Early Childhood Issues

Lisa Knoche is the co-director of the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools and the director of the Nebraska Academy for Early Childhood Research. She specializes in designing, developing and evaluating early childhood programs that promote healthy child development and family engagement, with a focus on effective professional development for early childhood professionals. (Updated July 2025)

Patty Kuo’s research is aimed at understanding the development and maintenance of healthy individuals and relationships within families. Her past work has focused on fathers and applying a biopsychosocial model to understand how multiple levels of influence shape the nature of paternal involvement. She also serves on the editorial boards of Family Process, Journal of Family Psychology, and Psychology of Men & Masculinity. Kuo is the director of the Nebraska Strong Families Lab. (Updated July 2025).

Educational psychologist Susan Sheridan is the director of Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools. Her main area of focus is on the importance of effective relationships for children’s healthy development. She is particularly interested in identifying meaningful ways to establish home–school partnerships to support children’s social, behavioral and academic skills. In addition to several other awards, Sheridan was inducted into the National Academy of Education in 2024 for her career in educational and school psychology. (Updated May 2025)