Yao Wang_CV
yao.wang@ssw.umaryland.edu
Yao Wang, MSW, is a doctoral candidate interested in child welfare. She is expected to defend her dissertation by spring 2024.
Education
MSW, Ohio State University, 2017
BA, Japanese Language (International Business and Economics) Shanghai International Studies University in 2015.
Significant Accomplishments
During her time in UMSSW’s PhD program, Yao Wang has co-authored nine manuscripts that have been published in peer-reviewed journals, including Child Abuse & Neglect, Journal of Public Child Welfare, and Research on Social Work Practice. She has also co-authored several reports, and, as of fall 2023, had five additional manuscripts under review.
In 2019, Wang received UMSSW's Jeongseok Kong & Sunmi Jin Memorial PhD Endowment Scholarship ($2,000) and in 2022 received the Grand Challenges for Social Work Dissertation Award ($4,000).
Research Experience
Wang has presented her research at multiple national conferences and to local community groups. She works with associate professors Haksoon Ahn, PhD, MSW, MA, and Terry Shaw, PhD, MSW, MPH, on analyzing state administrative child welfare data to examine the transition process of older youth and young adults who age out of care in Maryland.
Wang is interested in the emerging adulthood outcomes and social support of older youth and young adults who transition out of the child welfare system. In her dissertation, she is using mixed methods to explore how to support the needs and empower young adults involved in care to achieve their potential as their peers do. She has completed 20 interviews with child welfare workers and other professionals for her dissertation study.
Teaching Interests and Experience
Yao Wang has been well-equipped for independent teaching both in the classroom and online. She completed a Graduate Teaching Assistantship to gain focused skill development on teaching from the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (FCTL) at University of Maryland, Baltimore. She taught as an Adjunct Instructor for Social Work Research (hybrid) for MSW students in Spring 2022. Currently, she works with Dr. Jennifer Swanberg on developing online course of Social Work Research for the Online Master of Social Work at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Yao values the diversity students from different backgrounds and life experiences bring to the classroom. She is eager to teach foundation courses, and research and policy related courses in the field of social work.
Practice Interests and Experience
During her MSW field placement, she interned at a substance recovery center for one year. After she received her MSW, Yao Wang was a family support social worker at Asian American Community Center at Columbus, Ohio for half year. Both practice experience and personal experience inform her research interests in well-being of older youth and young adults with child welfare history.
Since 2021, Yao has been assisting with the review of local jurisdictions in Children and Family Services Reviews in Maryland. She has been actively engaged with various stakeholders involved in the child welfare system, including children and family, frontline workers, and other professionals.