0:00
/

Illustration by
Richard A. Chance
Brian Boyd, classroom-based interventions and the importance of representation
The leader of the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute talks about what drew him into the autism field, and his departure from — and return to — the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
By
Brady Huggett
1 October 2023 | 1 min read
Brian Boyd is William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and interim director of the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. In this episode of “Synaptic,” he discusses how his time as a counselor at a summer camp for autistic people cemented his interest in autism, how writing a statement about the Black Lives Matter movement for the International Society for Autism Research prompted personal introspection, and his youth in a small Virginia town.
Read the transcript.
Recommended reading

Timothy Ryan on his pivotal switch from studying particle physics to decoding synaptic transmission
By
Brady Huggett
1 October 2024 | 70 min listen
Explore more from The Transmitter

Documenting decades of autism prevalence; and more
By
Jill Adams
29 April 2025 | 1 min read

‘Perturb and record’ optogenetics probe aims precision spotlight at brain structures
By
Claudia López Lloreda
29 April 2025 | 4 min read
Cite this article: