News

The UCLA Center for the Developing Adolescent was cited in a New America article highlighting organizations and research that have supported the National Commission on Learning Ecosystems’ understanding of adolescent development and how to build strong, interconnected ecosystems that support young people. The National Commission on Learning Ecosystems is a two-year initiative, announced in February 2026, that focuses on making stronger connections between U.S. public schools and out-of-school programs.

The Wallace Foundation interviews CDA’s Co-Executive Director Adriana Galvan for an article on how adolescent brain development shapes risk-taking and learning, and why relationships, exploration, and access to out-of-school-time opportunities matter for developing adolescents.

An article from the Cornell Chronicle examines new research from NSCA member Anthony Burrow on how and why a sense of purpose might fluctuate during adolescence. “Let’s keep monitoring for experiences and settings that seem to support a sense of purpose, because if we do that, we might be able to curate more enduring positive experiences for young people,” says Burrow.

Linda Wilbrecht, member of the National Scientific Council on Adolescence and a professor in the Department of Psychology and the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at UC Berkeley, has been elected as a 2025 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals. The honorees are among nearly 500 scientists, engineers, and innovators recognized for their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements.

Advisory Board Member Karen Pittman has been awarded the National Education Association’s prestigious 2026 Outstanding Service to Public Education Award. Previous recipients include Kent McGuire, Linda Darling-Hammond, Sesame Street, Mister Rogers, and President Clinton. Frequently referred to as the godmother of positive youth development, Karen has spent her career bringing research on adolescent development into policy and practice to help leaders realize they can do more than help a few young people “beat the odds” — they can make systemic changes that actually “change the odds.”