Category: News

Personalized Learning Games to Demo Products at Council for Entrepreneurial Development Expo

Personalized Learning Games (formerly Adaptive Health Systems), the company recently launched by 3C Institute CEO Melissa DeRosier, was among 60 companies invited to exhibit their products and technologies at the Council for Entrepreneurial Development Tech Venture Conference 2014 on September 16-17th. More than 600 people are expected to attend the conference, which has become a […]

3C Institute Receives $18,500 Grant for Staff Training

3C Institute was one of 19 Triangle businesses that recently received professional development funding from the North Carolina Incumbent Workforce Development Program. 3C Institute received $18,500, which will be used to build staff expertise in two areas that are key to the company’s growth—agile software development project management and advanced statistical methods. The U.S. Department […]

CEO Guest Blogs about Game-Based Social Skills Assessment in Emerging EdTech

3C Institute CEO Melissa DeRosier wrote a guest blog post for Emerging EdTech, entitled “Game-Based Social Skills Assessments: Making the Play for Better Emotional Health.” In the post, published on July 20th, Dr. DeRosier discusses the value of effective social skills assessments in the process of helping kids get the skills they need to develop […]

3C CEO Selected by Soar, a Google-sponsored Incubator

Melissa DeRosier, Ph.D., founder and CEO of 3C Institute, was recently selected as one of four entrepreneurs to receive one-on-one mentorship from Soar, a new Google-backed initiative based in Durham, NC. Soar supports female entrepreneurs by helping them establish connections with investors and offering mentoring opportunities, with the goal that at least one of the […]

3C Institute & School Trauma Experts Develop Website to Promote Trauma-informed Schools

3C Institute is pleased to announce the launch of www.traumaawareschools.org, a website we developed in collaboration with the Treatment and Services Adaptation Center (TSA). Funded by a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA),www.traumaawareschools.org is supported by a team of clinicians, researchers, and educators who are respected authorities in school trauma […]

3C Institute Receives SBA Award for Excellence in Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship

3C Institute received the Award of Excellence in Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship from the Small Business Association (SBA) North Carolina (NC) District on Friday March 7, 2014. The ceremony was held at the Durham Museum of Life and Science and featured presentations by: Mason Ailstock, Vice President of Business Development, Research Triangle Park Denise Bennett, […]

3C Institute in the Raleigh News & Observer

We’re excited to share that the Raleigh News & Observer published an article today about 3C Insitute’s use of federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants to research and develop programs and technologies that improve people’s lives. Cary Company Uses Federal Grants and Research to Improve Lives CARY — Year by year, lesson by lesson, […]

3C Institute Book on Game-Based Social Skills Assessment Now Available on Amazon!

Social skills assessment has moved beyond pencil and paper questionnaires into the realm of dynamic online game-based technology. But do game-based assessment methods really work? The answer is a resounding “yes!” Learn about the powerful potential of this innovative new assessment approach in our new book, Social Skills Assessment through Games: The New Best Practice, […]

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 […]

News

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.