Deanna Ibrahim

Deanna Ibrahim Ph.D., is a researcher, educator and artist. Dr. Ibrahim received her Ph.D. in Applied Psychology from the Steinhardt School of Culture, Development, and Education at New York University. She is currently Assistant Professor of Critical Youth Development in the Department of Health and Human Development in the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh. 

Prior to joining SNAAP, Deanna engaged in meaningful research-practice partnerships with arts organizations. She has collaborated with Partners for Youth Empowerment, a non-profit organization that equips youth practitioners with arts-based pedagogical tools, on a mixed methods evaluation of participant feedback data to inform future programming. She has also worked with the Guggenheim Teen Program at the Guggenheim Museum to support the development and evaluation of youth arts programming using survey research. As the Lead Statistician of the Theatre and Health Lab (NYU), she has led several research evaluations using survey research and qualitative methods to understand the role of theatre in community health and wellbeing. Outside of these projects, Deanna has worked to develop the curriculum and plan the evaluation of an NIH-funded clinical study to support the well-being and sociopolitical development of youth and staff in NYC detention centers. She has served as a Course Assistant for Advanced Research Methods and Introduction to Psychology at NYU, and she has been a mentor for students of underrepresented backgrounds in the QUEST summer research program for three years.

Prior to her engagement in doctoral-level research, Deanna was the full-time Data Manager of NYU’s Neuroscience and Education Lab for two years. As Data Manager, was responsible for cleaning, aggregating, and merging national and international datasets of three longitudinal, multilevel studies investigating educational interventions, including the Chicago School Readiness Project. Prior to this role, Deanna conducted institutional research for the Provost at Muhlenberg College. She collected, managed, and visually represented descriptive data on Muhlenberg and its peer institutions. Deanna received her BA in Psychology and Theatre from Muhlenberg, where she graduated summa cum laude. Outside of research and teaching, Deanna is an actor, dancer, singer-songwriter, a founding member of Girl Be Heard, and a Creative Associate for Eastline Theatre.