Overview

  • Who are we?
    • Established in 2006, the Graduate Field Committee in Developmental Science (GFCDS) serves to focus and enrich existing campus-wide strengths in developmental science.
  • What is a Field Committee?
    • A “Field Committee” is an initiative funded by the University of Maryland Graduate School to foster collaborations, training, and projects on a common topic.
  • Our focus
    • During human development, interactions with the environment give rise to incredibly complex and specialized systems—that is, the things that make us unique among species (e.g., abstract thought, scientific reasoning, personality, etc.). In turn, these things affect future development!
    • On the shoulders of foundational work by Darwin, Baldwin, Piaget, and Vygotsky, we are now uncovering the processes in a wide range of systems including: motivation, social cognition, emotion, morality, family systems, language, memory and more!
  • Our functions
    • Provide courses, seminars, and colloquia that existing programs can draw on to enrich graduate training. We maintain an active listserv announcing opportunities & in press articles
    • We sponsor: 1) 1-day graduate-student organized workshops, 2) Invited campus-wide speakers selected by graduate students, 3) Cross-department graduate student coffee hours
  • Executive Committee members
    • Lucas Butler (Co-spokesperson, HDQM), Tracy Riggins (Co-spokesperson, PSYC), Jude Cassidy (PSYC), Jeffrey Lidz (LING), Rochelle Newman (HESP), Elizabeth Redcay (PSYC), Natasha Cabrera (HDQM), Yi Ting Huang (HESP), Melanie Killen (HDQM), Richard Prather (HDQM), Angel Dunbar (AAAS), Jade Dunstan (PSYC, student rep)
  • Join us!

You can join the GFCDS by sending an email to Jade Dunstan: jdunstan@umd.edu

Website: www.devsci.umd.edu || Listserv: devsci@listserv.umd.edu