The Frank F. Furstenberg Early Career Scholars Program offers a unique professional development and mentorship opportunity to early career scholars conducting research on American families. The program offers selected scholars mentorship from senior scholars who provide guidance and support to promote their research to journalists and the media.

Through participation in the CCF Early Career Scholars Program, early career scholars attend a virtual summer-long program consisting of four professional development seminars and three one-on-one meetings with their mentors, including peer networking activities and training in public scholarship. In the Fall, they attend a CCF workshop to present their research, meet their mentors in person, and receive further training, mentoring, and networking opportunities with board members, other scholars, and each other.

Each CCF Scholar will receive an allocation of up to $850 toward reimbursement for travel to the Fall workshop and a complimentary CCF membership for two years. It is expected that early career scholars will produce a research brief, fact sheet, or blog post about their research, which CCF will publish and disseminate to the media. These experiences enable scholars to gain valuable skills to promote their research on American families to media outlets and allow them to interact not only with their selected mentors but also with other scholars and professionals.

Apply for the 2026 Early Career Scholars Program here.

Past Early Career Scholars

• Congratulations to CCF’s 2024 Early Career Scholars!
  Big congratulations to this year’s fantastic cohort of Early Career Scholars who are making a major impact with their research on American families: Dr. Mia Brantley, Dr. Vanessa Delgado, Dr. Hope Harvey, and Dr. Jamie O’Quinn!
• Introducing CCF’s 2022 Early Career Scholars
  Through their fantastic research on American families, these scholars are already having quite an impact on their fields. Congratulations to all!

Early Career Scholar Brief Reports

• U.S. parents financially support their adult children. But in immigrant families, it’s the reverse.
  Brief report from CCF Early Career Scholar Dr. Vanessa Delgado shows that parental immigration status shapes adult children’s decisions to “give back” in immigrant families.

• Who Cares and Caring for Whom? Unpaid Caregiving by Gender and Sexual Identity
  Brief report from CCF Early Career Scholar Dr. Meredith Zhang summarizes new research on how providing unpaid care for family and friends differs by gender, sexual orientation, and partnership status.
• Best for Whom? Breastfeeding and Child Development
  In a new brief report from CCF, Jessica Su finds that breastfeeding benefits are modest and reach some children more than others.