Dr. Becky Lane is a Research Psychologist in the Substance Abuse Epidemiology and Military Behavioral Health Program at RTI International. She has more than 10 years of experience working with active duty and reserve component military personnel, with an emphasis on substance abuse and mental health research. Her career at RTI has comprised leadership of numerous military research studies, where she assumed responsibility for study design, implementation, and evaluation. Dr. Becky Lane’s background training in industrial-organizational psychology has evolved into 12 years of experience designing research studies and survey instruments, collecting data, performing quantitative and qualitative data analysis, and preparing and delivering reports, manuscripts, and briefings. Her primary areas of expertise include military health research, survey research, multivariate statistics, focus group and key informant interviews, and organizational assessment. She has authored and co-authored articles for peer-reviewed journals, presentations for national and international conferences, and briefings for senior military and civilian leaders.
The Research Team
RTI International, Behavioral Research Unit
Durham, North Carolina
RTI International is one of the world’s leading research institutes, dedicated to improving the human condition by turning knowledge into practice. Our staff of more than 3,700 provides research and technical services to governments and businesses in more than 75 countries in the areas of health and pharmaceuticals, education and training, surveys and statistics, advanced technology, international development, economic and social policy, energy and the environment, and laboratory testing and chemical analysis. RTI’s main campus, established in 1958, is at the heart of North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park (RTP) and the home to more than 2,000 researchers, technicians, executives, and administrators.
Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute
Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa
The Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute is based on projects funded by the National Institutes of Health grants since the early 1990's. The initial grant was called Project Family. From this early grant the project has evolved into a large-scale program of research on interventions designed to build family and youth competencies, thereby preventing youth substance abuse and other problem behaviors. The program of research has included a number of studies funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, as well as smaller investigations supported by foundations and other agencies (e.g., Center for Substance Abuse Prevention). To date, over $71 million in grants has been secured.
Project Directors
Becky Lane, Project Co-Director
Research Psychologist
RTI International
Richard Spoth, Project Co-Director
F. Wendell Miller Senior Prevention Scientist and Institute Director
Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute
Dr. Dick Spoth, is the F. Wendell Miller Senior Prevention Scientist and the Director of the Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute at Iowa State University. He provides oversight for an interrelated set of projects addressing a range of research questions on prevention program engagement, program effectiveness, culturally-competent programming, and dissemination of evidence-based programs through community-university partnerships. Dr. Spoth has served as Principal Investigator on all of the earlier PROSPER research projects, since the first one in 2001. He also has experience as a lead investigator for the other NIH-funded prevention RCTs and research projects in the larger program of research of which the current project is a part, conducted over the past 23 years. These projects have addressed a range of key research questions in related areas of prevention science, including long-term universal intervention outcomes and implementation quality factors. Dr. Spoth has served on numerous federally-sponsored expert and technical review panels addressing issues in prevention research and research-practice integration. He has been invited to testify and brief Congress to present to the Advisory Group for the White House’s National Prevention Council, and to represent the prevention field on panels sponsored by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. With this work, Dr. Spoth received the Prevention Science Award from the Society for Prevention Research for outstanding contributions to advancing the field of prevention science, as well as the Service to the Society for Prevention Research Award, for leadership on the Task Force on Type 2 translation research, and the Presidential Award, for lifetime scientific achievement.
Co-Project Investigators
Marni Kan, Co-Project Investigator
Research Psychologist
RTI International
Dr. Marni Kan, a research psychologist in RTI’s Risk Behavior and Family Research Program, serves as a prevention scientist on the PROSPER State Management Team with expertise in family and youth risk and protective factors and evidence-based interventions. She has conducted several randomized controlled trials of school- and family-based intervention curricula, including developing program materials and training staff, designing evaluations, developing measurement instruments, and conducting implementation and outcome analyses. She has also provided technical assistance and training to community organizations and program delivery staff related to evidence-based program implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. Dr. Marni Kan has a broad background in family relationships and family-based intervention research, and specific expertise in parenting and youth risk behavior.
Cleve Redmond, Co-Project Investigator
Scientist and Associate Institute Director
Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute
As co-investigator, associate director, and lead methodologist for the NIDA- funded research project (“Partnership Model for Diffusion of Proven Prevention”) evaluating the original PROSPER model since 2002, Dr. Cleve Redmond has extensive experience relevant to the currently proposed project. And more generally, he has extensive research experience in intervention evaluation, and in the evaluation of brief universal preventive interventions, such as the one to be delivered in the proposed project. Dr. Cleve Redmond also has served as the lead methodologist for two other long-term randomized controlled intervention trials, “Rural Youth and Family Competencies Building Project” and the “Rural Family and Community Drug Abuse Prevention Project,” involving co-investigator and associate director roles. Much of his work on the current project and other preventive intervention trials conducted at Iowa State University’s Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute has focused on the development of models examining intervention effect mechanisms and long-term intervention effects, including the examination of mediating and moderating factors.
Project Team
Jessica Nelson, Project Manager
Senior Project Manager
RTI International
Jessica Nelson is a Senior Project Manager at RTI International currently managing a comprehensive portfolio that includes government-funded and privately-fund projects. Throughout her tenure at RTI, she has successfully and skillfully interfaced with multiple internal departments and external contacts on large, complex projects as well as on business development endeavors.
Lisa Schainker, Project Scientist
Associate Scientist
Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute
Dr. Lisa Schainker has been involved with a number of different projects related to the implementation and evaluation of family-focused preventive interventions for young adolescents and their parents. She has been involved with the original PROSPER research project since 2005, assisting with scientific activities as well as providing evaluation-related technical assistance to field-related personnel. She has also been a co-investigator on two additional PROSPER-related research projects that involved implementation of the model in other states. As part of her role on these projects, she provided training and ongoing evaluation-related assistance to state evaluators and field staff to ensure that the PROSPER model was implemented with fidelity, EBIs were observed and implemented with quality and that data collected via monitoring activities were used appropriately. In addition to her work related to the PROSPER model, she has also served as the principal investigator of an NICHD-funded project that involved adapting the SFP 10-14 program to focus on parenting strategies and youth behaviors related to obesity prevention.
