Wang Receives 2023 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Award

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (July 31, 2023) – Yudan Chen Wang, Ph.D., of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University’s College of Education (COEd), has received a 2023 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

Wang will serve as Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Mental Health and Societal Wellbeing at McMaster University’s Centre for Advanced Research on Mental Health & Society (ARMS). She will use the Ontario Child Health Study and other data sources to examine how individual developmental trajectories are influenced by neighborhood and community characteristics for her research project, “Developmental Trajectories of Social-Emotional Skills from Early Childhood to Early Adolescence.”

“Previous research on developmental trajectories of social-emotional wellbeing tends to be framed around negative developmental outcomes such as internalizing and externalizing behavior, or anxious and depressive symptoms, or both,” she said. “In contrast, research on developmental trajectories of adaptive social and emotional skills and characteristics in the general population is lacking.”

Wang’s Fulbright Scholarship will include delivering a research talk, participating in other academic events in McMaster University’s Faculty of Social Sciences, and engaging with the university’s Offord Centre for Child Studies.

Targeted interventions that address specific needs are important for local policy making because public resources are scarce and inequitably distributed, Wang said.

“We are very excited and proud of Dr. Wang. She is exemplary in all that she does, and this award is well-deserved,” said Caroline S. Booth, Ph.D., professor and Department of Counseling chair at A&T.

Wang is an associate professor in the Department of Counseling and senior researcher in COEd. Her research focuses on the health, functioning, and wellbeing of youth and adolescents. Her work has been funded by the Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the National Science Foundation, N.C. Governor’s Highway Safety Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other government and non-government organizations.

She is leading a project studying the employment trajectories of transitional youth with disabilities in North Carolina and another project examining the impact of COVID-19 on postsecondary choices among North Carolina high school students.

“Dr. Wang is a prolific researcher, and her work makes a significant impact on advancing the human condition. It is a great honor for her to be selected for this prestigious fellowship,” said Paula Groves Price, Ph.D., COEd dean and professor.

The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program, supported by the people of the United States and partner countries around the world. It is funded through an annual appropriation made by Congress to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the program.