3C Institute to Receive Innovation Award from SBA

PRESS RELEASE

CARY, NC – SBA North Carolina District Director Ms. Lynn L. Douthett will honor Dr. Melissa DeRosier, founder and CEO of Cary-based 3C Institute with a special Award of Excellence for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship. The firm develops specialized technologies for health, including intelligent games, dynamic e-training platforms, and software systems to support quality healthcare practices.

Dr. DeRosier, a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, started 3C Institute in 2001. She grew frustrated that research-based tools to address important societal issues like bullying, academic underachievement, and social-emotional health were not being used in everyday practice in schools and healthcare settings. Starting the business on her own, she set out to create innovative solutions to bridge this research-practice gap. 3C Institute now has a staff of 70 full-time employees and continues to grow.

DeRosier received almost $25 million in Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grants and contracts awarded by agencies including the U.S. Department of Education and National Institutes for Health. The SBIR program provides funding to explore feasibility of an innovative idea or technology, expand research and development and ultimately bring the innovation to the marketplace.

In 2011, 3C Institute received a Tibbetts Award, given to exemplary firms that have received SBIR funding.

WHO:

  • SBA North Carolina District Director Lynn L. Douthett
  • Melissa DeRosier, 3C Institute
  • Congressman David Price
  • Margaret Winslow, Director Grants & Econ. Development, Office of Senator Kay Hagan
  • Mike Seibert, Regional Center Director, SBTDC at NC State
  • John Hardin, Exec. Dir. of Science & Technology, NC Department of Commerce
  • Denise Bennett, Vice President Business Sales and Strategy Wells Fargo
  • Mason Ailstock, Vice President of Business Development, Research Triangle Park

WHAT:
Award of Excellence for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship Presentation

WHERE:
Museum of Life and Science
433 West Murray Avenue
Durham, NC 27704

WHEN:
Friday March 7, 2014
10:00 AM – Remarks, Award Presentation

Media interviews available.

View the PDF version of the press release.

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    DEB CHILDRESS, PHD

    Chief of Research and Learning Content

    BIOGRAPHY

    Dr. Childress obtained her PhD in psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to coming to 3C Institute, she served as a research associate and a postdoctoral fellow in the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill working on a longitudinal imaging study aimed at identifying the early markers of autism through behavioral and imaging methodologies. She has 19 years of autism research experience, during which she has examined the behavioral, personality, and cognitive characteristics of individuals with autism and their family members. Dr. Childress also has experience developing behavioral and parent report measurement tools, coordinating multi-site research studies, and collecting data from children and families. She has taught courses and seminars in general child development, autism, and cognitive development at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

    Expertise

    • autism
    • early development
    • behavioral measurement
    • integrating behavioral and biological measurement

    Education

    • Postdoctoral fellowship, Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (Institutional NRSA-NICHD), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    • PhD, developmental psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    • BS, psychology (minor in sociology), University of Iowa

    Selected Publications

    • Elison, J. T., Wolff, J. J., Heimer, D. C., Paterson, S. J., Gu, H., Hazlett, H. C., Styner, M, Gerig, G., & Piven, J. (in press). Frontolimbic neural circuitry at 6 months predicts individual differences in joint attention at 9 months. Developmental Science.
    • Wassink, T. H., Vieland, V. J., Sheffield, V. C., Bartlett, C. W., Goedken, R., Childress, D. & Piven, J. (2008). Posterior probability of linkage analysis of autism dataset identifies linkage to chromosome 16. Psychiatric Genetics,18(2),85-91.
    • Losh, M., Childress, D., Lam K. & Piven, J. (2008). Defining key features of the broad autism phenotype: A comparison across parents of multiple- and single-incidence autism families. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 147B(4):424-33.
    • Wassink, T. H., Piven, J., Vieland, V. J., Jenkins, L., Frantz R., Bartlett, C. W., Goedken, R., … Sheffield, V.C. (2005). Evaluation of the chromosome 2q37.3 gene CENTG2 as an autism susceptibility gene. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 136, 36-44.
    • Barrett, S., Beck, J., Bernier, R., Bisson, E., Braun, T., Casavant, T., Childress, D., … Vieland, V. (1999). An autosomal genomic screen for autism. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 88, 609-615. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-8628(19991215)88:63.0.CO;2-L
    • Piven, J., Palmer, P., Landa, R., Santangelo, S., Jacobi, D. & Childress, D. (1997). Personality and language characteristics in parents from multiple-incidence autism families. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 74, 398-411.
    • Piven, J., Palmer, P., Jacobi, D., Childress, D. & Arndt, S. (1997). Broader autism phenotype: Evidence from a family history study of multiple-incidence autism families. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 185-190.