Dr. Behrens received her doctorate in 2005 from the University of California at Berkley with a specialization in Human Development. She joined SUNY Poly in 2012 and has taught an array of social science-based curricula. She is the winner of the 2021 Society for Research in Child Development Strategic Plan Poster at a biennial conference. In 2019, Dr. Behrens was a Visiting Research Fellow at University of Cambridge, the UK, for the fall of 2019. Her research interests include individual differences in social-emotional development. Other areas include: Intergenerational transmission of attachment in cross-cultural context, lifespan attachment, physiological correlates of attachment phenomena, parental sensitivity, attachment and cognition and attachment-based intervention.
What have you learned from the COVID-19 experience?
At a personal level, given that I or my immediate family/closest individuals never got this thankfully, what impacted me the most was the recognition that I could not travel, especially overseas. How I was totally ignorant of, or didn’t even care to be interested in, those intricate foreign policies, regulations, that totally shut the door on me as a naturalized US citizen that I could not go and see my aging mother in Japan for the past year and a half. I usually go back and see my family in Japan a couple of times per year, especially the New Year’s holiday that I never missed to spend time with my family in many decades I’ve lived here in the US.
While I was struck by how some in America are more concerned about their freedoms than following basic health precautions, at the same time, I also saw incredible, selfless, brave acts of so many Americans during such difficult times, willing to sacrifice themselves to save others, which have brought me to tears countless times.
Why SUNY Poly?
Why not? At SUNY Poly, potential, more ‘personalized’ relationships can be built between professors and students especially with those who get involved in my research. This is possible because of a small number of students and some “special, talented” ones become more visible (to me anyways) that I can “hand pick” to train them to be future researchers/scholars by helping them to get into graduate schools.
What advice would you give someone wanting to pursue a career similar to yours?
Make sure you’re ready to make a big commitment to devote yourself to research without compromising the quality. It is not a 9-5 job. It “stays with you” day and night, whether you suddenly become concerned about something, results or methodologies, etc. or come up with some brilliant, innovative ideas that you want to test right away. At the same time, however, when you achieve or complete something, all the pains and sacrifices you made will instantly go away and be replaced by the excitement and gratitude. And you want to do it again.
No matter how much you work, it doesn’t feel like “work” because you are doing what you’re interested in. If it started to feel like stressful work without having any enjoyment while being involved in projects, perhaps it’s time to change your career. And you also have a lot of "freedom" in terms of what you will do with your time. You always have obligations to meet of course, but talks and conference presentations where you meet up with your colleagues in the same field make those getting together so much more enjoyable.
Be ready for constant rejections whether a grant proposal or publication. It’s simply not you, but that’s the way the academic field works.
Who are the three people who have been the most influential to you?
My father – who passed away 10 years ago, but he had an unusually non-traditional view for a Japanese man regarding his daughter’s life and career, and really listened, trusting her desire. In those days, when I left my home after high school, it was not that common to let a young girl go to America alone where I knew nobody just because I really wanted to learn English and naively thought I wanted to become “someone” international, whatever that meant. I am from Sapporo, Hokkaido, the northern island in Japan, which is unlike the Tokyo metropolitan area. It is still a bit conservative and remote enough that many fathers wouldn’t let their daughters even go to a college in Tokyo. His decision to trust me and give me a chance to let me go (with all the expenses he took a loan to pay for as we were not at all wealthy) is something I will never forget and am eternally grateful for. So, one thing I promised him and myself was to make sure I’ll never give up and make him proud. In short, without him, I will never be where or who I am today or never would have achieved what I have so far.
Prof. Anne Fernald at Stanford University. I must say, she was my first contact who ultimately judged I could be a researcher. Because of my drastic career change, and not having taken any psychology classes during my college years (both for B.S. and M.A.), I was aware I’d need research experiences to have a possibility to get into graduate schools. I reached out to my former advisor when I went to Cornell for my M.A. degree in Asian Studies, because I knew he was in the Philosophy Department at Stanford. I first asked him if he thought I was crazy, changing from my career as a financier to study children; he said, no. He had his graduate student who was a big-time lawyer in LA, but quit to become a philosopher. He then suggested I should go and see Prof. Fernald who was in the Developmental Program of Psychology Department. So, one day I went to see her during her office hours and introduced myself, “Hi, you don’t know me but I was recommended to speak with you…” She was very kind and accepting and sympathetic to this drastic career change. So, she suggested to start coming to her lab a couple of times per week and watch videotapes of mother-child interactions… week after week… She then asked me, “did you see anything?” I told her, I didn’t understand what I was doing at first, but after watching those videos for hours and hours, I started to see some subtle differences in their behaviors, expressions, and exchanges of subtle and not so subtle interactions. As I found it interesting, she then said, “okay, so you can potentially be a researcher.” After a year or so, working in her lab, she told me that I should get a master’s degree in Developmental Psychology because I had no academic background… so I did. I went to San Francisco State University and got a MA degree. Then, ultimately, I was accepted at UC Berkeley. Without Anne’s patience and guidance who had absolutely no obligation to do what she did for me, such a path would not have been open to me.
Prof. Mary Main, who was my advisor and mentor during my doctorate program at UC Berkeley. She has become more than a mentor and almost maternal but also a friend, who’s perhaps the closest person among non-familial members. When my father passed, she would call me every night to see how I was doing. She cried with me for both joy and sad occasions. When we were working on a paper together, one of my earlier major publications, she stayed up all night with me, corresponding over the phone, completing the revisions so that I could submit it before I was leaving for Japan the next day. She trained me to be a good researcher, and always reminded me that although we’re expected to constantly strive for high achievement, collecting more data, and more and more publications, if a participating subject becomes distressed during this particular interview, then simply end it with care. People are more important than data. I keep the reminder in my heart.
Do you have a hero?
I don’t have a hero; I just have many heroes, but my "definition" of hero fluctuates. Those who put themselves out for others are in general are my definition of hero. As I mentioned, before this drastic career change, I used to be a Wall Street banker who cared about “money” doing institutional trading, and I did that on the 92nd and 86th floor of the World Trade Centers. I was already a graduate student at UCB before the attacks on 9/11, but still knew some who worked there. Some told me, as they were going down many, many, many stairs, there were firefighters going up, likely knowing they would never come down. That’s the ultimate hero in my view. And of course, this past year and a half, those in the frontline, trying to save countless COVID-19 patients are all heroes, including those who held the dying patients’ hands until they took their last breath. Hero is not limited to adults or even human: A little brother who tries to protect his baby sister is a hero; a dog jumping at attackers, even taking a bullet to save the owner, is also a hero.
What do you do for fun? Hobbies?
Hiking, biking (when I was in CA, but not here much), and travelling especially overseas, visiting historical places that you’d want to see at least once in your lifetime.
Trained as a concert pianist when I was growing up in Japan, so music, going to concerts.
Do you have a dream?
Buy a 1 Euro house in Italy and open a café for 3 months in summer.
I also “wish” to have a bullet train running between Utica and NYC so that we can get there in one and a half hours!
Knowing what you know now, what advice do you give to students who are seeking a great college experience?
Be open to ideas from all sides whether you agree or not, and learn from it, not necessarily to change your ideas or opinions but simply learn.
Do not attend any classes with some kind of pre-notion based on what others told you or subjects that you thought you were not good at (but taking it because it’s required).
Get involved in college activities as much as possible simply to meet new people or possibly discover your new passion.
How would your best friend describe you?
I think my best friend would describe me as compassionate, hard-working (sometimes too much, not knowing how to relax), smart, and having a good sense of humor. Fun to hang out with.
Can you recommend a good book, journal, or platform?
Any serious "reading" ever since I became an academic has been academic material. But I treat myself while traveling to a little series of detective books, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith. It’s simple, humble, just sweet, makes you smile and makes you want to visit Africa (it was initially recommended by my advisor at UCB who reminded me to take a vacation once in a while to survive).
Best memory of your college experience?
My “best memory” of my college experience is as a graduate student. This still remains relatively fresh because that’s where true, long-lasting, special friendships were born. I believe that is because we all shared pains and frustrations that involved challenges regarding research/training, our advisor’s unreasonable demands, or rejections of fellowships, or papers. Good news or something exciting can be easily shared with anyone, but difficult experiences either academically or personally can be only shared among those whom you can trust. The sense of “being understood” as a person, peer/colleague, someone with a common goal, so that certain assumptions can be made without explaining much in detail, is the greatest feeling that I personally cherish and gained from my college experience.
What is a question do you wish people would ask you?
I can think of questions I wish people do not ask me….
