20th Annual NDACAN Summer Research Institute supports secondary analysis projects

July 31, 2012

The National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect hosted its 20th annual Summer Research Institute from June 11-15 on the Cornell Ithaca campus. The Summer Research Institute provides a week-long opportunity for child maltreatment researchers to spend extended time working on their own research projects in a supportive and collaborative atmosphere. All the projects are based on research proposals to use child maltreatment datasets that are distributed by the Archive. Throughout the Institute, Archive staff, statistical consultants, and fellow participants are all available to provide help as questions or other needs arise. The ultimate goals of the Summer Research Institute are to facilitate original research that will result in valuable contributions to the scientific literature and to promote inter-university and cross-disciplinary collaborations within the child maltreatment research community.

An impressive group of 16 researchers representing the fields of social work, medicine, developmental psychology, and sociology were invited to attend this year. Participants were selected through a competitive process based on the clarity and quality of their research proposals and the likelihood of publication. This year’s Institute took place in a state-of-the-art computing facility within the new Human Ecology Building with IT support provided by the Human Ecology Computing Services Group. Special assistance was provided by Chris Wiesen, Statistical Analyst from the Odum Institute for Research in Social Science at UNC Chapel Hill and Francoise Vermeylen, Director of the Cornell Statistical Consulting Unit.

The next Summer Research Institute will be held June 10-14, 2013.