The New York City-based William T. Grant Foundation has announced the selection of the first class of William T. Grant Distinguished Fellows, each of whom will receive up to $175,000 to improve connections between practice, policy, and research in the field of youth development.

The fellows program was established to increase the supply of, demand for, and use of high-quality research in the service of improved youth development and well-being. The program will enable influential mid-career practitioners and policy makers to work and be mentored in research settings, and also gives researchers the opportunity to immerse themselves in practice or policy settings. The foundation plans to pilot-test the program for the next few years.

"Our foundation is devoted to creating stronger connections between policy/practice and research," said foundation president Robert Granger. "By targeting these fellowships to influential mid-career people, we are hoping to leverage the impact of the program beyond the individuals involved."

The first six fellows are Rob Geen, director of the Urban Institute's Child Welfare Research Program; Deborah Gorman-Smith, professor of psychology in psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago; Joanne Nicholson, associate professor of psychiatry and family medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School; Jean Rhodes, professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston; Lauren A. Smith, associate professor of pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine, Boston Medical Center; and Constance M. Yowell, professor of education at the University of Chicago, Chapin Hall.