Meredith Martin, assistant professor of educational psychology, is conducting research on factors contributing to peer threat to understand how children cope in different ways. “Feeling safe is a fundamental human need,” she said. “If children don’t feel safe, it’s much harder for them to learn other things, such as math, English or social skills."

The first major festival screening of “Anna” also garnered the film’s first award. Nebraska’s Michael Burton, Kwakiutl Dreher and William Thomas created the animated short, which took three years to complete.