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A roundtable symposium chaired by Pamela Buckley, associate research professor and fellow at the Institute of Behavioral Science (IBS), has earned the 2024 Society for Prevention Research (SPR) Abstract of Distinction Award. The presentation, titled “How Can Clearinghouses Help the Field Re-Envision, Re-Tool and Improve upon the Measurement Tools, Methodologies, and Dissemination Processes of Evidence-Based Preventive Interventions to Promote Equitable Health for Children, Families and Communities?” will feature Buckley as well as Christine Steeger, Karl Hill, and Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development board members Abby Fagan, Frances Gardner and Velma McBride Murry.   

The Annual SPR Meeting is the premiere conference for prevention science professionals. This is the eighth year the SPR has conferred abstracts of distinction, which “highlight abstracts and topics that are particularly noteworthy and are likely to generate excitement and attendance at the presentations.” This is also the second time the Blueprints team has earned this distinction. The team won the Abstract of Distinction back in 2022 for a symposium organized by Karl Hill, titled “Common Flaws in Designing and Analyzing Preventive Interventions and How to Avoid Them“.

The SPR meeting will be held next week, May 28-31, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. In addition to the roundtable, several IBS fellows and faculty are also presenting. Below is a list of all presentations from CU Boulder: 

Amir Behzadan, professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering and a faculty research fellow of the Natural Hazards Center, hosted the Harnessing Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Disaster Management workshop on April 19. The AI4DM workshop aimed to address disaster and emergency management’s hesitation toward AI, as well as a lack of diversity in the workplace leading to subsequent delayed or unfair aid to lower income communities hit by disasters. Susan Glairon, communications specialist for the Community Engagement, Design and Research Center (CEDaR) writes more about the workshop and its implications for disaster and emergency management here.

David Huizinga, a senior research associate at IBS, passed away on April 5, 2024. He was 82 years old. A memorial service will be held at IBS on Satuday, June 15 at 1 p.m. MT. 

An alumnus of The University of Wyoming, Huizinga earned both his Bachelors and Masters of Economics in 1963 and 1965. He earned his Ph.D in Psychology from the University of Colorado in 1977, whereupon he joined the Institute of Behavioral Science and had a distinguished 40-year career.

Known by many as hard working and accurate to a tee, Huizinga was also open-minded, patient, and loyal. He may be best known as the principle investigator for the Denver Youth Study (1988-1992), a five-wave longitudinal study of youth and parents in Denver-area, high-risk neighborhoods. Together with Del Elliott, professor emeritus and founder of both CSPV and what-is-now PSP, and the late Frank Dunford, a researcher and criminologist at IBS, Huizinga set a standard for longitudinal research on adolescent health and development.

“Dave was a stickler for accuracy and detail but very even tempered and patient, always generous with his time,” says Del Elliott. “I owe a great debt to Dave, he was my close, talented, dependable partner over most of my career and my success as a researcher and scholar relied significantly on his friendship and generous contribution to my work.”

Huizinga was renown for his mathematical expertise and experience in data processing and analysis. He was often asked to consult both criminological researchers and researchers in other areas involving large data sets and complicated data analysis problems. Huizinga also implemented techniques to protect the identity of human subjects in large data sets while still providing general access to the data.

“Dave Huizinga was a stalwart in the Problem Behavior Program in IBS,” says Richard Jessor, distinguished professor emeritus of behavioral science, professor emeritus of psychology and former director of IBS. “He was successful in bringing funds to IBS but, more important, he brought his methodological and conceptual skills to bear on the refractory task of illuminating life course development. He was a valued colleague and a model for others in IBS to emulate. His absence will be felt.”

In many ways, the legacy of David Huizinga will continue, whether through data techniques he created, password protocols he advised, or through the many David-ism sayings passed down in CSPV. IBS will continue its mission on collecting world-changing research thanks in part to the career and character of David Huizinga.

From April 23 to April 26, the Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force (GCF Task Force) held an important and collaborative meeting in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. The event saw key stakeholders collaborating on how to create a New Forest Economy that balances protecting forests with economic opportunities and protected livelihoods for local communities and Indigenous Peoples. Colleen Scanlan Lyons, associate research professor in the Department of Environmental Studies, IBS fellow and interim director for the Center for the Governance of Natural Resources, is a GCF task force project director and helped moderate discussions at the meeting. Learn more about this event here.

A group of Denver-area youth working together to address the violence they’re seeing in their schools. Called the Game-Changers, the group was formed in 2023 by the Youth Violence Prevention Center-Denver (YVPC-Denver), an outgrowth of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence. Lisa Marshall, Science Writer for CU Boulder Today, shares more about the group, YVPC-Denver and their monumental work in combatting school violence in CU Boulder Today.

Safe2Tell, Colorado’s anonymous safety concern reporting platform, saw a 30% increase in reports compared to 2023. The platform was created by CSPV’s founder, Del Elliott, along with Ken Salazar, the current U.S. ambassador to Mexico and Colorado’s then-Attorney General. They began work on a Safe Communities Safe Schools initiative in 2009, after Columbine. Traveling across the state, Elliott and Salazar visited every county to analyze how to make communities safer after the country’s deadliest school shooting. Despite recent trends, Safe2Tell is making a difference in schools. Óscar Contreras writes more about the initiative in his article for The Follow Up on Denver7 News.

This week marks 25 years since the Columbine High School tragedy, where 12 students and one teacher were murdered. Yet, the issue of violence in schools is still rampant. This year alone, 78 people have lost their lives in 88 shootings at K-12 schools in the U.S. And deaths from mass shootings in general have increased 141% over the last decade.

Beverly Kingston, Director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, shares her insights into this tragic anniversary and what must be done to curtail the legacy of Columbine.