Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Sept. 23: Emily Ozer, Promoting Adolescent Health and Beyond: Research on Improving School Settings and Empowerment.

Promoting Adolescent Health and Beyond: Research on Improving School Settings and Empowerment

Abstract:
My scholarship is informed by an ecological perspective that emphasizes the importance of social contexts on human development and the mutual influence of a range of individual and setting-level factors in shaping mental health and disorder. My research entails (a) the systematic examination of interventions designed to promote psychological and economic empowerment among marginalized populations; and (b) investigating and promoting factors that promote positive adaptation and mental health despite the presence of significant stressors. This latter line of research seeks to identify the conditions and resources that help protect individuals from psychopathology and other adverse consequences despite the presence of risk. I have substantially expanded my initial work on stress and child development beyond violence to study more broadly the effects of economic conditions, economic policies, and social class on the mental health of children and adolescents.

In my presentation, I will present findings from two local studies conducted in urban public schools, focusing primarily on a recent longitudinal intervention study of youth-led participatory action research (YPAR) for ethnically-diverse high school students. YPAR is an intervention approach in which young people are trained as researchers to identify and study problems to be addressed in their schools or communities and to conduct actions to advocate for changes based on their research findings. I will also discuss new directions for my intervention research and motivations for promoting interdisciplinary collaborations at the new I4Y Center at the Institute for Human Development.

Please join us on Monday, September 23, 12:00-1:30pm in 3105 Tolman Hall

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Sept. 16: Linda Wilbrecht, The brain's topiary art: Development, experience and structural plasticity of synaptic structures in the neocortex

The brain's topiary art: Development, experience and structural plasticity of synaptic structures in the neocortex

Prof. Wilbrecht will discuss the concept of adolescent brain development as a process of synaptic stabilization rather than simple pruning, showing evidence that there is both dendritic spine gain and loss in the frontal cortex across adolescent development in mice. She will then focus on the potential relationship between learning and spine gain and stabilization using her recent study of the impact of cocaine exposure on learning and new spine growth.


3105 Tolman Hall, 12:00-1:30pm