About CYFS
The Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools (CYFS), housed within the College of Education & Human Sciences (CEHS), is a dynamic interdisciplinary entity with a specific mission, background, goal, and related objectives.

Mission
The mission of the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools is to advance the conduct of high quality interdisciplinary research to promote the intellectual, behavioral, and social-emotional development and functioning of individuals across educational, familial, and community contexts. Central to this is enhancing our understanding of how these complex systems work dynamically to support the future of our nation.

Background
The Center was initiated as a Program of Excellence (PoE) to establish an interdisciplinary research climate comprised of researchers from several departments and colleges (College of Education & Human Sciences, College of Arts & Sciences) and includes faculty from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Goals
Goal 1: Create, nurture, and sustain an environment that will build capacity of researchers to conduct research related to children, youth, families and schools (i.e., in the core domains of early childhood education and intervention; academic intervention, instruction, and learning; youth risk, resilience, and health promotion).
Goal 2: Build intellectual capital by contributing to the development, dissemination, and integration of the scientific knowledge base across research and applied setting as pertinent to children, youth, families and schools (i.e., in the core domains of early childhood education and intervention; academic intervention, instruction, and learning; youth risk, resilience, and health promotion).
Goal 3: Enhance the scope, quality and impact of UNL's grant-supported interdisciplinary research related to children, youth, families and schools (i.e., in the core domains of early childhood education and intervention; academic intervention, instruction, and learning; youth risk, resilience, and health promotion).

These goals are accomplished by bringing together investigators with expertise in these areas who conduct basic and applied research that will inform the design, implementation and evaluation of exemplary, evidence-based prevention and intervention models in field settings. By drawing together resources and expertise, CYFS is a centerpiece for research excellence in Nebraska, benefiting academic programs across the University of Nebraska system.