The “Digital Media and Developing Minds” Conference took place October 14 – 16, 2015, at the Beckman Center of the National Academy of Sciences in Irvine, California. Although the conference was the Institute’s first large-scale program, it reflected years of prior work. Dr. Pamela Hurst-Della Pietra’s efforts in this field began with a review of the scholarly literature. Then, she identified leading researchers and clinicians in the field. She met individually with scores of them, and recruited the Institute’s Advisory Board members and the distinguished institutions and individuals with whom she planned and executed this event. The conference was co-sponsored by the Sackler Colloquia of the National Academy of Sciences, and co-hosted by Dr. Hurst-Della Pietra, Dr. David Meyer of the University of Michigan, and Dr. Jane Brown, Professor Emeritus of the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.
Dr. Hurst-Della Pietra and the other conference organizers gathered almost two hundred leading thinkers for this conference, representing fields including:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Pediatric Medicine
- Informatics
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Education
- Communications
- Public Policy
They included five featured speakers, twenty moderators, facilitators, and thirty-two panelists, representing more than one hundred-fifty universities and other research institutions, governmental bodies, professional organizations, and content and technology companies.