Maria Schweer-Collins

Maria Schweer-Collins

Position
  • Assistant Professor
  • Department of Psychology
Maria L. Schweer-Collins, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychology, joined Iowa State University in the fall of 2024. As a clinically trained prevention scientist, her research centers on eliminating health and psychosocial disparities among youth involved with child welfare and juvenile justice. Her work integrates basic research on the impact of chronic stress and psychological experiences on physical health, measured through peripheral physiology, with applied research focused on developing scalable interventions that disrupt intergenerational cycles of substance use, child maltreatment, and justice involvement.

Dr. Schweer-Collins has served as the Principal Investigator on numerous extramural research grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Justice, and the Doris Duke Foundation, resulting in over 30 scientific publications.

Prior to joining the Iowa State faculty, Dr. Schweer-Collins was a faculty at the University of Oregon. Her research and teaching are shaped by her background working as a licensed mental health clinician in a variety of community-based settings. As a former Doris Duke Fellow and founding and current member of the Child Well-Being Research Network, she is committed to conducting actionable research to promote equitable policies and practices to improve the lives of youth and families.

Contact

Email
mariasc@iastate.edu
Phone
515-294-1742

Contact Info

Lagomarcino
901 Stange Rd
Ames
,
IA
50011-1041
Social Media and Websites

Education

  • Ph.D. University of Oregon, 2020 (Prevention Science, Specialization Quantitative Research Methods)
  • M.Ed. University of Oregon, 2016 (Counseling, Family, and Human Services)
  • M.A. Bethel University, 2013 (Couples and Family Therapy)
  • B.A. Bethel University, 2009 (Religion)

Affiliations

A Note from Dr. Schweer-Collins

At Iowa State University, I direct the iGenR Lab—the Intergenerational Research Lab—where we use methods from developmental and health psychology to examine how psychosocial stress and adversity impact health, specifically through longitudinal, multigenerational research.  Our Lab's applied work focuses on co-developing tailored preventive interventions in collaboration with the communities and individuals they are designed to serve, to improve the relevance and successful implementation and sustainability of those interventions. Currently, my team is working on projects that explore alternatives to juvenile incarceration, strategies to improve and prevent out-of-home placements for youth involved in child welfare, and substance use prevention.

As an applied methodologist, I specialize in pragmatic randomized clinical trials, longitudinal data analysis, and research synthesis methods, including individual participant data meta-analysis (IPDMA). I frequently collaborate as a methodological consultant on large-scale research projects, including an ongoing IPD meta-analysis led by the University of Utrecht, a multinational randomized clinical trial of Emotionally Focused Therapy with the University of Navarra, and multiple education-focused initiatives led by U.S.-based nonprofit research institutes.

Dr. Schweer-Collins will be accepting one new PhD student in Counseling Psychology for the 2025-2026 academic year. 

Trainees can expect to receive high-quality mentorship in the following: 

  • The day-to-day workings of federally funded research with vulnerable populations (children, individuals who are incarcerated)
  • Interdisciplinary research
  • Advanced quantitative methods, including research synthesis
  • Research Practice Partnerships with local policy and practice partners (Court Appointed Special Advocates, local county juvenile divisions in Iowa)
  • Professional networking
  • Supportive, individually-tailored scientific and professional guidance, appropriate to your training level and career goals