Centers and Initiatives
Our award-winning faculty members and students are actively engaged in several, cutting-edge research centers, labs, and initiatives. These provide exciting opportunities for growth in learning, side-by-side research with faculty members, and hands-on opportunities to enrich the lives of children, youth, and families.
Center for Child and Family Success (CCFS)
The CCFS is an interdisciplinary research center focused on producing pioneering research on the structures and processes that impact daily life for children and families in a rapidly evolving world.
Diversity and Inclusion Science Initiative (DISI)
The Diversity and Inclusion Science Initiative (DISI) is a signature initiative of the School of Social and Family Dynamics. The goal of this initiative is to increase participation of undergraduate and graduate students from historically underrepresented or excluded groups in social science research by providing opportunities for them.
Justice Futures
Justice Futures seeks to imagine and make real more just and accessible legal pathways for everyday Americans.
Link Enterprise
The Link Enterprise is designed to break down the social barriers that interfere with effective relationships and to build positive relationships within schools, families, and community organizations, with the goal of fostering success for all.
Arizona Youth and Identity Project
The Arizona Youth Identity Project (AZYIP) examines how U.S.-born young adults in Arizona perceive their identity and status as Americans. Using mixed qualitative methods, AZYIP focuses on who, how, where and why U.S.-born young adults of diverse backgrounds reimagine, reclaim, rearticulate, and reconstitute national belonging.
ECLIPSE Studies Lab
The ECLIPSE Studies Lab conducts high-quality research studies that provide insight into child, social, and cultural factors that shape children's and adolescents' social, school, and psychological adjustment in diverse populations and to prepare undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars from diverse backgrounds and perspectives for success in social science research careers.
Kindness in Development (KID) Project
This research project was created to understand children's sympathy toward people who are similar and different than themselves. This helps us understand how children behave kindly towards others.
The Latino Resilience Enterprise (LRE)
The LRE is home to a series of initiatives focused on using basic research to identify factors and develop programs that promote positive outcomes among Latino youth and their families. All initiatives in the LRE have a fundamental goal of conducting high quality research that results in advancing our understanding of how to improve the lives of Latino youth and their families.
Positive Environments for Adolescents and Children (PEAC)
The PEAC lab focuses on the role of contextual influences in children and adolescents development, both in terms of their wellbeing and psychopathology. We consider the multi-level interplay between family, school, and neighborhood environments. Specific areas of strength include the role of genetics as well as the design of preventive interventions.
Romance and Dating in Later Life
The Romance and Dating in Later Life project explores views and experiences of dating, romance, and sex through interviews and focus group discussions with single and recently-partnered adults aged 55+ in Arizona.