Dr. Yijie Wang receives MSU College of Social Science Rising Star Research Award

By Katie Frey 

MSU College of Social Science selected Dr. Yijie Wang, assistant professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, for the Rising Star Research Award. The award is presented biennially to recognize and encourage outstanding research and scholarship in the College. 

“It is such an honor to receive this award. It is encouraging to be recognized, and certainly motivates me to continue my research. As a developmental scientist studying contextual influences, I also understand how my growth as an early career scholar is inseparable from a supportive environment and nurturing mentors around me.” Dr. Wang said. 

Her research focuses on adolescent development within the context of ethnicity and race, and how ethnic/racial processes, especially those in peer settings, provide both risk and resilience for their psychosocial, academic, cognitive and physical well-being.  

The committee was impressed by Dr. Wang’s research on adolescent well-being in marginalized groups and her research emphasis on social and environmental factors. She is a highly productive scholar with a total of 64 publications in peer-reviewed journals, publishing 34 articles since coming to MSU in 2017.  

Her most recent published research focused on how sleep helps youth with adverse racial and ethnic victimization. 

“She has an impressive number of citations for a junior scholar - over 3,000 - and an equally impressive h-index of 30,” said Dr. Adrian Blow, chair of HDFS. “Dr. Wang also has a very strong record of external funding, acquiring $2.3 million dollars to date from sources like the National Institutes of Health. There is no doubt that Dr. Wang is a rising star in the social science field and is most deserving of this award.”