News Archive
January 31, 2025
Soon after Laura Klinger joined the faculty at UNC in 2011 as an associate professor in the department of psychiatry and as executive director of the UNC TEACCH Autism Program, she became a faculty fellow at UNC’s Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. Her desire to connect with FPG stemmed from the Institute’s preeminent role in research on early child development, a natural fit for her research interests in autism.
January 28, 2025
This May, the International Early Childhood Inclusion Institute will celebrate a quarter-century of longstanding work in early childhood inclusion at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. The milestone event will reflect on and honor the progress made and look toward a future where every child truly belongs.
January 27, 2025
Lisa Kristianson is a project coordinator at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG). As part of our FPG profile series, we recently spoke with Kristianson to learn more about her work at FPG. Find out what she had to say.
January 23, 2025
With support from a one-year NC TraCS clinical and translational science pilot program grant, Ayse Belger, a faculty fellow at FPG, partnered with Alper Bozkurt, PhD, to develop a wearable stress-tracking device. The prototype device, designed to be worn on the user’s wrist, contains microcircuits that are self-powered by the wearer’s body heat, sweat, motion, and interstitial fluids, preventing the need to charge the device.
January 13, 2025
FPG's growing publications library includes almost 2,700 journal articles, policy briefs, assessment tools, learning modules, and multimedia to support multiple audiences at home and abroad. We've gathered a list of some of our most recent publications—and encourage you to click through to learn more about the amazing work being done here at FPG.
January 10, 2025
FPG Faculty Fellows are UNC-Chapel Hill faculty members who play a vital role at our Institute by fostering innovative and interdisciplinary work and increasing our collaborations and impact across campus and beyond. Discover new updates from two of our faculty fellows--Heather Wasser and Gabriel Dichter.
January 6, 2025
The UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute is committed to generating knowledge, informing policies, and supporting practices to promote positive developmental and educational outcomes for children of all backgrounds and all abilities from the earliest years. Within the Institute, is a diverse team of scholars who collaborate on a variety of projects and research aimed at improving outcomes for students on the spectrum and providing tools and support to caregivers and teachers who support and serve them.
December 23, 2024
Jada Walker, MEd, is a project coordinator working in early care and education/Pre-K research at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG). As part of our FPG profile series, we recently spoke with Walker to learn more about her work at FPG. See what she had to say.
December 17, 2024
December 16, 2024
Chih-Ing Lim, PhD, a senior technical assistance specialist at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG), and her three FPG colleagues Senior Technical Assistance Specialist Camille Catlett, MA, Technical Assistance Specialist Jessica Amsbary, PhD, and Technical Assistance Specialist Hsiu-wen Yang, PhD, have been awarded a 2024 UNC Rural Research and Engagement Award.
December 11, 2024
Joy Yin has worked at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) for more than 20 years. She is an applications specialist programmer working within the Institute’s Data Management and Analysis Core (DMAC). As part of our FPG profile series, we recently spoke with Yin to learn more about her work at FPG.
December 1, 2024
To share the most recent data on the accumulation and types of adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, in North Carolina and the South, Daniel Gitterman, a Faculty Fellow at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, led the development of two new policy briefs, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in North Carolina, 2016-22 and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in the South and U.S., 2022. The reports quantify the problem and help bring renewed attention to social policies that address child poverty and well-being.
November 26, 2024
A new study shows that adding text messaging to traditional in-clinic health counseling for parents about feeding habits, playtime, and exercise prevents very young children from developing obesity and potentially lifelong obesity-related problems. Findings from the study, co-led by Kori Flower, were published in JAMA. Samantha Schilling was also a co-investigator on the study. Both Flower and Schilling are Faculty Fellows at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute.
November 20, 2024
Christine Harradine earned both her MA and PhD in Educational Psychology from UNC-Chapel Hill and is a long-time member of the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) family. As part of our FPG profile series, we recently spoke with her to learn more about her work at FPG. FInd out what she had to say.
November 18, 2024
Executive functions play a role in future academic achievement, interpersonal skills, and emotion regulation. To understand how to best measure these skills in young children, FPG Advanced Research Scientist Laura Kuhn and colleagues compared three performance-based measures of executive functions that have been developed for preschoolers. The results of that work were published in “A Comparison of Three Executive Function Batteries in a Preschool-Aged Sample."
November 14, 2024
The James J. Gallagher Award is given annually to two employees of UNC’s Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) in recognition of their contributions and dedication to the FPG community. This year, FPG is pleased to recognize both Technical Assistance Specialist Jessica Amsbary and Research Associate Sarah Wackerhagen for their outstanding service to the Institute.
November 11, 2024
Anhedonia, the inability to anticipate or experience pleasure, can emerge during adolescence and often precedes the onset of more severe psychopathology such as mood disorders and psychosis. FPG Faculty Fellow Aysenil Belger and colleague Danielle Roubinov, an associate professor in the UNC Department of Psychiatry, will lead an innovative study of the predictors of anhedonia in young people.
November 6, 2024
The mission of STEMIE at FPG is to improve access and participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning opportunities for young children with disabilities and intersecting identities. Understanding the importance of identifying disparities in STEM education, a STEMIE team recently examined the literature and published their findings.
November 4, 2024
Megan Bookhout is a research scientist with the National Implementation Research Network at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG). As part of our FPG profile series, we recently spoke with Bookhout to learn more about her work at FPG. Here’s what she had to say.
October 30, 2024
Desiree Murray, a faculty fellow at FPG and senior research scientist at the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Gillings School of Global Public Health, is among a group of four Carolina faculty members to receive the first Translating Innovative Ideas for the Public Good Awards.
