News Archive
November 2, 2023
Developmental psychologist Shauna Cooper, PhD, a professor in UNC’s Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, is devoted to promoting well-being among young people and to facilitating racial equity. She serves as a faculty fellow at FPG and the director of UNC’s Strengths, Assets, and Resilience (StAR) Lab, which uses culturally relevant conceptual and theoretical frameworks to study positive development among African American adolescents and youth.
October 30, 2023
Two members of FPG, Interim Director Brian Boyd, PhD, and Senior Research Scientist Sam Odom, PhD, have been appointed to a 15-person committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which will conduct an independent analysis of the Department of Defense’s Comprehensive Autism Care Demonstration
October 24, 2023
FPG Faculty Fellow Simona Goldin, PhD, spent most of the 1990s working at New York City’s Coalition for the Homeless. That early career experience in policy, direct service, and supporting young people who lacked sufficient access to their social and civil right of a quality education sowed the seeds for her work going forward.
October 22, 2023
FPG is pleased to recognize both Program Assistant Barbara Lowery and Senior Research Scientist Ann Sam for their outstanding service to the Institute as this year's James J. Gallagher Award winners.
October 18, 2023
Noreen Yazejian, PhD, has been named interim associate director for research. In this role, Yazejian will support research initiatives across the Institute, bringing together research teams and helping to launch new projects. Yazejian brings nearly 30 years of experience at FPG to her new role, having started as a graduate student and then working her way up through investigator, scientist, and principal investigator.
October 11, 2023
Camille Catlett, MA, is a senior technical assistance specialist at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG). During her 20+ years at FPG, Catlett has led efforts in more than 30 states to incorporate explicit emphasis on children and families of diverse cultures, languages, abilities, and life circumstances in preservice and ongoing professional development efforts. As part of our FPG profile series, we recently spoke with Catlett to learn more about her work at FPG.
October 5, 2023
When FPG Faculty Fellow Kara Hume, PhD, fulfilled the community service requirement at her Phoenix high school by volunteering with a family who had a 7-year-old son with autism, she never imagined it would steer the course for her professional life. Learn about Hume's research.
October 3, 2023
The Abecedarian Award honors a Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) staff member's early career research that is scientifically rigorous and addresses an issue of significant social concern. We recently spoke with this year's winner, Hsiu-Wen Yang, PhD, to ask about her work at FPG and what the Abecedarian Award means to her.
September 29, 2023
Rebecca Hebner Roppolo, MPH, is an implementation specialist with the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) and lead of the Quality and Outcome Monitoring for Improvement Core for the Impact Center at FPG. As part of our FPG profile series, we recently spoke with Roppolo to learn more about her work here at the Institute.
September 26, 2023
For more than two decades, FPG's International Early Childhood Inclusion Institute has offered educational opportunities for those involved in the care and education of young children with disabilities in inclusive settings. During this year's event, organizers collaborated with FPG’s SCRIPT-NC to offer a new higher education track for faculty at two-year and four-year colleges.
September 19, 2023
While the research portfolio of UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) Faculty Fellow Brianne Tomaszewski, PhD, includes a wide range of projects, a focus on supporting the autonomy of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) is central to all her work.
September 14, 2023
Through a new $3.8-million, five-year NIH-funded project, FPG Faculty Fellow and UNC School of Medicine researcher Aysenil Belger, PhD, and FPG Senior Research Scientist Diana Fishbein, PhD, will examine neurological and psychological factors that lead some adolescents with anxiety symptoms to use controlled substances. The goal is to improve precision-based, targeted interventions for these teens.
September 12, 2023
The research and translation of empirical findings of FPG Faculty Fellow Dorothy Espelage, PhD—a leading expert on addressing teenage domestic violence, bullying, and student well-being—have resulted in a plethora of interventions, policies and laws protecting young people and making schools safer. Learn more about her work.
August 29, 2023
To disseminate findings regarding the pandemic’s impact on child care capacity in North Carolina, NCDHHS COVID-19 Response: North Carolina Rapid COVID Response to Early Care and Education was recently published by the research-practice partnership of the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) and the Department of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE) of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
August 22, 2023
With a $3.5 million grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH), FPG Faculty Fellows Kara Hume, PhD, Brianne Tomaszewski, PhD, will lead research that aims to increase the physical activity of adults with intellectual disabilities in an effort to support their physical and mental health and promote healthy aging.
August 18, 2023
Supporting Change and Reform in the Preparation of Teachers in North Carolina (SCRIPT-NC), a project within the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG), has recently received $1 Million in funding to continue work with early childhood community college programs.
August 15, 2023
Early care and education provide a strong foundation for children's academic success and overall well-being. This focus area has been central to the work of the FPG since its founding more than 50 years ago. And that is why we were especially pleased to host a group of participants from Building Bright Futures―a pilot early childhood education pre-apprenticeship-to-apprenticeship program within the NCBCE―for a morning of presentations and an open discussion.
August 14, 2023
We’re pleased to share that Jennifer Stone is the winner of this year’s James J. Gallagher Dissertation Award. She recently spoke with us about her research and what impact receiving this award will have on it.
August 7, 2023
FPG’s Implementation Summer Internship Program, a paid opportunity for masters' and doctoral students, recently wrapped up. The program, which is designed to create a challenging and meaningful professional experience, exposes interns to implementation practice and research across a variety of fields and practice settings. The four interns of this year’s cohort recently took time to reflect on their experiences in the internship program and answer a few questions.
August 1, 2023
The STEM Innovation for Inclusion in Early Education (STEMIE) Center at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute is thrilled to announce $7.25 million of new funding to continue its groundbreaking work to advance inclusive STEM education for young children with disabilities.
