Nicole Stucke-Downes (she/her) | Senior Research Manager | nstuckedownes@omni.org
Nicole is an experienced leader in the field of behavioral health, specializing in substance use prevention, treatment, and recovery, as well as community health. She leads teams through the development and delivery of evaluation and capacity-building projects, primarily funded through SAMHSA grant programs. Nicole oversees the provision of evaluation-related technical assistance, including support for logic modeling, needs assessments, strategic planning, and process data collection, for initiatives such as the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Services State Substance Abuse Block Grant and State Opioid Response Grant. Her work focuses on behavioral health and the well-being of children and families, ensuring that projects are effectively designed and implemented to achieve meaningful outcomes.
Previously, Nicole was a Doctoral Research Scholars Fellow and Lab Manager at George Mason University, where she conducted research on the development of executive function, specifically neurocognitive skills related to self-control. Her studies explored the connections between executive function and outcomes like social functioning, behavioral health, and persistence, as well as children’s understanding of gender constructs in STEM fields. With a strong foundation in research and evaluation, Nicole excels in leading complex, multi-disciplinary projects aimed at advancing the evidence base for programming. She is skilled in conducting advanced quantitative analyses, such as hierarchical linear modeling and latent growth modeling, to analyze complex, nested, and longitudinal data. Her work often results in peer-reviewed publications that contribute to the broader field of behavioral health and education.
In her free time, Nicole enjoys all sorts of puzzles, from jigsaw to word and logic puzzles! She also dedicates her time to caring for various houseplants (she has over 20 different cultivars)!
“I value work that leads to meaningful outcomes and directly benefits those most impacted. At OMNI, I appreciate how we center communities and clients, using research, evaluation, and collaboration to drive real, lasting change.”
CONTENT EXPERTISE
Behavioral Health
Children & Families
Education
EDUCATION
George Mason University
Ph.D, Applied Developmental Psychology
George Mason University
M.A., Applied Developmental Psychology
University of Minnesota – Twin Cities
B.S., Child Psychology and Neuroscience
+ Awards & Service
- Sexuality Education Group Facilitator for Our Whole Lives, Tanzania (2014-2015)
- Doctoral Research Scholars Fellowship (2023-2024)
- Undergraduate Research Mentor Award (2024)
- George Mason University’s ‘Best Ph.D. Student’ (2024),
- George Mason University’s ‘Outstanding Doctoral Student’ (2023)
- Elyse B. & Donald R. Lehman Endowed Research Award (2023-2024)
- President, Applied Developmental Psychology Student Group (2020)
+ Certifications & Trainings
- Institute of Education Sciences' What Works Clearinghouse Group Design Standards v.5.0
+ Selected Publications
- Stucke, N. J., & Doebel, S. (under review) Will it sink or float? No gender differences in five- to seven-yearold children’s persistence on a science task.
- Stucke, N. J., & Doebel, S. (2024). Early childhood executive function predicts concurrent and later social and behavioral outcomes: A review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 150(10), 1178–1206.
- Doebel, S., Stucke, N. J., & Pang, S. (2022) Kindchenschema and cuteness elicit interest in caring for and playing with young children, but less so when children are masked. Scientific Reports, 12.
- Stucke, N. J., Stoet, G., & Doebel, S. (2022) What are the kids doing? Exploring young children’s activities at home and relations with externally-cued executive function and child temperament. Developmental Science.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
A veterinarian
First concert?
Paramore
What do you collect?
Houseplants and jigsaw puzzles