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Early Childhood Research Summit helps connect research, practice, policy

Ying Xu, assistant professor of education in the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, outlines the role and impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on children’s cognitive and social development during her keynote speech April 28 at the 2026 CYFS Early Childhood Research Summit at Nebraska Innovation Campus. View photo gallery.

Creating connections among early childhood research, practice and policy — and how each can enhance the lives of young children and their families — provided the central theme of the 2026 CYFS Early Childhood Research Summit .

Almost 200 attendees, including researchers from across the University of Nebraska system, practitioners, administrators, community partners and policymakers, gathered April 28 at Nebraska Innovation Campus for the daylong, seventh biennial summit, which highlighted the latest research to advance early childhood education and development, and implications for practice and policy. Full Article

Video available for MAP Academy presentation featuring Pavel Chernyavskiy

Pavel Chernyavskiy, assistant professor in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of Virginia, leads the April 24 Methodology Applications Series presentation at the Nebraska Union.

Pavel Chernyavskiy, assistant professor in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of Virginia, led the spring presentation of the 2025-26 Methodology Applications Series April 24 at the Nebraska Union.

Video is now available of Chernyavskiy’s presentation, titled, “Everything is Important and Everything is Correlated: Challenges and Opportunities of Working in Correlated Data.” Full Article

Search begins for next CYFS director

Exterior of Carolyn Pope Edwards Hall on the UNL campus with a large abstract sculpture in the foreground.
Review of applications for the CYFS director and full professor position will begin May 21.

CYFS is seeking its next director — an accomplished research leader who can build on a strong foundation of partnerships, signature programs and real-world impact.

The search is being led by a faculty search committee, with support from the College of Education and Human Sciences (CEHS) at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Full Article

Swiss researcher visits CYFS to observe TAPP for implementation in Switzerland

Dr. Caroline Villiger, professor and head of the “Family–Education–School” research program at the University of Teacher Education in Bern, Switzerland, arrived in Lincoln April 14 to study the Teachers and Parents as Partners (TAPP) program.

A Swiss researcher is spending the spring in Lincoln to learn more about an innovative program designed to improve children’s academic, social and behavioral outcomes while building stronger, more effective relationships among parents and teachers.

Caroline Villiger, professor and head of the “Family–Education–School” research program at the University of Teacher Education in Bern, Switzerland, arrived in Lincoln April 14 to study the Teachers and Parents as Partners (TAPP) program, which was developed at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and supports school-age children who are struggling with a variety of behavioral, social and academic challenges. Full Article

New database streamlines data collection, support for Nebraska deafblind students, educators

An instructor works with a young student at the Nebraska Center for the Education of Children who are Blind or Visually Impaired in Nebraska City.

Deafblindness is a combination of vision loss and hearing difference that makes accessing the environment, language and communication more complex. It varies in severity and type and can be present at birth or acquired at any age.

With both vision and hearing impacted, access to the world often requires individualized supports for independent living, education and social interaction. Full Article

CYFS launches Kindred Media

Kindred Media provides communications and media services in Nebraska and beyond.

In a time of information overload, clear communication cuts through the noise and connects with audiences. Sharing an effective message across all platforms is no longer a luxury — it’s a necessity. 

To help meet that need, the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools has launched Kindred Media.  Full Article

NAECR Knowledge event focuses on data repository selection

Selecting the right repository for research data is crucial.

What factors should you consider when selecting a data repository?

The March 9 NAECR Knowledge event was led by Amanda Prokasky, senior research specialist at the Nebraska Academy for Methodology, Analytics & Psychometrics (MAP Academy), who outlined best practices for data repository selection and offered guidance for multiple points of the research cycle. Full Article

Welcome to the team, Kristin Moilanen

Kristin Moilanen joined CYFS March 9 as the center’s new proposal development coordinator.

Name: Kristin Moilanen

Title: Proposal Development Coordinator

Hometown: Fenton, Michigan

Where did you work prior to joining CYFS? What was your role there, and what did it entail?

“After completing my Ph.D. in developmental psychology at UNL in 2005, I completed a postdoctoral fellowship in psychology at the University of Pittsburgh prior to stepping into a faculty role as an assistant (and later associate) professor in Child Development and Family Studies at West Virginia University. I was also an associate editor, then later became the editor-in-chief, of the “Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology.” I left WVU in 2022 for a remote visiting research specialist position in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois–Chicago. I wore many hats in this role, in which I was the project manager and lead data analyst for a NIH-funded study on health in middle adulthood. Full Article