CDS Mission Statement

The Center for Developmental Science (CDS) is an inter-institutional and interdisciplinary center that serves as a catalyst for scholarship by providing a cooperative mechanism for research and training applications and initiatives.

The CDS transcends the usual boundaries of disciplines and institutions to facilitate training and research across disciplines and across the 6 participating universities (UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Greensboro, North Carolina Central University, North Carolina State University, Duke University, and Meredith College). The focus is on critical issues related to the development of our nation’s youth, such as rural education, school failure, early child care, and the health and wellbeing of the nation’s children, especially those growing up in disadvantaged settings. In fulfilling this mission, the CDS provides training and research opportunities to undergraduates, graduate students, recent PhDs, mid-career researchers, and senior scientists.

CDS Strategic Research Objectives

• To serve as an inter-institutional and interdisciplinary institute of advanced study in human development;

• To enhance teaching by providing an advanced interdisciplinary studies program in developmental science for undergraduates, doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows, visiting scholars, and affiliated faculty members. Additionally, the CDS provides an excellent research experience for undergraduate students that greatly increases their competitiveness for admission into selective programs of graduate study;

• To foster and support student and faculty scholarship and research collaboration across disciplines, departments, schools, and universities in the study of developmental processes with a special emphasis on involving early-career scientists in collaborations that will help them in developing their own research programs;

• To foster cross-institutional cooperation in developmental studies at component campuses of the University of North Carolina, private universities in North Carolina, as well as with other U.S. and international institutions;

• To advance the frontiers of behavioral, biological, and social science by supporting interdisciplinary research and training on the biobehavioral development of individuals over the life span and across generations;

• To serve society by establishing linkages between the University of North Carolina, the state, the nation, and the world through research related to promotion of health and well-being in individuals, families, schools, and communities.

CDS Commitment to Diversity

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has a long-held tradition of striving for excellence; this includes the core values of encouraging diversity and equal educational and employment opportunities throughout the University community.

The Center for Developmental Science (CDS) shares this vision to build and sustain an inclusive community and to foster a welcoming climate that values and respects all members in the community. The CDS affirms the University's commitment to diversity as a critical element of academic and research excellence.