Focus Area News Post Archives

iRT Receives Grant to Develop New STEM Mentor Training

Elizabeth Porter2025-10-20T19:44:03+00:00

October 20, 2025, Durham, NC – iRT is excited to announce that we have received a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to complete the development a novel mentoring training program for STEM mentors. Why we’re doing it. In the United States, the number of young people pursuing careers related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is diminishing. Mentoring programs that aim to give young people support as they explore STEM subjects may inspire young people to pursue a future in STEM fields. The supportive relationships that mentees create with mentors through STEM mentoring programs may also help [...]

iRT Receives Grant to Develop New STEM Mentor TrainingElizabeth Porter2025-10-20T19:44:03+00:00

iRT Publishes Research Related to Implementation of Sexual Health Programming at Community Colleges

Elizabeth Porter2025-10-20T19:44:32+00:00

October 20, 2025, Durham, NC – Providing sexual and relationship health programming is a key way that colleges can help prevent sexual assault, sexually transmitted infections, and unplanned pregnancy amongst their students. Many young people do not receive high-quality, or any, sex education during high school, so receiving sexual and relationship health programming in college could be instrumental in helping them make informed decisions about their sexual health. Even though community college students make up nearly half of the undergraduate college student population, very little research has focused on sexual and relationship health programming for this group. Despite the value of [...]

iRT Publishes Research Related to Implementation of Sexual Health Programming at Community CollegesElizabeth Porter2025-10-20T19:44:32+00:00

Plan My Ride Found to Effectively Impact Safe Driving Attitudes, Knowledge, and Beliefs

Elizabeth Porter2025-10-20T19:38:14+00:00

October 20, 2025, Durham, NC – Distracted and impaired driving are two of the leading risk factors for vehicle crashes in the United States, and young people are at particularly high risk for engaging in these unsafe behaviors. iRT developed the Plan My Ride program with the goal of preventing distracted and impaired driving to support young drivers in staying safe on the road. A randomized controlled trial found that Plan My Ride is effective in improving young drivers’ attitudes and knowledge related to safe driving in the short- and longer-term. Findings from the evaluation were recently published in Transportation Research [...]

Plan My Ride Found to Effectively Impact Safe Driving Attitudes, Knowledge, and BeliefsElizabeth Porter2025-10-20T19:38:14+00:00

iRT and the Southeast PTTC to Host Webinar to Introduce New Curriculum on Policy for Prevention Providers

Elizabeth Porter2025-09-18T19:32:02+00:00

September 18, 2025, Durham, NC – This month, iRT and the Southeast Prevention Technology Transfer Center (Southeast PTTC) will host a live webinar to share information about the Southeast PTTC’s new curriculum for prevention professionals. The webinar, entitled The Power of Policy: Introduction to the Southeast PTTC Policy Curriculum, will be held on September 25, 2025 from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. EST. The new curriculum will help prevention providers build their capacity to enact or modify state and local policies related to alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, and other drugs. The curriculum is comprehensive and will offer diverse ways of gaining the knowledge [...]

iRT and the Southeast PTTC to Host Webinar to Introduce New Curriculum on Policy for Prevention ProvidersElizabeth Porter2025-09-18T19:32:02+00:00

New Research on How the Type of Sex Education Adolescents Receive is Related to Their Health Outcomes in Young Adulthood

Elizabeth Porter2025-04-10T17:39:07+00:00

April 10, 2025, Durham, NC – Providing sex education to adolescents can promote their wellbeing and prevent negative sexual health outcomes. However, the types of sex education that adolescents receive in school, and the sexual health topics they receive education on, vary greatly. For example, some students receive abstinence-only sex education, which emphasizes refraining from sexual activity or waiting until marriage to have sex – and often leaves out important information about topics like condoms/contraception and STI testing. Conversely, some students receive more comprehensive sex education that covers more sexual health topics, such as gender and sexual identity, sexual rights, pleasure, [...]

New Research on How the Type of Sex Education Adolescents Receive is Related to Their Health Outcomes in Young AdulthoodElizabeth Porter2025-04-10T17:39:07+00:00

College Students Find New Sexual Health Education Program Relevant and Engaging

Elizabeth Porter2025-03-28T16:38:26+00:00

March 28, 2025, Durham, NC – In a recent study, nearly 40% of community college students reported that they had not received school-based sex education since the ninth grade.1 Gaps in high-school sex education may put students at risk for negative sexual health outcomes as they enter adulthood. Colleges have the opportunity to fill these gaps and address students’ needs by providing high-quality sexual health resources to their students. Media Aware is an online, evidence-based program that was designed to meet the need for sex education for young adults and to promote sexual and relationship health and prevent sexual violence. Media [...]

College Students Find New Sexual Health Education Program Relevant and EngagingElizabeth Porter2025-03-28T16:38:26+00:00

Promoting Safe Driving in Teens with Plan My Ride: Reinforcing Safe Driving Skills

Elizabeth Porter2025-03-13T21:01:44+00:00

March 13, 2025, Durham, NC – iRT is dedicated to preventing distracted and impaired driving and helping drivers, prevention professionals, and community members protect themselves and others on the road. Plan My Ride is iRT’s interactive, multimedia, eLearning program developed with and for young drivers to teach safe driving skills to prevent distracted and impaired driving. Unlike many other safe driving educational programs, Plan My Ride uses a science-backed and theory-driven approach to change behavior by teaching concrete, practical strategies to avoid impaired and distracted driving, and providing opportunities for young drivers to practice the skills they have learned in 360-degree virtual scenarios. The [...]

Promoting Safe Driving in Teens with Plan My Ride: Reinforcing Safe Driving SkillsElizabeth Porter2025-03-13T21:01:44+00:00

New Research Intern Joins iRT

Elizabeth Porter2025-03-13T20:10:28+00:00

March 10, 2025, Durham, NC – iRT is pleased to welcome Sarah Soson as the newest member of our team of world-renowned researchers and creative professionals. Soson has joined iRT as a research intern to assist iRT in a new grant award focused on training program staff and mentors matched with mentees who have been impacted by substance misuse. Soson is currently a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill) pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. She joined iRT through the Karen M. Gil Internship [...]

New Research Intern Joins iRTElizabeth Porter2025-03-13T20:10:28+00:00

iRT to Evaluate the Impact of Training Mentors on Youth Impacted by Substance Misuse

Elizabeth Porter2025-02-21T19:34:28+00:00

February 21, 2025, Durham, NC – iRT is excited to announce that it has received funding from the National Institutes of Health to evaluate the impact of a web-based training program on mentors working with mentees who have been impacted by substance misuse. Approximately 14.7% of youth 12 to 17 years old reported using illicit drugs in 2023, and more than 21 million children in the U.S. lived with a parent who misused substances between 2015 and 2019.1,2 Thus, youth can be impacted by substance misuse in more than one way – they may be at risk for misusing substances themselves; [...]

iRT to Evaluate the Impact of Training Mentors on Youth Impacted by Substance MisuseElizabeth Porter2025-02-21T19:34:28+00:00

Promoting Safe Driving in Teens with Plan My Ride: Practicing Avoiding Riding with an Impaired Driver

Elizabeth Porter2025-02-18T16:07:38+00:00

February 18, 2025, Durham, NC – iRT is dedicated to preventing distracted and impaired driving and helping drivers, prevention professionals, and community members protect themselves and others on the road. Plan My Ride is iRT’s interactive, multimedia, eLearning program developed with and for young drivers to teach safe driving skills to prevent distracted and impaired driving. Unlike other safe driving educational programs, Plan My Ride uses a science-backed and theory-driven approach to change behavior by teaching concrete, practical strategies to avoid impaired and distracted driving, and providing opportunities for young drivers to practice the skills they have learned in 360-degree virtual scenarios. The program [...]

Promoting Safe Driving in Teens with Plan My Ride: Practicing Avoiding Riding with an Impaired DriverElizabeth Porter2025-02-18T16:07:38+00:00