Dr. Dan (Dalun) Zhang has been selected as Director of the Center on Disability and Development (CDD) at Texas A&M University, a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD). 
Since 1996, Dr. Zhang has dedicated his career to enriching the lives of individuals with disabilities via research, service, and doctoral instruction and mentorship. During this time, he has also worked at three UCEDDs in three states as a full-time or part-time faculty. In the process, he developed a great passion for UCEDDs and love the work they do. Dr. Zhang has been actively involved with the AUCD (Association of University Centers on Disabilities) Network and is a graduate of the first UCEDD Leadership Institute in 2012. His research interest is on assisting youth with disabilities make a successful transition from high school to adulthood with a focus on individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Over the course of his career, Dr. Zhang has been able to secure over $12 million in internal and external funding for his research and demonstration projects and has served on a number of grant review panels for various federal agencies. He has published over 70 research papers in refereed journals, several book chapters, and many reports, and presented at numerous regional, state, national and international conferences. Dr. Zhang is currently on editorial boards of several national and international journals. Dr. Zhang will officially begin his service as CDD Director on July 1, 2015 when the current Director, Dr. Benz, retires. Welcome Dr. Zhang to this new role at the CDD!