Jennifer Brown Urban, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Family Science and Human Development at Montclair State University where she also co-directs the Institute for Research on Youth Thriving and Evaluation (RYTE). Dr. Urban is trained as a developmental scientist with specific expertise in youth character development and program evaluation. One of her primary research strands focuses on the development, testing, and implementation of a systems science approach to program evaluation and planning to enhance internal evaluation capacity particularly for youth program practitioners and evaluators.

Dr. Urban is an Associate Editor of Child Development and served on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee on Defining and Measuring Character and Character Education. She is the Principal Investigator on several grant-funded projects including:“Boy Scouts of America National Character Initiative” funded by the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, “Character Virtue Development Evaluation Capacity Building Initiative” funded by the John Templeton Foundation, and “Evaluating STEM Scouts: The Design of a Comprehensive Evaluation Plan and Feasibility Study” funded by the National Science Foundation. She has also published in venues such as the American Journal of Evaluation, Evaluation and Program Planning, and the Journal of Mixed Methods Research. She co-wrote the book, Designing and Proposing Your Research Project with Dr. Brad van Eeden-Moorefield (2018) and co-edited the book, Building a Career Outside Academia: A Guide for Doctoral Students in the Behavioral and Social Sciences with Dr. Miriam Linver (2019). She has also guest edited three journal volumes: Research in Human Development (2018, 2011) and New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development (2011).

Focuses on the development, testing, and implementation of a systems science approach to program evaluation and planning to enhance internal evaluation capacity particularly for youth program practitioners and evaluators.