What's Happening

By Elizabeth McDade-Montez, PhD | April 12, 2018
Director, Professional Learning Systems, ETR

Worried about social media’s influence on youth? A lot of people are.

In the first part of this blog post, I talked about some of the reasons we worry. Here are 6 recommendations that can guide parents and those who work with youth in supporting healthy use of these new tools.

By Elizabeth McDade-Montez, PhD | April 5, 2018
Senior Research Associate, ETR

From a fairly young age, today’s kids are growing up with all kinds of social media. Parents and professionals struggle to keep up with the latest trends and protect children from possible harm. As a media researcher and a parent, I'm also working to stay abreast of the latest technology and how it impacts children and adolescents.

But rather than looking at every new app as a focus of research, I'm interested in the larger issues related to social media use—things like why and how we use social media.

By Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, MCHES | March 6, 2018
Senior Editor, ETR

The Kirby Summit is a one-of-a kind experience. This small, invitational convening gathers experts from across the nation. They meet over two days to talk about promoting adolescent health and reducing health risks.

Okay, you’ve probably heard about other events similar to this. Why is the Kirby Summit so special?

By Stephanie Guinosso, PhD | February 26, 2018
Senior Research Associate, ETR

“Our goal is to create a beloved community. This will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

This quote resonates deeply for me. It truly captures the journey we must embark upon to become trauma-informed professionals working within trauma- and healing-informed systems.

By Louise Ann Lyon, PhD | February 8, 2018
Senior Research Associate, ETR

Finally! More and more attention is shifting to the fact that community colleges could play a critical role in diversifying computing fields.

The National Science Foundation and Google have given momentum to this movement by funding and hosting a workshop, the “Authentic Inclusion of Community Colleges in Broadening Participation in Computing.” It was held January 30-February 1, 2018, at the Google headquarters. 

By Karin Coyle, PhD | February 6, 2018
Chief Science Officer, ETR

The Kirby Summit has disrupted the ways I think about sex education. I hope it’s going to disrupt your thinking, too. ETR’s invitational Summit assembled some of the nation’s best-known developmental neuroscientists, along with similarly respected sexual and reproductive health specialists. The things we’ve learned by bringing our disciplines together are altering the ways all of us are conceptualizing sex education.

By Pamela Anderson, PhD | January 11, 2018
Senior Research Associate, ETR

Sex trafficking among U.S. teens is real. It’s happening in most communities—in schools, at the mall, online and in other situations. If you work with young people, I hope you’ll check out some new free resources you can use to share facts about youth trafficking with both young people and adults. 

By Stephanie Guinosso, PhD, MPH | December 12, 2017
Senior Research Associate, ETR

Dr. Douglas B. Kirby was an extraordinary man. His lifetime contributions to adolescent sexual and reproductive health transformed the field, both in research and in practice. In February 2016, ETR hosted the inaugural Kirby Summit in honor of Dr. Kirby. We continued our exciting conversation at our second convening in May, 2017.

By Sue Potter, MS | November 28, 2017
Research Associate, ETR

I’m with the “away team.” For the last several years, I’ve been part of ETR’s Distributed Workforce. Roughly one in five staff are located away from our organization’s main offices in Scotts Valley, Oakland and Sacramento, California. You’ll find us in other regions of California and in other states across the country. I live in Boston.

It hasn’t always been easy being one of the remote staff. But we’re an organization that believes in continuous improvement. 

By David Manuel Torres | September 18, 2017
Research Assistant, ETR

I have always been really interested in technology. In elementary school, I looked forward to “computer lab” days where the class would spend an hour at the school’s small, modular classroom by the lunch area. We got to play computer games meant to develop our typing skills. After one of these computer lab days, the instructor pulled me aside and told me that she wanted me to help her install new mice on all the classroom computers in the school.

I was filled with pride. In the days following, I eagerly knocked on each classroom door and went in to unplug the old mechanical mice and install fancy new optical laser ones.

By Pamela M. Anderson, PhD | September 12, 2017
Senior Research Associate, ETR

First published on the blog of yth.org on August 2, 2017.

“When young people are cyberbullied, why don’t they reach out to trusted adults for help?” This is a question a lot of youth health providers are asking.

Think about it: here we are, a nationwide community of caring, concerned parents/guardians and professionals. We’re teachers, health providers, counselors, outreach workers, researchers and more. We want to support young people and empower them to live healthy, positive and productive lives.

By Chris Connelly | September 7, 2017
Former Data Core Intern, ETR

Not many people would align my professional goals with those of a non-profit. I’m majoring in Economics and Politics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. After graduation, I plan to earn a Masters in Applied Economics and Finance. Then—law school. I want to use my knowledge of economics and law to work as a corporate attorney.

So why did someone like me choose ETR for an internship?

By Seow Ling Ong, MSW | September 5, 2017
Research Associate, ETR

Colorful charts. Gorgeous graphs. Incredible infographics. Yes, everybody loves data visualization, and we can’t enough of it. But if you’ve never worked with dataviz, how do you get started?

Here is my own story—the confession of how a self-professed “data-only” person who is not a graphic designer ended up venturing into the colorful world of dataviz.

By Louise Ann Lyon, PhD | August 22, 2017
Senior Research Associate, ETR

Imagine a high school student who loves technology. She’s decided to pursue a career in computer science (CS). What steps will take her forward from school to career?

Planning for these steps is an essential part of the educational process, both for individual students and for educational institutions. Unfortunately, the current ways most institutions are thinking about the CS pipeline—or even the more flexible model of pathways—aren’t workable for a lot of students. 

By Selah Agaba, MA, MEd | August 8, 2017
Kirby Summer Intern, ETR

Sit with this for a minute…

There are currently 65.6 million people worldwide who have been violently displaced from their homes by conflict. Refugees makeup about 34% of this number and more than half of this refugee population are individuals under 18 years of age.

To put this last figure into perspective, the number of young people under 18 who have been violently displaced from home is more than the number of people in the whole state of North Carolina or the entire nation of Greece.

By Beverly Iniguez-Conrique | July 11, 2017
Research Assistant, ETR

This time a year ago, I was taking the last final exam of my undergraduate career! I was also preparing for the next chapter of my life as an ETRian in our Research/Science Department. Now that a year has gone by, I’m looking all over for where the time went. I guess time flies when you’re having fun!

Here are five things I’ve learned since being at ETR.

By Taylor Vandenbossche, MPH | June 22, 2017
Graduate Research Intern, ETR

What comes to mind when you hear the words “young father”? I’ve noticed the narrative behind teen pregnancy often focuses solely on the thoughts and feelings of the mother. Funding and programs primarily serve teen moms.

So what about the young fathers? 

By Elizabeth McDade-Montez, PhD | June 1, 2017
Senior Research Associate, ETR

We joined the march. Along with millions of others across the globe, my young daughters and I marched for women’s rights on January 21, 2017. It was exhilarating and empowering! It was also sometimes challenging. I found myself having to explain some difficult topics to my girls.