Elizabeth Pungello, Ph.D., is a Scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, a Research Associate Professor in the Developmental Psychology Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Mentor Faculty member at the Center for Developmental Science. Her current research focuses on early care and education environments and school readiness skills of at-risk children. More specifically, her current work includes the investigation of the long-term outcomes of the Abecedarian Project (an early educational in intervention for children at high risk for poor cognitive and academic outcomes); the exploration of the associations among race, income, parenting, childcare quality and language development and school readiness; and the investigation of factors that influence why and how parents search for and select child care. In addition, she is helping to lead the Infant-Toddler Frank Porter Graham initiative to develop and evaluate a model of high quality center care for infants and toddlers raised in poverty. Dr. Pungello currently serves as the Child Advocate member of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Behavioral Institutional Review Board and on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Marriage and Family. In addition, she serves on a number of non-profit boards, including the Board of Trustees of the Carolina Friends School in Durham, NC, and the Board of Directors of the Brady Education Foundation in Chapel Hill, NC.

Pungello received a B.A. in Psychology from the Univesity of Rochester, an M.A. in Child Clinical Psychology and a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology both from the University of North Carolina at Chapel HIll.