The Nebraska Academy for Early Childhood Research has selected six faculty members to serve as Policy Fellows for the 2022-23 academic year.

The NAECR Policy Fellows Program is designed to educate early childhood researchers on policy processes, impacts and relationships to research; to provide policymakers with insight into the latest early childhood research at the University of Nebraska; and to generate collaboration among researchers and policymakers to develop effective research agendas that enrich early childhood experiences.

The program features a series of informal conversations between NAECR early childhood researchers and First Five Nebraska.

Katie Bass, data and policy research advisor for First Five Nebraska, said the Policy Fellows program is key to bridging the gap between the research and policy communities in the state.

“First Five Nebraska is privileged to have a front-row seat, using leading-edge research to help our state’s policymakers make the most informed decisions possible about the care, education and healthy development of young children,” she said.

Bass noted that continuing and strengthening the partnership between First Five Nebraska and NAECR Policy Fellows is crucial for future generations of children and their families.

“When we combine this mutually beneficial learning process with the work of building strategic relationships, it widens future opportunities for evaluative and applied policy research,” Bass said.

The 2022-23 NAECR Policy Fellows are:

• Carrie Clark, associate professor of educational psychology, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

• Amy Encinger, assistant professor of education and child development, UNMC Munroe-Meyer.

• Holly Hatton-Bowers, associate professor of child, youth and family studies and early childhood Nebraska Extension specialist, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

• Sara Kupzyk, assistant professor of psychology, University of Nebraska at Omaha.

• Dawn Mollenkopf, associate professor of teacher education, University of Nebraska at Kearney.

• Amy Napoli, assistant professor of child, youth and family studies and early childhood Nebraska Extension specialist, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.