Dr. Adriana Umana Taylor

Biography

Adriana Janette Umana-Taylor is a Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where her research focuses on applying developmental science to reduce ethnic-racial disparities in psychological and academic adjustment, while promoting social justice. With over 20 years of experience, she has collaborated with school districts to design and implement large-scale, longitudinal, school-based data collection efforts among high school students. Her work as Principal Investigator on multiple longitudinal research projects has been funded by prominent organizations such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. She developed the Identity Project, an intervention curriculum aimed at engaging adolescents in the exploration and resolution of ethnic-racial identity. Recent studies involve testing the efficacy of this project, understanding ethnic-racial identity development in school contexts, and addressing race-based stress among adolescents. Umaña-Taylor has authored over 200 peer-reviewed articles and contributed to significant works in the field. She has served as an associate editor for the Journal of Research on Adolescence and has been recognized with national awards for her mentorship and contributions to the field, including induction as a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.

Research Interests