PhD in Developmental Sciences in Urbana United States | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The Developmental Sciences faculty and students unite through a shared passion for studying developmental processes across all life stages within educational settings.
Our research focuses on key developmental challenges, such as: flourishing during teenage years and early adulthood, including studies on social-emotional competencies and youth empowerment, establishing, pursuing, and achieving ambitious objectives, examining the function of contingency plans,
investigating cultural influences (like feelings of inclusion) that affect academic outcomes and psychological growth of underserved student populations,
creating and implementing culturally responsive support programs for disadvantaged college students, particularly first-generation and low-income individuals,
advancing STEM education for children, undergraduates, and STEM educators (including building teaching expertise in these instructors), analyzing how university students, especially those from underrepresented groups in STEM, successfully manage online STEM coursework despite known obstacles in conventional classroom-based STEM programs.
While our faculty and students pursue varied research interests, we collectively strive to enhance educational experiences through innovative and methodologically sound applications of psychological principles and empirical research.