WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth, whose research and work on behalf of military families has informed policy makers at the highest levels, is the featured speaker at the next Science on Tap on Thursday (Nov. 10) in downtown Lafayette.
Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth is director of the Military Family Research Institute (MFRI) and the Center for Families, two research institutes associated with Purdue University’s College of Health and Human Sciences, where she is also an associate dean. Her Science on Tap presentation will focus on current research about
- effects of deployment on military marriages and their families;
- emerging needs of single service members; and
- families of service members who have experienced life-changing wounds and injuries.
She will also offer practical ways for communities to help military members and their families.
A fellow of the National Council on Family Relations, and a recipient of the Work Life Legacy Award from the Families and Work Institute, MacDermid Wadsworth is frequently called upon by the White House, the Department of Defense and legislative leaders to help inform policies and programs for military families. She serves on the Returning Veterans Committee of the Institute of Medicine and on the editorial boards of several major family research journals. Her research focuses on relationships between job conditions and family life with a special focus on military families and organizational policies, programs and practices.
Science on Tap takes place in the upstairs room of the Lafayette Brewing Company, 622 Main St., Lafayette. It is free and open to those 21 or older. The program is led by Purdue graduate student Patrick Dolan and postdoctoral students John Paderi and Kate Stuart, and provides Purdue faculty the opportunity to share their research activities in an informal setting, touching on subjects and providing presentations that are designed to appeal to a more general audience.