Sitao Chen, MSW (she/her), is a doctoral student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work. She received her MSW and BA in Psychology and Asian Studies from the University of Michigan. Before entering the Ph.D. program, she worked as a project manager, collaborating closely with grassroots social workers to understand their experiences working with left-behind children in rural China. She also engaged in policy research and evaluation, examining the implementation effects of Chinese social work workforce policies.
Inspired by her past experiences, Sitao is conducting research on child welfare workforce development. Her focus centers around supporting a robust workforce capable of delivering effective and sustainable services to children and families involved in the child welfare system. She is particularly dedicated to promoting the wellbeing of child welfare professionals and enhancing competency development to better equip them for complex challenges. Additionally, she is interested in exploring international practices and cross-cultural adaptations related to these topics.
Sitao is currently mentored by Dr. Marlo Perry and assists on the Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Analytics (QIC-WA) project. Her role involves supporting the evaluation of child welfare agencies and promoting the use of human resource data in improving workforce strategies and agency outcomes. Sitao also collaborates on multiple evaluation projects with the Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center.
