the Antelope Valley Community College in Lancaster, California, Nolasco completed his associate’s degree and transferred to California State University Northridge (CSUN) to earn a bachelor’s degree in psychology. He went on to earn a Master of Arts in psychology at CSUN before moving to Oklahoma to continue his education at OSU-Tulsa in the department of Human Development and Family Sciences’ doctoral program.

Nolasco’s research interest in the academic success of minority adolescents led him to the Center for Family Resilience, where he worked on CFR’s family-based intervention program, ¡Unidos Se Puede! The program provides support for Latino middle school students to excel in an academic environment, while also helping them avoid risks such as drug use and unsafe sexual behaviors.

During his time as part of the Center for Family Resilience team, Nolasco worked on community-based research studies focused on occupational health and safety of migrant workers. Nolasco is currently working on a project called Ponte Listo, an intervention program that focuses on Latinos working in residential construction to help prevent injuries by engaging families and employers. He is also in the process of examining the data from the Latino Youth Agricultural Study, which focuses on reducing pesticide exposure among Latino adolescents through the use of a community-based intervention program.

“The Center for Family Resilience has helped me expand my experience from studying a person, to understanding a family unit,” Nolasco said. “I hope I can use what I’ve learned here to contribute to the overall health and wellbeing of communities back in California.”

To learn more about research and programs from the OSU Center for Family Resilience, visit the CFR website.