About Laura Schwab Reese, MA, PhD

My mission is to build and test systems and programs that help people recover from trauma and move toward healthier futures.

I started this work at the Iowa Depression and Clinical Research Center, where I focused on perinatal mental health and the role of social support. That experience showed me how research can make a real difference for people facing difficult circumstances. It also pushed me to pursue a Master’s in counseling so I could better understand how people navigate these mental health issues.

During my public health doctoral training, I strengthened my skills in community-engaged intervention development, implementation, and evaluation. My dissertation examined how childhood experiences shape later risk for violence perpetration. That project confirmed my commitment to understanding the long-term effects of adversity and how we can interrupt those pathways.

As a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Kempe Center, I gained a deeper understanding of child maltreatment and the complexities of working with vulnerable populations. I also became interested in how technology and technology-derived data can reveal new insights about maltreatment. My collaboration with Crisis Text Line allowed me to study how young people talk about maltreatment in real time, which made clear that young people need accessible, technology-based ways to reach support.

As a tenured professor at Purdue University, I study how technology influences young people’s safety and well-being. Much of my work focuses on how youth seek help for violence online and what platforms and adults can do to make those efforts safer and more effective. I also study technology-facilitated harms, including online sexual exploitation and abuse, unhelpful responses, and misinformation. I partner with national and international organizations, including the National Child Abuse Hotline, Meta, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and state and local agencies, to strengthen evidence-based approaches to online safety.

My goal is to create environments where young people can safely ask for help, receive support that fits their developmental needs, and connect with resources that promote healing. I believe every child deserves the opportunity to recover, build resilience, and move forward after violence.