The CARE Lab officially opened in Fall 2024 within the Department of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame. Under the direction of Dr. Elizabeth Shewark, the lab will explore how individual characteristics, environments, and genetics shape youth resilience development. Overall, the CARE Lab's research aims to better understand how genetic and environmental (e.g., family, neighborhood, and school environments) factors shape children’s resilience development (e.g., social, emotional, and academic competence). The lab’s current work explores how different features of the neighborhood shape the development of youth resilience in hopes to identify features that can promote resilience.
Last semester, Dr. Shewark and members of the CARE lab spent time recruiting a team of undergraduate research assistants, writing many protocols, and setting up the lab space. This semester, the CARE Lab plans to start our virtual neighborhood audits and prepare to start collecting data in the fall.
We are excited about the future of the CARE Lab and look forward to the work ahead!