Rui Fu, PhD is a Research Scientist and Research Scholar at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Center for Violence Prevention. Her research interests have centered on children’s and adolescents’ social behaviors (e.g., peer bullying involvement, prosocial behaviors, social withdrawal) and developmental outcomes (e.g., academic performance, socioemotional wellbeing) and their social relationships with peers, parents, and teachers, particularly from a cross-cultural, racial/ethnic-diversity perspective. Dr. Fu is particularly interested in how diversity in racial/ethnic background, socioeconomic status, and life experience (e.g., immigration and migration) contribute to children’s and adolescents’ social behaviors and adjustment.

One line of her research has focused upon understanding racial-ethnic differences in youth’s bullying involvement (perpetration and victimization) and how social and contextual factors shape these associated adjustment outcomes. Recently, another line of Dr. Fu’s research aims to better understand important components in lessening the impact of racial microaggressions and the intersectionality between racial and other types of microaggressions (e.g., gender, socioeconomic status) on adults. A third line of her research addresses variations in the developmental processes of social behaviors and school performance and the influence of contextual factors on these variations in East Asian and North American societies.

In Dr. Fu’s most recent role of Early Scholar Representative on the steering committee of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Tri-Caucus (composed of African American, Latino, and Asian Caucuses), she worked closely with the president and other committee members to help ensure the diversity in our membership and to foster resource sharing and collaboration among scholars in studying the healthy development of ethnic minoritized youth and their families. Based on her scientific work and professional engagement, Dr. Fu aspires to help minoritized and underprivileged children and adolescents to achieve better social and psychological wellbeing through promoting diversity in human development and through translating empirical findings to practice and policy.