From Mentored to Mentor: Alexis Krones’ Research Journey

Throughout her time at the School of Social work, and thanks to the generosity of faculty mentorship, Alexis Krones has had quite a unique research journey. Alexis’ research expedition began during her first year as BSW student, when she was asked by Dr. Rachel Garthe to be part of the Violence Prevention Research Lab (VPRL). At the time, research was not something she had considered; she thought it was too out of reach and something above her capabilities. After much thought, she hesitantly decided to pursue the endeavor.  

During her time in the VPRL as an undergraduate research assistant, Alexis worked on research projects that explored teen dating violence, adolescent mental health and caregiver support, and domestic violence. As part of her BSW internship at a local domestic violence agency, she conducted pre- and post-test analyses of a teen dating violence prevention program and presented results at the UIUC Undergraduate Research Symposium (URS). She also trained the agency in program evaluation techniques. Alexis also published research posters from her undergraduate work in the Journal for Undergraduate Social Work Research (JUSWR), wherein she later became an editorial staff member and then a senior editor. Her research journey continued during her time in the MSW program where she worked on projects exploring different research interests. During her time as a graduate research assistant in the VPRL, Alexis worked on projects examining community-informed sexual violence prevention and public-school policies. Alexis was able to present findings at the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) in Atlanta during her time as a graduate research assistant-a highlight of her research experience thus far. 

Alexis had the privilege to implement an evidence-based intervention, “Better Futures” while serving as a graduate research assistant under Dr. Judith Havlicek. In this role, she became increasingly interested in working with youth in care as she found that although these youth received services, they did not adequately meet their needs. Through this work, she experienced just how broken the child welfare system is. This is where her passion lay. She was also afforded the opportunity to work under Dr. Douglas Smith at the Center for Prevention Research & Development (CPRD) as a graduate research assistant, and then academic hourly where she built a survey to assess adolescent substance use as part of the Illinois Youth Survey (IYS) and contributed to research analyzing jail removals in Illinois.   

After her time serving in these positions, Alexis began her work as a Project Director for Empower Parenting with Resources (EmPwR) alongside Dr. William Schneider (EmPwR Principal Investigator) at the Children and Family Research Center (CFRC). EmPwR is a randomized controlled trial of families receiving intact services throughout the state of Illinois. EmPwR is the largest study of the causal impact of monthly unconditional cash gifts on involvement with the child welfare system. EmPwR will identify whether reducing economic hardship can improve child and family wellbeing and reduce child maltreatment and involvement in the child welfare system in Illinois. The study is in the early stages of implementation; to date, there are 93 families enrolled.  

As the director, Alexis will be working with all 800 families in the study; administering research operations including participant incentives, caseworker trainings, conducting focus groups with child welfare personnel and interviews with study participants, among various other responsibilities. Thus far, Alexis has conducted six focus groups with child welfare personnel including caseworkers, supervisors, and managers. She contributed to analyzing the focus group findings to inform the development of a training for the individuals mentioned above, and also plays a role in delivering portions of the training. So far, 27 qualitative interviews have been conducted with families navigating the child welfare system, 11 of which were conducted by Alexis. Preliminary results suggest that the families in EmPwR are disadvantaged, indicating that the cash transfers will likely have an impact on the study participants in a variety of ways. Alexis is looking forward to contributing to research efforts in the realm of child welfare through EmPwR.  

One of the most fulfilling aspects of her current role has been supervising a team of BSW and MSW-level research assistants. In her new role, Alexis is excited to take on the role of mentor, passing on the skills she has gained from her own mentors to the students she supervises. She currently leads a team of nine research assistants as part of the EmPwR lab, where she guides them in research ethics, data collection, analyses, and dissemination. Alexis’ research journey has come full circle. She began as a presenter at the URS, and now, she has served as a field instructor to two EmPwR interns, guiding them as they delivered an oral presentation at the same conference. Her path from publishing work in the JUSWR to now helping EmPwR research assistants do the same marks another shift from mentee to mentor. One of her most memorable moments in research was presenting at the SCRA, and now, she has the honor of taking three of her research assistants to the same conference, where their work, mentored by Alexis, will be presented using EmPwR data. 

What once felt out of reach-conducting research-has now become Alexis’ reality as she leads a large-scale randomized controlled trial, a transformation she describes as surreal. Further beyond expectation, after the completion of EmPwR, Alexis plans to obtain a PhD in Social Work. Building on the theme of “mentored to mentor,” Alexis is committed to guiding the next generation of social workers in fighting injustices and driving meaningful change. She hopes to conduct research aimed at building evidence to guide policy and practice for youth in care. Her long-term career goal is to leverage the research she conducts to reduce the number of youth in care involved in the criminal-legal system.