When Alexis Verzal first arrived at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln, Neb., her future held many more questions than answers. While her parents Tiffany and Brandon Verzal grappled with these unknowns, this much they knew: Their world had been turned upside down.
CYFS has released its 2014-205 Annual Report, which spans July 2014 to June 2015. This year’s report highlights collaborative research by CYFS faculty and affiliates, including early childhood projects, STEM outreach and teacher training.
Elizabeth Niehaus, assistant professor in educational administration, has been awarded two grants to study Caribbean student engagement in higher education. The American College Personnel Association Foundation awarded a $2,500 grant and the NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators In Higher Education) Foundation awarded $4,650—both projects are housed in CYFS.
CYFS faculty affiliate Georgia Jones, associate professor of nutrition and health sciences, is using mobile technology to connect students with supplemental course content—and she’s doing it all from a UNL food laboratory.
Jones is partnering with the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools to create a food science video series using a GoPro camera and an iPad.
If there is one thing CYFS affiliate Victoria Molfese has learned over the course of her career, it’s that you don’t do research alone. The Chancellor’s Professor received this year’s Distinguished Research/Creative Career award, as CEHS recognized outstanding faculty and staff at an April 10 awards ceremony.
With collaborative support and seed funding, CYFS faculty affiliates are prepared to grow their research base this spring.
The Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools (CYFS) recently provided grant proposal and development assistance to eight CEHS faculty—all of whom received 2015-16 Layman Awards. The award, funded by UNL’s Office of Research and Economic Development, provides $10,000 in seed money for untenured faculty and supports researchers in their pursuit of external funding.
Distance technology and community mobilization are transforming the mental health landscape of rural Nebraska, where the success of CYFS affiliates’ research may soon benefit communities worldwide.
Richard Bischoff, chair of child, youth and family studies, and Paul Springer, associate professor, are partnering with international colleagues to address an issue that they say transcends geography and culture—access to mental health services. Their model, which was developed six years ago in rural Nebraska communities, integrates distance technology and begins by drawing community members around the proverbial table.
The pioneers of modern temperament research, psychiatrists Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess, identified nine traits present at birth that influenced children’s development. Half a century later, temperament research continues to play a key role in unlocking children’s behavioral diversity.