Linda J. Peñaloza, PhD, is Research Associate Professor at the University of New Mexico’s Division of Prevention & Population Sciences. She received her doctorate degree in Mass Communication from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and has BA and MA degrees in Sociology.  Dr. Peñaloza is currently principal investigator on several important research and evaluation projects in New Mexico, including coordinating the data collection, data analysis, and reporting for the New Mexico Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey (NM-YRRS) among middle schools and high schools in all of New Mexico’s eighty-nine public school districts, selected Bureau of Indian Education schools and state-chartered charter schools. A new research program is taking the NM-YRRS data back to the students, working with them to interpret it, and having the students design action plans to address the areas that they see as being of greatest concern.