The working meeting is hosted and sponsored in large part by the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools (CYFS). CYFS is housed within the College of Education & Human Sciences at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and recognized as a Program of Excellence by the University. Its mission is to advance the conduct of high quality interdisciplinary research to promote the intellectual, behavioral, and social-emotional development and functioning of individuals across educational, familial, and community contexts. Central to its mission are research efforts aimed at enhancing our understanding of how complex ecological systems work together to support the future of our nation.

The goals of CYFS are to

• build intellectual capital by contributing to the development, dissemination, and integration of the scientific knowledge base across research and applied settings;
• facilitate the transfer of research findings into school and community settings to produce meaningful outcomes;
• create, nurture, and develop an environment that will build capacity of researchers to conduct novel research; and
• enhance the scope, quality, and impact of grant-supported interdisciplinary research.

CYFS research infrastructure is well established to support the interdisciplinary research activities that define its scope and purpose. Particularly noteworthy is the Statistics and Research Methods (SRM) Support Unit (J. Bovaird, Director). The SRM Unit is designed to enhance the research capacity of social, behavioral, and educational scientists through the proliferation and utilization of cutting-edge statistical and methodological techniques as they relate to research on children, youth, families and schools.

Since its inception in 2003, CYFS researchers have received more than $40 million in extramural grants (with funding from agencies such as NIH, IES, NSF, and ACF). To date 49% of federal grants for which affiliates have applied have been funded, with approximately $23 returned to the University for every dollar it has invested. For more information and a synopsis of CYFS research activities, please visit cyfs.unl.edu.