Monthly Archives: August, 2013

Posted: August 20th, 2013

Illinois Association for Infant Mental Health (IAIMH)
2013 Dolores Norton Student Research Award

This award is presented each year to recognize a promising doctoral student or post-doctoral scholar in the field of infant and toddler social-emotional health, development, and intervention.  The award honors Dolores Norton, known to most as “Dodie,” who is the Samuel Deutsch Professor Emerita at the School of Social Service Administration of the University of Chicago.  Professor Norton has been an extraordinary mentor to a generation of graduate students who learned from her the importance of early child development, the roles of community and culture in early child development, the principles of family support practice, and the ways research can inform practice.  Dr. Norton devoted her research career to understanding children and families living in conditions of poverty and to understanding children and families through the complex lens of an ecological systems framework.

The award provides a $5,000 stipend to support research on an open topic regarding 1) social-emotional development or mental health during the zero to five age period, 2) behaviors, beliefs, and mental health of expectant parents or parents of young children, and/or 3) interventions for infants, young children, or families.   The award is open to doctoral students or postdoctoral fellows enrolled in or affiliated with an educational or research institution in Illinois. Area of discipline is open.

Applications will be reviewed by the Illinois Association for Infant Mental Health Research Committee.  The recipient will be chosen based on the quality of the study proposed and the potential for contribution to the scholarly literature and to practice.  The award will be presented on October 25 at the ILAIMH annual meeting (awardees will be notified in advance, and will be given complimentary registration for the meeting, as well as a year’s membership in ILAIMH).  Awardees will be expected to present a progress report after one year that indicates how they used the funds and the progress of their proposed project. Awardees are also expected to present on their project to the ILAIMH membership, either as a research poster at the 2014 annual meeting, or in a brief report in the ILAIMH newsletter.

Application deadline:  September 1, 2013

Application Guidelines:
Submit via e-mail (in MSWord or PDF) a brief narrative description (1500 words or less) of the proposed research project. The narrative should address the following questions:
1. What questions is the study attempting to address?
2. What are the core research methods being used?
3. In what way will the research provide a better understanding of the socioemotional development or mental health of children or the behavior or mental health of their parents in the birth to five period? What is unique or innovative about the proposed research?
4. What are the potential implications for the research for practice or in applied settings?
5. What faculty members are mentors for this research project?  Is the study a dissertation project?  Has the dissertation proposal already been approved by a faculty committee?
6. What is the timeline for completion of the project?  How much of the work has already been done, and how much remains to be accomplished during the period of the award?
7. Does the project have appropriate IRB approval?
8. How will the funds from the award be used? How, specifically, would the funding assist in the completion of the project? The funds may be used to fund all or a portion of the proposed project, such as research materials, software, training on research methods, payments to research study participants.  The funds may not be used to pay for student living expenses or conference travel.

Submit applications to Jon Korfmacher at jkorfmacher@erikson.edu

The awardee will be notified by October 1.

An announcement and presentation of the award will be made at the ILAIMH annual meeting on Friday, October 25, 2013. Questions about the award may be directed to Jon Korfmacher, Co-chair of the ILAIMH Research Committee at jkorfmacher@erikson.edu or 312-893-7133.