New Editor for RHD and Conference Update

Dear Colleagues,

First, I am very pleased to announce the Dr. Carolyn Aldwin from Oregon State University will be the new editor of our journal Research in Human Development. She has many exciting ideas and I am sure will be an outstanding editor. Please feel free to write to her if you have journal theme ideas and/or questions.

Next, I am very pleased to provide you with an update on our SSHD conference planned for Ann Arbor, Oct. 18-20^th. This meeting will have several unique and exciting features. Our theme is:

Human Development: Earlier Influences on Later Life Outcomes

We will have two keynote speakers whose work reflects a life span perspective.

Professor K. Warner Schaie will use the Seattle Longitudinal Study of cognition in adulthood to reflect on our theme.

E. Jane Costello will use the Great Smoky Mountains longitudinal study to consider developmental epidemiology of mental health – again consistent with our conference theme.

I have been working with NIH and OBSSR who will be sponsoring two exciting symposia. One is on the emerging systems perspective and the other on gene x environment interactions. Each will involve outstanding scholars in these fields and consider the affect of earlier influences on later life outcomes.

In addition, this conference will have an international flavor. We have scheduled our meeting to coincide with the LIFE program, a program that brings together graduate students and faculty from the University of Michigan, the Max Planck Institute and other Berlin Universities and Institutes, the University of Zurich, and the University of Virginia. SSHD conference attendees will have the opportunity to interact with faculty and students from each of these universities.

And finally, in keeping with our Society and conference goals to be especially welcoming to students and emerging scholars, we are planning posters/reception sessions at the end of the day, to permit our junior colleagues to meet and interact with more senior scholars.

I will update you again on conference plans as they emerge but please remember to register! I look forward to seeing you in Ann Arbor in October.

Warm Regards,

Toni C. Antonucci, President