Spring 2012
ANNOUNCEMENTS
IHDSC Announces Interim Director
I am writing to announce the appointment of Richard Arum as interim director of the Institute for Human Development and Social Change. Richard has the full support of the IHDSC Governance Board, the Deans of FAS and Wagner, the Provost and the Vice Provost for Research. I agree that this is an excellent appointment and ensures the Institute’s solid leadership following Cybele's appointment as Vice Provost at NYU.
Richard Arum has been involved with IHDSC from its inception. He has maintained a tremendously strong track record of interdisciplinary and collaborative research projects, and has been awarded major research grants from funders such as the MacArthur and Gates Foundations. He has had a key role in establishing the Research Alliance for NYC Public Schools. Arum has also held several key senior leadership roles within the University and in his field, including service as Chair of the Department of Humanities and the Social Sciences, Deputy Director of IHDSC's IES-PIRT doctoral training program and Program Director for education research for the Social Sciences Research Council. Richard has recently been acknowledged in Education Week as one of the university-based academics who is most frequently cited. He has contributed substantially to public debates about schools and schooling. Please join me in offering Richard congratulations and gratitude for assuming this leadership position.
Thanks much.
Sincerely,
Mary Brabeck
Gale and Ira Drukier Dean
CHIBPS Co-Sponsoring Group Relations Conference
The Center for Health, Identity, Behavior, & Prevention Studies (CHIBPS) at NYU will be co-sponsoring a group relations conference titled Sexual Identity: Authorization and Leadership in a World of Differences on March 2-4, 2012. For more information, please visit the website here: http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/appsych/grouprelations/
IHDSC Announces Spring 2012 Speaker Series Schedule
For more information, please click here.
IN THE NEWS
IHDSC Faculty Affiliates, Clancy Blair and Joshua Aronson, Applied Psychology
A new paper co-authored by Drs. Clancy Blair and Joshua Aronson at NYU has been accepted by American Psychologist, APA's flagship journal. The paper, titled "Intelligence: New Findings and Theoretical Developments," looks at new findings in the study of the biology of intelligence.
Fall 2011
ANNOUNCEMENTS
IHDSC Advisory Board member, Perry Halkitis, Professor of Applied Psychology and Public Health
Dr. Perry Halkitis' work with CHIPBS (Center for Health, Identity, Behavior & Prevention Studies) was mentioned in an article published on EurekAlert! The article, titled "Odds for detecting HIV varies by method, new study finds," discusses the effectiveness of different methods for testing HIV among African American men.
To read the full article posted on the EurekAlert! website, click here.
IHDSC Welcomes New Staff Member and Says Farewell
We would like to welcome Dotun Ogunwale as the new Financial and Operations Manager of IHDSC! Dotun holds a BA in Economics and Business Administration. Dotun has worked at MTA New York City Transit and City College of New York before joining NYU.We would like to welcome Lisa Steiger as the new Pre-Award Administrator of IHDSC! Lisa holds a B.A. in Reconciliation Studies from Bethel University and is currently pursuing her M.A. in International Development Education at NYU.
IHDSC Announces Fall 2011 RFA for Seed Funding
The Institute of Human Development and Social Change (IHDSC) is pleased to announce a call for applications. IHDSC’s mission is to stimulate and support theoretically and methodologically advanced interdisciplinary research on basic developmental processes, the complex interplay between developing systems and changing contexts, and the application of research to the design and evaluation of intentional change strategies at the program and policy levels. The Institute brings together faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students in collaborative relationships among New York University’s School of Arts and Sciences, the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, and the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. This call for applications provides fiscal “seed” support to faculty for multidisciplinary research.
The University recognizes that scholars who take up the challenge of conducting multidisciplinary research need support to jump-start new programs of inquiry. IHDSC has therefore been charged by the University to support junior and senior tenure-track or tenured faculty as investigators to bridge multiple domains of expertise and cross disciplinary boundaries. This is the eighth RFA that intends to support seed projects meeting IHDSC’s mission. For descriptions of past grantees and a link to download the full RFA, please visit http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/ihdsc/grants/.
We look forward to supporting the development of innovative, multidisciplinary research projects through this award structure. The deadline for applications is December 9th, 2011. All applications are reviewed by an interdisciplinary committee. Award decisions will be made by January 9th, 2011.
The RFA is not intended to provide support for ongoing or developed research projects. If you have questions regarding the ways in which your scholarly work fits within the mission of the Institute, do not hesitate to contact us to discuss your concerns. We look forward to learning more about your work.
AWARDS
IHDSC Faculty Affiliate, Pamela Morris, Professor of Applied Psychology
On behalf of IHDSC, we would like to congratulate Dr. Pamela Morris, who was just awarded a grant projected to be over $1M over two years, by ACF.
Dr. Morris' project, titled "Moderators, Mechanisms, Methods, and Measurement in the Head Start Impact Study: Informing Head Start of the Future," will create a center to conduct secondary analysis of data from the Head Start Impact Study (HSIS). These analyses will extend HSIS findings to address a key question it left unanswered: how are features of Head Start centers associated with variation in program impacts on key child outcomes of cognitive functioning, social-emotional skills, and health status? Dr. Morris and her team (including Co-PIs Howard Bloom, MDRC, and Hiro Yoshikawa, Harvard, and Co-Is Larry Aber and Cybele Raver, NYU, and Lindsay Page, Harvard) will study how Head Start impacts vary by a specified set of program, child, and family characteristics. In addition, they will study selected mechanisms (or mediators) by which Head Start produces its impacts, with a particular emphasis on the quality and dosage of Head Start services.
Congratulations to Dr. Morris!
IHDSC Faculty Affiliate, Clancy Blair, Professor of Applied Psychology, and IHDSC Director, Cybele Raver, Professor of Applied Psychology
On behalf of IHDSC, we would like to congratulate Drs. Clancy Blair and Cybele Raver, who were just awarded a grant projected to be over $1M over five years, by ACF.
The aim of Drs. Blair and Raver's project, titled "The ABC intervention in Early Head Start Programs: Reducing the effects of toxic stress for children in poverty," is to implement and evaluate an evidence-based parenting intervention (Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch‐Up, ABC) for children and families facing high levels of adversity with partnering Early Head Start grantees in New York City. Proposed data collection will include state‐of‐the‐art assays of a select number of biomarkers as well as extensive observational and direct assessments of self‐regulation for which the research team has a high level of expertise. Proposed analyses include deployment of advanced statistical techniques, including structural equation modeling and hierarchical linear modeling. Results from this research are expected to advance applied developmental neuroscience while also substantially contributing to the field’s knowledge base regarding the role Early Head Start can play in supporting parenting and buffering children from the negative effects of toxic stress.
Congratulations to Drs. Blair and Raver!
IHDSC Faculty Affiliate, Niyati Parekh, Assistant Professor of Nutrition and Public Health
We would also like to congratulate Dr. Niyati Parekh, who was recently awarded a grant by the American Cancer Society. Dr. Parekh's project, titled "The Cancer, Insulin Resistance, and Lifestyle (CIRCLE) Study," will investigate the separate and combined impact of blood markers, genetic factors, and diet related to insulin and glucose metabolism in the development of obesity-related cancers (all cancers combined and for the three most common cancers in the US: colon, breast and prostate). The ultimate purpose of this research is to identify individuals among whom management of abnormalities in insulin or blood sugar levels, recommending healthier diets, or genetic screening, will serve as potential cancer prevention tools, in an attempt to reduce the expected burden of new cancers in a very large at-risk population of obese and overweight American adults.
Congratulations to Dr. Parekh!
IHDSC Faculty Affiliate, Clancy Blair, Professor of Applied Psychology, and IHDSC Director, Cybele Raver, Professor of Applied Psychology
On behalf of IHDSC, we would like to congratulate Drs. Clancy Blair and Cybele Raver, who were just awarded a grant projected to be over $1M over five years, by ACF.
The aim of Drs. Blair and Raver's project, titled "The ABC intervention in Early Head Start Programs: Reducing the effects of toxic stress for children in poverty," is to implement and evaluate an evidence-based parenting intervention (Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch‐Up, ABC) for children and families facing high levels of adversity with partnering Early Head Start grantees in New York City. Proposed data collection will include state‐of‐the‐art assays of a select number of biomarkers as well as extensive observational and direct assessments of self‐regulation for which the research team has a high level of expertise. Proposed analyses include deployment of advanced statistical techniques, including structural equation modeling and hierarchical linear modeling. Results from this research are expected to advance applied developmental neuroscience while also substantially contributing to the field’s knowledge base regarding the role Early Head Start can play in supporting parenting and buffering children from the negative effects of toxic stress.
Congratulations to Drs. Blair and Raver!
IHDSC Faculty Affiliate, Niyati Parekh, Assistant Professor of Nutrition and Public Health
We would also like to congratulate Dr. Niyati Parekh, who was recently awarded a grant by the American Cancer Society. Dr. Parekh's project, titled "The Cancer, Insulin Resistance, and Lifestyle (CIRCLE) Study," will investigate the separate and combined impact of blood markers, genetic factors, and diet related to insulin and glucose metabolism in the development of obesity-related cancers (all cancers combined and for the three most common cancers in the US: colon, breast and prostate). The ultimate purpose of this research is to identify individuals among whom management of abnormalities in insulin or blood sugar levels, recommending healthier diets, or genetic screening, will serve as potential cancer prevention tools, in an attempt to reduce the expected burden of new cancers in a very large at-risk population of obese and overweight American adults.
Congratulations to Dr. Parekh!
IN THE NEWS
IHDSC Faculty Affiliate, Florencia Torche, Associate Professor of Sociology
Dr. Florencia Torche was highlighted in an article on Futurity, titled "Pregnancy stress may mean fewer boy babies." The article discusses her study of the effects of stress on pregnancies. To read the full article, click here.
IHDSC Faculty Affiliate, Pamela Morris, Professor of Applied Psychology
Dr. Pamela Morris' Head Start study was featured on NYU Steinhardt At a Glance. The project will examine the impact of Head Steart programs on children's developmental outcomes. For more information about the study, please click here. To read the announcement, click here.
IHDSC Faculty Affiliate, Clancy Blair, Professor of Applied Psychology
Dr. Clancy Blair's Tools of the Mind curriculum was featured in a WNYC story. To learn more about the project and listen to the full story, click here.
Spring 2011
ANNOUNCEMENTS
IHDSC Advisory Board member, Perry Halkitis, Professor of Applied Psychology and Public Health
NYU Professor and IHDSC Advisory Board member, Perry Halkitis and Sean Cahill, Managing Director, Public Policy, Research and Community Health, Gay Men’s Health Crisis recently wrote an editorial in The Huffington Post about the importance of scientific research in making advances towards HIV and AIDS prevention. The editorial, entitled "Re-Centering Science in the Fight Against AIDS", was written in the context of the 30th year of the AIDS epidemic, and is available online at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/perry-n-halkitis-phd-ms/recentering-science-in-th_b_868310.html
IHDSC Faculty Affiliate, Fabienne Doucet, Assistant Professor of Teaching & Learning
Convening a group of experts on Haiti from a variety of academic backgrounds, Assistant Professor Fabienne Doucet and NYU’s Institute of Human Development and Social Change (IHDSC) organized a day-long conference to advance knowledge on rebuilding Haiti and on how to protect vulnerable populations in post-disaster contexts.
The conference brought together mental health experts, educators, psychologists, anthropologists, legal experts, and more to share their knowledge of the challenges Haiti faces following the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010. The speakers generated dialogue around issues of protecting women and children following the disaster, rebuilding Haiti’s educational system, conducting ethically sound research in post-disaster contexts, and using research to inform sustainable reform in Haiti and elsewhere.
For more information, please see the Haiti Conference page here and the press release here.
Stephanie Jones, Assistant Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Dr. Stephanie Jones from Harvard University was invited to present findings from her research with IHDSC Director, Cybele Raver, IHDSC Advisory Board Chair, Larry Aber, and Dr. Joshua Brown, Fordham University, at an SRCD Sponsored Executive Branch Policy Briefing: New Findings on Approaches to Improving Children's Social and Emotional Learning: Implications for Academic Performance and Behavior.
IHDSC Director, Cybele Raver, Professor in Applied Psychology
Cybele Raver and colleagues were invited to present recent research findings that were just published in a special issue of Child Development, "CSRP's Impact on Low-Income Preschoolers' Preacademic Skills: Self-Regulation as a Mediating Mechanism", to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and to be a part of a Congressional Briefing.
IHDSC Advisory Board member, Perry Halkitis, Professor of Applied Psychology and Associate Dean for Research & Doctoral Studies at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development
Perry Halkitis was recently invited to serve on the Advisory Committee on HIV and STD Prevention and Treatment of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
AWARDS
IHDSC Faculty Affiliate, Pamela Morris, Professor of Applied Psychology
Professor Pamela Morris will be collaborating with MDRC as a lead investigator on a study to test the effects of the Opportunity NYC-Family Rewards program on the fundamental changes in the family setting and in children's motivation that are presumed “mechanisms of action” of the program. The study seeks to enhance the experimental evaluation of Opportunity NYC-Family Rewards program, a conditional cash transfer program, by collecting information on children and parents that will help explain whether and how impacts of the intervention were (or were not) achieved, and to understand the effects on other outcomes not collected as part of the core effort. Professor J. Lawrence Aber is also a co-PI on the project. Opportunity NYC-Family Rewards is an initiative of Mayor Bloomberg’s Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO).
IHDSC Faculty Affiliate, LaRue Allen, Professor of Applied Psychology
[Brady Education Foundation] A
Unified Assessment System to Inform Early Care and Education (ECE)
Professional Development and Instructional Practices in New York City
(Phase I)
Phase I of this project will search for a common metric that links across all ECE child assessment instruments currently being used by New York City agencies to track children's progress and inform classroom instruction. By co-developing a common child assessment metric system that feeds back into the professional development systems across all City agencies, New York City will have a tool to improve school readiness and work to close the achievement gap before children reach kindergarten. The Principal Investigator is Dr. LaRue Allen of the Department of Applied Psychology at New York University.
IHDSC Faculty Affiliate, LaRue Allen, Professor of Applied Psychology
Professor LaRue Allen received a grant from the Edith Glick Shoolman Children’s Foundation to conduct a series of Forum meetings on measurement and accountability in early childhood. The meetings will tap into the expertise, and incorporate the voices of practitioners, scientists and policymakers to have a productive conversation of where the field could move to improve the educational chances of young children.
IHDSC Advisory Board member, Perry Halkitis, Professor of Applied Psychology and Associate Dean for Research & Doctoral Studies at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development
Professor Perry Halkitis was just awarded a Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research Program from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the amount of $76,756 over two years. This award will provide funding for one of his exceptionally talented doctoral students, Melvin Hampton, to work on the parent grant, Syndemic Production Among Emerging Adult Men (#R01 DA025537) within Halkitis’s Center for Health, Identity, Behavior and Prevention Studies (CHIBPS).
Hampton, a Ph.D. student in Counseling Psychology, will continue his work at CHIBPS as a Research Associate under Halkitis’s mentorship, allowing Hampton to build a high level of empirical and clinical expertise in areas of drug abuse and HIV behavioral research. Hampton will be participate in data collection, subject interviews, research dissemination at conferences, and due to his experience as a clinician, provide pre- and post-test HIV counseling as needed. We extend many congratulations to both Halkitis and Hampton for their receipt of this award.
IHDSC Advisory Board Chair, J. Lawrence Aber, Professor of Applied Psychology and Public Policy
J. Lawrence Aber was selected by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to design and oversee an evaluation of a social and emotional learning intervention in schools in conflict-affected, Democratic Republic of Congo. This is part of a larger project funded by USAID to improve equitable access to quality basic education in North Kivu, South Kivu and Katanga provinces for more than 499,000 girls, boys, young women and young men.
Fall 2010
IHDSC Faculty Affiliate, LaRue Allen, Professor, Applied Psychology Receives $185,000 Pew Charitable Trusts Grant
Dr. Allen is Raymond and Rosalee Weiss Professor of Applied Psychology at NYU as well as a Visiting Scholar at the American University of Paris. The Pew grant will support Allen and colleague, Jennifer Astuto to examine the efficacy of a nationally recognized home visitation program, the Parent Child Home Program, in decreasing school readiness gaps among poor and non-poor children, as well as identify the strengths and weaknesses of this service delivery approach within ethnically diverse communities with an eye towards culturally- relevant model adaptations.
IHDSC Faculty Affiliate, Diane Hughes, Professor, Applied Psychology Receives $481,389 National Institutes of Health Research Grant
Dr. Hughes is well-known for her work on ethnic differences in parenting processes, identity, and youth adjustment. The NIH grant will fund the collaborative work of 10 members and 4 affiliates of the Study Group on Culture, Race, and Ethnicity (SGRCE) to aggregate data from 11 datasets that contain large samples of participants from five ethnic groups (European American, African American, Chinese-origin, Mexican American, and American Indian). Under the leadership of Hughes, the group will evaluate a conceptual model that specifies interrelationships between parenting and youths' adjustment.
IHDSC Faculty Affiliate, Matthew Wiswall, Assistant Professor of Economics was Selected to Receive an IHDSC Seed Grant
Dr. Wiswall received a IHDSC Seed grant, which will allow him employ the Panel of Income Dynamics dataset to examine relationships among parental time allocation in wage and non-wage activities, income, household labor choices and child outcomes. The title of the study is "Household Choices and Child Development."
IHDSC Faculty Affiliate, Larry Wu, Professor of Sociology Receives $688,896 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, National Institutes of Health Research Grant
Dr. Wu is the Director of the Center for Advanced Social Science Research and Deputy Director of the Institute for Human Development and Social Change at New York University. He is one of the nation's leading scholars on nonmarital fertility, with his work in this area having received funding from NICHD, NSF, the William T. Grant Foundation, and the ASPE. This NIH grant award will fund Wu and colleagues to build on their previous studies of the dynamics of nonmarital fertility by examining processes underlying a premarital first birth and observed changes in union/marital status.
IHDSC Director and Professor in Applied Psychology, Cybele Raver Selected to Work with Northwestern University on MacArthur Foundation-funded Housing Study
Dr. Raver, a nationally recognized expert in children's emotional and behavioral self-regulation, will work with her team at NYU to review, select, and pilot measures of family processes and child outcomes in preparation for the launch of a larger survey and experimental data collection effort encompassed in the study entitled, "How Housing Matters for Children."
Spring 2010
IHDSC Faculty Affiliate, Clancy Blair, Receives $3.5 Million Institute of Education Sciences Research Grant
Blair, Professor in Applied Psychology, received $3.5 million from the US Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences to experimentally evaluate the an innovative curriculum known as Tools of the Mind. Tools is grounded in the Vygotskian theory of development in which teachers scaffold children's learning with the aim of improving self-regulation abilities, particularly executive functions, as a means to increase academic learning and achievement. Self-regulation building activities are embedded in literacy and math instruction and in language and social-emotional competence building exercises.
IHDSC Faculty Affiliate, Pamela Morris, Receives William T. Grant Supplement
With existing William T. Grant funding, Morris, Associate Professor in Prevention and colleague, James Riccio, are addressing the question of how conditional cash transfers (CCTs) to low-income families affect family social processes, child expectations and motivations, and long-term mental health and behavioral problems. Money is distributed to program participants based on improved health and/or changes in the amount of time parents dedicated to household management versus time at work. The Foundation is funding an add-on to the original study that allows the researchers to focus on how the program impacts family routines and child management.
IHDSC Faculty Affiliate, Patrick Sharkey, was Selected as a William T. Grant Scholar
Patrick Sharkey, Assistant Professor in Sociology, received a prestigious William T. Grant early career research award, which will allow him to implement a five-year research and mentoring plan that will expand his skills and knowledge in a new discipline, content area, or method. The title of Sharkey's grant is "The Impact of Acute Violence and other Environmental Stressors on Cognitive Functioning and School Performance."
Fall 2009
C. Cybele Raver, professor of Applied Psychology and director of NYU’s Institute of Human Development and Social Change (IHDSC), has been awarded a $3.1 million grant from the National Institute of Health for a longitudinal study entitled "Testing CSRP's impact on low-income children's outcomes in 3rd-5th grade: A 5-year Follow-up." This grant will be administered through IHDSC.
The principal aim of the Chicago School Readiness Project (CSRP) is to improve low income children’s readiness for school by looking at their socioemotional adjustment through a set of classroom-based interventions in their Head Start year. The grant from NIH will allow the team to address whether there are long-term benefits of the CSRP intervention on children’s emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes as they enter a critical period in their educational trajectories, their 3rd and 5th grade years. The project is also supported by a 3-year grant from the Spencer Foundation.
Raver leads the research team that includes Michael Reynolds from the National Opinion Research Consortium (NORC)/University of Chicago, Christine Li-Grining from Loyola University and Stephanie Jones from Harvard University.