Deborah Vandell, UCI professor of education, will accept the award March 21 at a meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development in Baltimore, Maryland. Steve Zylius / UCI

Deborah Lowe Vandell, UCI professor of education, has been named the winner of the Society for Research in Child Development’s 2019 award for distinguished contributions to public policy and practice in child development. Recognized for her decades-long career dedicated to helping policymakers and program developers come to evidence-based decisions about how early caregiving, particularly by nonparents, affects child development, Vandell has added much to the body of scientific research informing major policy decisions related to subsidizing high-quality early child care in the U.S. Her research focuses on the effects of early care – including K-12 education, extracurricular activities, after-school programs, unsupervised time and families – on children’s social, behavioral and academic function and outcomes. She will be presented the award March 21 at the SRCD biennial meeting at the Baltimore Convention Center in Maryland.