Panetta Announces $77,000 Childhood Development Grant for UC Santa Cruz

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), announced that the University of California Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz) was awarded a $77,000 federal grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development for a project called The Emergence of Prosocial Behavior in Infants.

The proposed research will improve our understanding of how infants begin to help others by employing a new methodological approach to studying transitions in social development. Researchers hope to apply what is learned from this study to promote healthy childhood development practices in at-risk populations.

"UC Santa Cruz is a leader in scientific research, and this federal investment is a testament to the important work that they do," said Congressman Panetta. "This grant will help scientists learn more about early childhood development and will pave the way for future research that may promote healthy habits in our community's at-risk populations. I am committed to fighting for funding for medical research, and will continue to advocate for strong funding for the National Institute of Health."