UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Jennifer Maggs, professor of human development and family studies at Penn State, will present the 2026 Schmitt Russell Research Lecture, "Substance Use and the Transition to Adulthood: Becoming an Adult, Becoming a Scientist," on Wednesday, Oct. 28, in the Marriott Foundation Building at Penn State University Park.
The lecture will take place at 3 p.m., with a reception to follow at 4 p.m. Both are free and open to the public.
Maggs is the recipient of the 2025 Pauline Schmitt Russell Distinguished Research Career Award, which recognizes the contributions of a distinguished faculty member whose career-long research has had a profound impact on a specific field of study.
During the lecture, Maggs will discuss the insights she has gleaned from her career studying the developmental impacts of adolescent substance use on the transition to adulthood, as well as those gained from mentoring the next generation of development researchers.
She will discuss how her developmental approach examines early experimentation with substance use and how it both reflects and impacts the many dramatic changes in adolescents' bodies, brains, relationships and ambitions. Further, she will explore how young people actively navigate these changes and challenges within different contexts, asking what relationships, structures and interventions can improve adolescents' development and experiences.
Additionally, Maggs will share her passion for helping early career scientists refine their identities, gain skills, build collaborations, experiment with new roles and become scientific leaders through a similar process of development in context.
"As a developmental psychologist, I believe all growth and change must be understood in the context of changing relationships, roles, identities, opportunities and contexts,” Maggs said. “The parallels between my research in adolescent development and my role in helping young scientists establish a scholarly career are striking."
Maggs' research program has been continuously supported by the National Institutes of Health since 2002. She uses both intensive measures and population-based epidemiological approaches to understand situational and developmental change.
Using a developmental perspective, her work examines substance use in the context of transitions like puberty, changing relationships with parents and peers, and school and work accomplishments. A major challenge in her research, she explained, is that these links are complex and difficult to predict — healthy developmental changes motivate experimentation, and substance use both facilitates and derails role transitions, well-being and health.
Maggs said her passion is mentoring the next generation of scientists and following their impactful careers. Since 2019, she has co-led Penn State's Substance Use Prevention and Methodology training program, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, supporting more than 12 pre- and post-doctoral scientists each year. She has mentored more than 30 doctoral and postdoctoral students who now lead independent scholarly careers in human development, epidemiology and prevention science.
Persons with disabilities who anticipate needing accommodations or who have questions about physical access may contact Heather Kurzinger at hms16@psu.edu or call 814-865-1429 in advance of the program.