Research in developmental science addresses 'what' develops, 'how' developmental change occurs, and contexts of development. The Developmental Science Initiative brings together researchers from the department's Developmental division, other divisions within the department, other department across campus, and across the five colleges. We conduct multidisciplinary research that addresses human development by integrating multiple domains (e.g., biological, cognitive, affective, social, physical, and health) and levels of analysis (neurological, behavioral, relational) to examine the influence of their interactions across the lifespan.
Faculty use diverse methods to study a wide array of developmental outcomes that make a difference in the daily lives of developing persons and their families. Teaching and training occur within the lab and the classroom at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral levels to provide students with an overview of current theory and research related to development across the lifespan. The goal of this initiative is to become one of the premier centers of scholarship, teaching, and outreach devoted to the understanding and fostering of human development.
DSI 2018 Celebration and Retreat (26 Oct)
Notes and overview slides located here
DSI Student Grants Awarded 2018
Congratulations to these four PhD students who are recipients of Developmental Science Initiative student research grants** ($10,000 dissertation; $5,000 prediss/masters):
Dissertation:
Amy Strauss, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology: sensitive periods in birdsong behavioral and neural development
Maggie Ugolini, Neuroscience and Behavior: Cognitive and neural measures of childhood language processing and speech comprehension in natural settings
Prediss/Masters:
Xingjie Chen, Developmental Science: Behavioral and neural risky decision making in adolescence and early adulthood
Alexandrea Craft, Clinical Psychology: Prenatal and postnatal stress family intervention
**Funds are provided by PBS, CNS and university support. Administrative support is provided by the Center for Research on Families. Thank you, partners!
The information about this competition (next deadline tba) can be found at https://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/article/developmental-science-initiative-accepting
DSI Faculty Seed Grants Awarded 2018
Congratulations to these four teams who are recipients of Developmental Science Initiative seed project grants* ($12,000 each) in the Fall 2017 cycle:
Aline Gubrium and Sally Powers: Piloting a Community-Based Digital Storytelling Intervention to Prevent Postpartum Depression in Adolescents
Jennifer McDermott and Nilanjana Dasgupta: Seeing is Believing: Testing A Developmentally Sensitive Intervention to Increase Resilience to Stereotype Threat and Enhance Executive Function Skills in Middle Childhood
Joonkoo Park and Tom Roeper: Recursion as an Underlying Mechanism for Children’s Acquisition of Language and Mathematics
Ashley Woodman and Rebecca Spencer: The Impact of Physical Activity on Well-Being for Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder
*Funds are provided by PBS, CNS and university support. Administrative support is provided by the Center for Research on Families. Thank you, partners!
The call for applications (next deadline tba) can be found at https://www.umass.edu/family/request-proposals-developmental-science-initiative-seed-grants
Developmental Science Colloquium Series, Spring 2019