The 2017-18 class of the Buffett Institute Graduate Scholars program presented its research at a symposium last week in Omaha. The Buffett Scholars, University of Nebraska doctoral students Sonya Bhatia and Amy Colgrove (UNL) and Jordan Wickstrom (UNO), along with their faculty mentors, shared their findings and described its implications for the early childhood field.
Sonya Bhatia, of Lisle, Ill., is a school psychology student in the Department of Educational Psychology and affiliated with the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools at the University of Nebraska ̶ Lincoln. Bhatia’s research examined conjoint behavioral consultation’s effects on teacher-student interactions. Conjoint behavioral consultation is an evidence-based family-school partnership intervention designed to promote positive teacher-child interactions and support the learning and development of young children with challenging behaviors. Bhatia’s faculty mentor is Dr. Susan Sheridan.
Amy Colgrove, of Naperville, Ill., is a student in human sciences in the Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies at the University of Nebraska ̶ Lincoln. Colgrove studied the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based intervention designed to provide strategies and skills for stress management and increasing general well-being among teachers. Teachers play a vital role in promoting the learning and social-emotional development of their students, and high levels of stress make teachers’ important work more difficult and may even lead some to leave the profession. Colgrove’s faculty mentor is Dr. Victoria Molfese.
The Buffett Scholars program awards 1-year fellowships worth up to $25,000 every year to a maximum of four doctoral students. The overriding goal of the program is to increase the diversity and skills of young scholars conducting research about children from birth through age 8 and their families. Learn more about the program: http://bit.ly/2mJ7c4A