9 June 2025

Congratulations to our Associate Director, Dr. Charles Geier !

Dr. Geier’s innovative project, "Stress in Real Life: A Student-Led Listening Session to Understand Contemporary Daily Stressors Faced by Rural Youth," will partner with UGA Extension and 4-H to center rural adolescents’ voices in research. Through youth-led sessions, this initiative will identify real-world stressors that shape adolescent development and well-being—an essential step toward more inclusive developmental science.
We are proud to support Dr. Geier's commitment to amplifying underrepresented voices and fostering authentic community engagement. Looking forward to the impact this work will have across Georgia and beyond.
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19 May 2025

Exciting news from our Georgia Center for Developmental Science! 🎉

In a collaboration with AU/UGA Medical Partnership school A study led by Dr. Linhao Zhang —recent GCDS PhD graduate, now heading to Vanderbilt for postdoc training—highlights the critical role of both sleep
duration and quality of adolescent brain connectivity and mental health.

The study, published in Brain and Behavior, utilized Fitbit data and MRI scans from over 2,800 adolescents. Findings show that insufficient or fragmented sleep is associated with reduced connectivity in brain networks responsible for decision‑making, self‑reflection, and information processing—factors linked to depression, ADHD, and schizophrenia. Teens with poorer sleep also exhibited higher impulsivity and behavioral issues (news.uga.edu).

🔗 Read more in UGA News: Lack of sleep
disrupts key brain functions in adolescents

A compelling example of applying developmental science to real-world
outcomes—kudos to Dr. Zhang and the UGA team (Charles Geier Assaf (he/el/הוא) Oshri for advancing our understanding of how sleep shapes adolescent resilience. The University of Georgia UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences

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