2023-2024 Speaker Series

Open Science Bootcamp 2023

Open Science Bootcamp 2023 will be held on August 9-11 on the Penn State University Park campus. The Bootcamp is open to all students, staff, and faculty who want to learn more about open science and how to incorporate open science practices into their scholarship and teaching. This is a free, in-person event with limited capacity.

“Re-Envisioning Resilience in African American Families: Transforming Oppressive Systems through Resistance”

Abstract: African American families navigate not only everyday stressors and adversities, but also unique sociocultural stressors (e.g., “toxic upstream waters” like oppression). Despite these challenges, African American families have developed resilience using strength-based adaptive coping strategies, to some extent, to filter these waters. Dr. McBride Murry will propose a paradigm shift that includes acts of resistance that African American families may engage in to create system level change.

Co-Sponsored with the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center

Dr. Murry is also presenting the BENNETT LECTURE
Tuesday, October 3, 2023
4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., Location: 132 Flex Theatre, HUB-Robeson Center
“Enhancing Family and Youth Personal Protection: Navigating Toxic Waters through Intervention Effects of SAAF and PAAS Family-Centered Preventive Intervention Programs”

2023 Child Maltreatment Solutions Network Conference

“Supporting Crossover Youth Involved with Child Welfare and Juvenile Court Systems”

Co-sponsored by the Child Study Center

Please register here.

“The Connection Effect: Understanding and Enhancing the Lifelong Implications of Adolescent Social Relationships“

Abstract: The adult world is deeply ambivalent about adolescent social relationships. We fear the power and effects of peer influence and worry about the impact of social media. Yet, our youth are remarkably lonely and have only grown more so over the past 15 years. This talk will address this ambivalence and make the case that forming strong bonds with peers is the key social developmental task of adolescence, with a surprising range of lifelong implications. The talk will then go on to describe a unique intervention, The Connection Project, designed to address youths’ growing need for (and difficulty establishing) the deep peer relationships needed to support their growth and development. Promising data from randomized trials will be presented, along with discussion of the issues involved in scaling successful interventions for youth.

CSC Open Data and Developmental Science (ODDS) Faculty Discussion

“Center stage: Should Penn State create a center to support open science practices and scholarship?”

Penn State Child Study Center (CSC) faculty were invited to meet with professors Rick Gilmore, Frank Hillary, Nicole Lazar, and research data librarian Briana Wham to discuss and provide feedback on the creation of a Penn State Center of Open Science. Open science promotes transparency, collaboration, and accessibility to scientific research and data, yet concerns remain. This presentation was part of the CSC’s Open Data and Developmental Science (ODDS) Initiative.

CSC Innovation Hub Symposium 2024

“Using Participatory Action Research to Create Transformational Youth Interventions”

Abstract:  The focus of the 2024 symposium will be on transformational interventions for marginalized youth, and the critical role of youths’ own voices, participation, and collaboration on research that informs, defines, and constitutes such interventions.

Co-sponsored by the Prevention Research Center

“Sleep Well! A Family-Centered and Health Equity-Informed Behavioral Sleep Intervention”

Abstract: Behavioral sleep problems, including insomnia symptoms and poor sleep health, impact up to 30% of toddlers and preschoolers and are associated with adverse developmental outcomes. Racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic sleep health disparities, due to differential exposure to adverse social and environmental factors, also begin in early childhood. Despite a robust evidence base for treating early childhood behavioral sleep problems, most interventions have been tested with non-Hispanic/Latinx White and/or more socioeconomically advantaged families. In addition, few behavioral sleep interventions have been tested outside of research settings and in accessible contexts, such as pediatric primary care. These clinical research gaps raise questions about whether adaptations are needed to intervention content and delivery strategies to enhance the acceptability, cultural humility, and efficacy of behavioral sleep interventions in primary care. Dr. Williamson will highlight the community-engaged research approaches and health equity-informed implementation science principles used to guide her research, and future directions for intervention adaptation, evaluation, and scaling will be discussed.