University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Boys Town Postdoctoral Fellowship: Research Training Focused on Youth with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Fellows worked under the supervision of a mentor or group of mentors in a highly supportive multidisciplinary research environment and participated in carefully planned activities based on their interests, strengths, and desired skills. At the start of their fellowship, fellows contributed to ongoing IES-funded and Boys Town research focused on a variety of special education issues for youth with EBD, including transition/drop-out prevention, family and student engagement in school and education, intervention implementation and fidelity research, and health-related transition preparation. Fellows also attended professional seminars on topics central to children with EBD and audited courses and workshops on statistical and methodological skills and grant writing. After their first year, fellows implemented a study in which they developed a research design, planned data collection procedures, supervised data collection, analyzed data, and disseminated the results. Fellows also participated in grant-writing activities and played a significant role in the conceptualization, writing, editing, and submission process. Throughout their fellowship, fellows met with their mentors regularly to establish and reflect on their goals, customize their research and training activities, and assess their progress.