Invited Speakers
Event
Toward a Holistic Developmental Science: Catalyzing Transdisciplinary Multi-Sector Collaborations to Understand and Support Human Development
Megan Bang
Megan Bang (Ojibwe and Italian descent) is a Professor of the Learning Sciences and Psychology at Northwestern University and has recently served as Senior Vice President at the Spencer Foundation. Dr. Bang’s research focuses on understanding culture, learning, and development broadly with a specific focus on the complexities of navigating multiple meaning systems in creating and implementing more effective learning environments in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics education. Megan approaches her work through rigorous mixed methods – utilizing experimental design in her foundational cognition and development studies, to community based participatory design work in which she co-designs learning and teaching with communities, families, and youth as well as engages in the collaborative study of such environments. She conducts research in both schools and informal settings. She has taught in and conducted research in teacher education as well as leadership preparation programs. Dr. Bang has won awards in educations and has published in leading outlets such as Cognition & Instruction, Science Education, and Educational Psychologist. She is currently serving on the Board of Science Education at the National Academy of Sciences and the editorial boards of several top journals.
Anthony L. Burrow
Dr. Anthony Burrow is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Development at Cornell University. He is Director of the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research and Associate Dean of Outreach and Extension in the College of Human Ecology. He is also director of the Program for Research on Youth Development and Engagement (PRYDE), which facilitates collaborative research between undergraduate students and 4-H communities across New York state. Dr. Burrow’s research explores how having a sense of purpose in life serves as a psychological resource for those who cultivate it. Specifically, he investigates the utility of purpose as a source of positive youth development and protection against stress and challenge. The laboratory website is www.lipurposefe.com.
Follow Dr. Burrow on Twitter: @LiPurposeFe
Shauna Cooper
Dr. Shauna M. Cooper is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Faculty Fellow at the Center for Faculty Excellence, and RTI Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2022, Dr. Cooper will begin a 2-year appointment at the Urban Institute (Washington, DC), as a Health Equity Fellow. Her research spans several areas of expertise, including the racial and cultural context of parenting among Black families, father involvement and engagement, racial discrimination and adolescent well-being, girls’ health and development, and the individual and interactive influences of family, school, and community contexts. Dr. Cooper also is committed to culturally responsive methods and evidence-based programming as well as engaging communities through the development of partnerships and collaborations.
Andrew Dayton
Andrew Dayton is a Ph.D. candidate in Developmental Psychology at the University of California Santa Cruz. His research examines cultural differences in collaborative micro-behavior in everyday learning contexts, especially involving Indigenous and Indigenous heritage families. His work is focused on the analysis of naturalistic video data in terms of mutual engagement and interactional synchrony. He recently published “Collaboration at a microscale: Cultural differences in family interactions” with colleagues, as a target article in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology. He is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.
Gail Ferguson
Dr. Gail Ferguson is an Associate Professor in the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota, where she directs the Culture and Family Life Lab. Her research integrates developmental psychology, cross-cultural psychology, and clinical psychology to study the impact of 21st Century globalization – migration, multiculturalism, media – on youth identity, parenting, and health. Dr. Ferguson’s research is transnational (special focus on youth and families in the African Diaspora across countries), transdisciplinary (blending psychology with media and nutrition sciences), and translational (taking research findings from the lab to the living room through preventive interventions). She pioneered theory and research on “remote acculturation” among families in the Caribbean and “tridimensional acculturation” among Caribbean immigrant families in the United States, based upon which she led the development of the JUS Media? Programme intervention to support their resilience and health as they navigate the assets and liabilities of modern cultural globalization.
Ulcca Joshi Hansen
Dr. Ulcca Joshi Hansen is the Chief Program Officer at Grantmakers for Education, a member organization that serves as a trusted partner for education philanthropists as they adapt to the changes impacting our world. She has more than twenty years as an educator and advocate working to shift the foundational values and approaches that undergird America’s education system. Ulcca is a first-generation American who began school as an English-language learner; she was the first in her family to complete college and graduate school. Along the way, she lived and studied in other countries, experiencing how different systems approach learning and define achievement. Her own experiences have fueled her desire to interrogate and advocate for an expanded vision of what it means to ensure every child has access to a high-quality education in America. Ulcca holds a BA in Philosophy and German from Drew University where she was also licensed as an early childhood/elementary teacher with a focus on special education. She earned her Ph.D. in Education and Philosophy from Oxford University and a JD from Harvard Law School. She has been recognized nationally for her work in education as a Harry S. Truman Scholar; a British Marshall Scholar; and a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow.
Follow Ulcca on Twitter: @Ulcca
Visit Dr. Hansen's website: https://educatingpotential.com/
Mary Helen Immordino-Yang
Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, EdD is a Professor of Education, Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Southern California and Director of the USC Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education (CANDLE). She studies the psychological and neurobiological development of emotion and self-awareness, and connections to social, cognitive and moral development in educational settings. She uses cross-cultural, interdisciplinary studies of narratives and feelings to uncover experience-dependent neural mechanisms contributing to identity, intrinsic motivation, deep learning, and generative, creative and abstract thought. She earned her doctorate at Harvard University in 2005 in human development and psychology and completed her postdoctoral training in social-affective neuroscience with Antonio Damasio in 2008. Since then she has received numerous awards for her research and impact on education and society and was a 2018-2019 Spencer Foundation mid-career fellow. She served on the U.S. National Academy of Sciences committee and is currently conducting several funded, multiyear neurobiological research studies on adolescent students and their teachers. She is serving on the advisory board of the UNESCO World Education Assessment, and as past president of IMBES, among other national and international roles.
Visit the USC Laboratory website: candle.usc.edu
Pamela Iron
Pamela Iron (Cherokee, Laguna Pueblo) is a community activist, with 45 years of experience working in developing programs and assisting communities in discovering their needs and facilitating problem solving through guided community planning. She earned a Bachelors of Science in Special Education and a Master of Education in Counseling from Oklahoma State University and Northeastern State University respectfully. She has served as Executive Director for three non-profits, one national, one urban and one rural, a quasi-governmental health agency, was the Health Director for the Cherokee Nation, and has served as the Chief of staff for Chief Wilma Mankiller. For the past twenty years she has been working with non-profit organizations building capacity and programs for families and their youth including virtual and cultural immersion and Indigenous land ecology. Recently she spearheaded immersive technology (virtual learning) in the Cherokee Nation reservation (Adair County schools), introducing this technology and learning experience to 25 schools within the Cherokee reservation. Pamela developed a cultural competency course that was used throughout the United States to train Center for disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. Census staff that worked with tribes and other American Indian groups. Pamela has served various on local, regional, and national boards and committees. She was appointed by the Attorney General of the United States to sit on the National Advisory Committee on Violence against Women, 2006.
Terrie Moffitt, Ph.D.
Terrie E. Moffitt, Ph.D. is the Nannerl O. Keohane University Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University, and Professor of Social Development at King’s College London. A licensed clinical psychologist and expert on longitudinal interdisciplinary research methods, Terrie is widely known for her pioneering studies on gene-environment interactions contributing to antisocial behavior, and her award-winning work continues to examine the consequences of a lifetime of mental and behavioral disorder on processes of aging. Terrie has contributed to over 400 peer-reviewed publications, holds several honorary degrees, and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2018.
Visit Dr. Moffitt's website: https://moffittcaspi.trinity.duke.edu/
Mitch Prinstein, Ph.D.
Mitch Prinstein, Ph.D., ABPP is Chief Science Officer at the American Psychological Association and the John Van Seters Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For over 25 years, Mitch has studied models of internalizing symptoms and health risk behavior among adolescents, focusing on the role of online and offline peer relationships in depression and self-injury. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers and 10 books, including the acclaimed trade book Popular: Finding Happiness and Success in a World That Cares Too Much About the Wrong Kinds of Relationships. Mitch and his work have been featured in over 500 news articles and two TEDx talks, and he continues to lead as an advocate for psychological science, especially for those new to the field.
Visit the APA website: www.apa.org/science
Sarah Paterson
Sarah Paterson is Program Officer for the James S. McDonnell Foundation, where she is responsible for several large grant programs, including the Teachers as Learners Program and the Opportunity Awards. She is currently working on developing new initiatives in the education and early childhood areas in St. Louis. She serves on the St. Louis School Research Practice Collaborative Advisory Council and was part of STEM STL’s strategic design team. She earned her Ph.D. in Psychology in 2000 at the Neurodevelopment Unit, University College London, where she studied language and number understanding in infants and adults with Williams syndrome and with Down syndrome. This work won her the Butterworth Dissertation Award from the International Congress on Infant Studies. She completed postdoctoral work at the Institute of Child Health in London, in infant brain imaging at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers University, Newark, and at the Yale Child Study Center.
Barbara Rogoff
Barbara Rogoff is UCSC Foundation Distinguished Professor of Psychology at University Of California Santa Cruz. She investigates cultural aspects of children’s learning, especially Learning by Observing and Pitching In to family and community endeavors. She received awards for Distinguished Lifetime Contributions (Society for Research in Child Development), Distinguished Contributions to Developmental Science (Jean Piaget Society), and Outstanding Research (UCSC). She is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Education, and a Fellow of the AAA, APS, APA, and AERA. She has held the University of California Presidential Chair and Fellowships of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Kellogg Foundation, Spencer Foundation, and the Exploratorium, and served as Editor of Human Development. She is author of Learning Together: Children and Adults in a School Community; The Cultural Nature of Human Development; and Developing Destinies: A Mayan Midwife and Town.
Visit Dr. Rogoff's website.
Francisco Rosado-May
Francisco Rosado-May is a full professor at the Universidad Intercultural Maya de Quintana Roo (UIMQRoo) and an agroecologist graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with over 35 years of experience in research, higher education and outreaching in Mexico and other countries including the Americas, Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia. Francisco’s research field and academic training focuses on indigenous food systems, agroecology and indigenous education, aiming at developing concepts and methods towards intercultural/biocultural development by understanding the epistemology of indigenous knowledge, with emphasis on the Yucatec Maya, his own ethnicity. His academic experience includes working for the University of California, Santa Cruz, the University of New Mexico, College of The Atlantic in Maine, the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, and Universidad de Quintana Roo. His experience in higher education includes appointment as President of Universidad de Quintana Roo and Founding President of UIMQRoo, both in Mexico.
Abraham (Avi) Sagi-Schwartz
Dr. Sagi-Schwartz is a professor (emeritus) of Psychology and Child Development, Founder and Past Head, Center for the Study of Child Development - University of Haifa; and Professor of Psychology, Tel-Hai College, Israel. The main research interests are Attachment and socioemotional development across the life span and cultures; adaptation under extreme life circumstances and experiences; transforming human development research/knowledge to various policies/interventions to advance children/families' well-being worldwide. Dr. Sagi-Schwartz holds a bachelor’s degree in social work from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a master’s in social work, a master’s in psychology, Ph.D. in developmental psychology and social work from the University of Michigan. Dr. Sagi-Schwartz is a recipient of many prestigious child development awards.
For more on Dr. Sagi-Schwartz, please visit his website.
Derek Snyder, Ph.D.
Derek Snyder, Ph.D. is Senior Director for Science Partnerships at the American Psychological Association, where he leads educational programs and services that link behavioral science to the pressing issues of our time. Trained in neuroscience and experimental psychology, Derek spent over 25 years in biomedical research studying the role of flavor perception in food preference and health. He has a prolific record as a writer, speaker, consultant, and educator, and he has held faculty appointments at the University of Florida and the University of Southern California.
Visit APA's website: www.apa.org/science
Luis Urrieta, Jr.
Luis Urrieta, Jr. is an Indigenous (P’urhépecha)/Latinx interdisciplinary scholar, born in the barrios of Los Angeles, but with family origins in San Miguel Nocutzepo and Tócuaro, Michoacán, Mexico. He currently holds the Charles H. Spence, Sr. Centennial Professorship in Education at the University of Texas at Austin. Urrieta is specifically interested in Chicanx, Latinx and Indigenous cultures, Indigenous migrations, Indigenous knowledge systems, learning in family and community contexts, activism, and Indigenous and oral and narrative methodologies. Urrieta is the author of Working from Within: Chicana and Chicano Activist Educators in Whitestream Schools and co-editor, with George Noblit, of Cultural Constructions of Identity: Meta-ethnography and Theory. Urrieta has faculty affiliations in Mexican American and Latino Studies, Native American and Indigenous Studies, and the Lozano Long Benson Institute of Latin American Studies. He has been a fellow of the Spencer Foundation, a Fulbright-Garcia Robles Scholar, and winner of the Cesar Chavez Champion of Change Award by the U.S. White House. In 2016-2017 he was the Anne Ray Fellow in the School of Advanced Research in Santa Fe, NM.
Krystal Villanosa
Krystal Villanosa is a learning scientist whose research investigates education practitioners' conceptualizations of racial equity. She focuses on the consequences and material impacts of practitioners' beliefs and attitudes about racial equity on how they design interventions to remediate educational inequality. Her recent work includes an examination of how museum practitioners discursively position the minoritized communities they seek to engage and an analysis of the effects of COVID-19 and the Movement for Black Lives on postsecondary education grantmakers' sensemaking and strategies. Krystal also has experience designing and delivering professional development to, as well as conducting program- and project-specific research and evaluation plans for, nonprofits centered on racial equity. She earned her PhD in the Learning Sciences from Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy.
Website: www.spencer.org
Chris Voegeli, Ph.D., MPH
Chris Voegeli, Ph.D., MPH is a behavioral scientist at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the Immunization Services of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) where he leads the Insights Unit. The Insights Unit works to monitor, mitigate, and perform research on misinformation. Before moving to NCIRD, Chris evaluated national mass media campaigns to address the HIV epidemic in the Division of HIV's Prevention. In the past, Chris has worked on addressing misinformation related to STDs, HIV, the HPV vaccine, fluoride, and waterborne diseases.
Visit the CDC ISD website: www.cdc.gov/ncird/isd.html
Follow Dr. Voegeli on Twitter: @ChrisDVoegeli