Speakers and Panelists :: Peg Barratt
Peg (Marguerite) Barratt went to the National Science Foundation as program director for the Developmental and Learning Sciences/Children's Research Initiative in July 2002, and moved into the position of director for the Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences in March of 2004. Before going to the National Science Foundation, she was director of the Institute for Children, Youth, and Families at Michigan State University , where she holds appointments as professor of family and child ecology and professor of psychology. Under Dr. Barratt's direction, the Institute for Children, Youth, and Families emerged as a multidisciplinary unit that offers an infrastructure in support of research, policy engagement, and outreach, and works to facilitate university-community collaborations.
Dr. Barratt's Ph.D. is in developmental psychology from the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and she has bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology from Michigan State University. She was on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Madison for 19 years in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies.
Professor Barratt's research is in the area of parent-child interaction with a focus on naturalistic field work. Special populations that have been the focus of her research include single adult mothers, adolescent mothers, mothers and fathers of young children with Down syndrome, families in Japan, and parents with preterm infants. Her research has been published in the American Journal of Mental Deficiency , Infant Behavior and Development, Family Relations, Developmental Psychology, and other journals. She has served as an associate editor of Developmental Psychology. In 2002 she was selected as a Fellow in the American Psychological Association.
Dr. Barratt is co-chair of the Human Subjects Research Subcommittee of the National Science and Technology Council, Committee on Science (HSRS) and co-chair of the Security Evaluations Federal Advisory Committee.