Chat with Leaders
Event
SRCD 2027 Biennial Meeting
One of the focuses of the SRCD Biennial Meeting is student participation and early career mentorship.
The Chat with Leaders events is a student and early career tradition at the SRCD Biennial Meetings. These events provide a forum for students and early career scholars to interact with senior scholars who have central roles in the field of child development and the Society.
This year the SRCD27 we will offer two different formats for the Chat with Leaders sessions.
Session One is scheduled for Friday, April 9, 2027 | 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM. Students and early career will be seated at a table where collaborative conversation between them and Senior Scholars will share ideas, perspectives, and solutions on a specific topic (Table Topics and Senior Scholars will be announced in early summer).
This format will be facilitated by Dr. Michael Cunningham (Tulane University). Students and early career participants will rotation to table topics in a “speed dating” structure. There will be five rounds for participants to rotate (each round will be in 15-minute increments) to different table topics. During this session, you engage in conversation over breakfast.
Session Two is scheduled for Friday, April 9, 2027 | 12:10 PM - 1:40 PM. Up to five student early career scholars will be seated at each senior scholars’ table to share conversation and a meal. Before the meeting, registrants will have the opportunity to send one or two questions to the senior scholar with whom they are scheduled to meet. During this session, you engage in conversation over lunch.
Please note that the fee for Chat with Leaders is $25 per attendee and is non-refundable. You must register for the SRCD 2027 Biennial Meeting to participate in Chat with Leaders. This event is only open to Student and Early Career attendees.
Meet Session One Senior Scholars
This list will grow as we confirm Senior Scholars for SRCD27.
Michael Cunningham, Ph.D. (Facilitator)
Michael Cunningham holds the academic rank of Professor at Tulane University; and he has a joint faculty appointment in the Departments of Psychology Africana Studies. He also serves as the Associate Provost for Graduate Studies and Research in Tulane University’s Office of Academic Affairs. Dr. Cunningham is a developmental psychologist with a program of research that focuses on racial, ethnic, psychosocial, and socioeconomic processes that affect psychological well‐being, adjustment to chronic stressful events, and academic achievement among African American adolescents and their families. He uses mixed methods in his research projects that includes the study of gender‐specific patterns of resilience and vulnerability in urban African American participants. Dr. Cunningham has received external funding from several sources including the National Science Foundation, The National Institutes of Health, The Mellon Foundation, the Louisiana Board of Regents, and The U.S. Department of Education.
He has received Tulane’s highest teaching award and been designated as a Suzanne and Stephen Weiss Presidential Fellow. He completed his doctoral work at Emory University after completing an undergraduate degree at Morehouse College. Dr. Cunningham also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. His professional service includes serving as Editor-in-chief for Research in Human Development (2018-2024). He served as a Senior Editor for the American Educational Research Journal (2018-2022). He has severed on several journal editorial boards such as the Journal of Negro Education, Child Development of which he was an Associate Editor from 2007-2019. Most recently, he was selected as the recipient for the 2025 Norman Anderson Lifetime Achievement Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) Award from the Federation for Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (FABBS); and in 2025 he was elected to Fellow Status for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).