Dr. Waasdorp is a Research Assistant Professor in Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Director of Research for School-Based Bullying and Social Emotional Learning for the Center for Violence Prevention at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Her research focuses on aggression and bullying, as well as the design and assessment of school-based interventions related to reducing bullying and aggression and improving children’s social and emotional skills. At CHOP, she leads the evaluation of three school-based interventions, Preventing Relational Aggression Every day (PRAISE), Friend to Friend (F2F) and the Bullying Classroom Check-up (BCCU). PRAISE and F2F are aimed at reducing aggression and bullying for urban elementary school youth. BCCU is a program that addresses bullying using an innovative, transportable training simulator combined with an evidence-based teacher-coaching model, to increase teachers’ prevention, detection, and responses to bullying. These programs are part of CHOP’s Center for Violence Prevention. She also focuses on cyberbullying and building children’s social and emotional skills.  

Dr. Waasdorp publishes peer-reviewed manuscripts on school-based bullying prevention/intervention, forms of bullying and victimization, children’s coping with bullying, teachers’ and parents’ responses to bullying, positive social and emotional development, and the impact of a school’s climate on a child’s development. She also has authored a book for teachers on bullying prevention as well as numerous book chapters on bullying and cyberbullying. 

BA, Muhlenberg College (Psychology), 2002

MSEd, University of Pennsylvania (Counseling and Psychological Services), 2003

PhD, University of Delaware (Human Development), 2008

Fellowship, Johns Hopkins University (Prevention/Intervention), 2010

Director of Research for School-Based Bullying and Social Emotional Learning

Research Assistant Professor in Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Center for Violence Prevention Research Scientist & Center for Violence Prevention Research Scholar, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Society for Prevention Research, 2008-

Society for Research in Child Development, 2008-

Society for Research in Adolescence, 2009-

Child, Intervention, Prevention and Services (CHIPS) Fellow NIMH, 2010

Society for Prevention Research Early Career Travel Award, 2014

Article of the year in School Psychology Review presented at the annual National Association for School Psychologists (NASP) conference, 2020

Distinguished Peer Reviewer for Prevention Science Journal, 2018, 2020

Coaching Teachers in Bullying Detection and Intervention
NICHD/NIH
06/01/2021-05/31/2026
The major goal of this grant is to conduct a multi-site 32-school randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of the Bullying Classroom Check-Up on child aggressive and bullying behaviors, teacher practices (i.e., classroom management skills and bullying intervention strategies), and relationships (i.e., student-teacher and student-student).
MPI: Tracy E. Waasdorp, PhD, Med
Co-I: Brooke Paskewich, PsyD

The Friend-to-Friend Program: Effectiveness when Conducted by School Staff
NICHD/NIH
01/01/2019-12/31/2024
Role: Co-Investigator

How Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Can Help Prevent Bullying (2018 webinar given for the Children's Safety Network)

Children Bullied Over Their Weight Are at Greater Risk of Internalizing the Abuse (2018 blog post for Center for Injury Research Prevention)

Flipping the switch: How techonology can help to prevent and address bullying (2018 blog post for Cambridge University Press)

Anti-Bullying Intervention for Teachers Shows Positive, Short-Term Outcomes (2020 article for National Institute of Justice)