Javier Omar

Javier Omar is a doctoral candidate in Developmental and Psychological Sciences at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. Prior to his time at Stanford, Javier served as a secondary science teacher within the San Antonio Independent School District. He received his BS in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology and BA in Human Health from Emory University. He is a recipient of the Stanford Graduate Fellowship in Science and Engineering, Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education Doctoral Fellowship, and Research, Action, and Impact through Strategic Engagement Doctoral Fellowship. 

His research leverages mixed methods and community-based participatory approaches to examine the social-emotional and psychosocial development of culturally and linguistically diverse students. His current work is situated within the Stanford-San Francisco Unified School District Partnership. It broadly focuses on assessing emotion knowledge development across a diverse cohort of preschoolers and examining the role of teacher beliefs and biases on social-emotional learning practices. Additionally, he is currently involved in a multi-institution, community-driven project focused on developing and validating a measure of youth immigration-related stress, trauma, and strength, where he is leading a qualitative study to explore how caregivers and youth perceive the impact of immigration-related experiences on youth psychosocial development and mental health.