UNL Virtual Lecture Series - Dr. Julie Ernst

Next in our virtual lecture series: Supporting Optimal Development Through Healthy Environments! This series is brought to you by the UNL Grand Challenges Planning Grant: Advancing Cutting Edge Research and Practices to Increase Access and Use of Green Space and Outdoor Play in Early Childhood Settings and organized by a cross-disciplinary group of cognitive, developmental, architecture, and design researchers. The purpose of this series is to educate our research community about emerging ideas and findings for how different aspects of the physical environment may shape development. We will be hosting researchers throughout the semester, and you can find our current schedule below. Lecture Title: Flourishing in Nature: An Unfolding Research Adventure Julie Ernst is a professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth, in the Department of Applied Human Sciences. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Florida’s School of Forest Resources and Conservation, with an emphasis in environmental education research and evaluation. She has formerly served as an education specialist for the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and as a public affairs specialist for the USDA Forest Service. She serves as the director of the Master of Environmental Education program, as well as the program coordinator for the Childhood Nature Studies undergraduate major. Ernst has been pursuing a “Flourishing in Nature” research line over the last decade, studying the impact of nature play and nature preschool on young children