People at the ECCL

People


Principle Investigator
	Jessica Sommerville is an Assistant Professor in The Department of Psychology and at The Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at The University of Washington and director of the Early Childhood Cognition Lab. She received her Ph.D. from The University of Chicago in 2002. For more information on her publications and research interests, please click here.

Graduate Students
	Emily Blumenthal is a third year graduate student in developmental psychology. She received her B.A. degree from Brown University in 2005. She studies the development of causal reasoning in infants. Specifically, she is investigating the cues that children use to learn the causal structure of events, and the role that others might play in their learning process.
	Catharyn Crane is a third year graduate student in the developmental area. She received her B.A. at the University of Arizona in Psychology and Spanish Literature. Her research interests center on how children come to understand other people, specifically how these abilities emerge in infancy. Currently, she is investigating 9-month-olds' understanding of others' preferences, and the role that language plays in this understanding.
	Erika Feldman is a fifth year graduate student in developmental psychology at the University of Washington. Her research interests include children's problem solving, tool use, and their understanding of objects. She is currently working on her dissertation project examining young infants' understanding of the properties of tools.

Lab Manager
	Natalie North graduated from the University of Washington with a B.S. in Psychology in the spring of 2008. She plans to pursue a graduate degree in marriage and family therapy.

Research Assistants
	Kara Braun is a graduate student in educational psychology at the University of Washington. She is on track to receive her master's degree in June 2008. She received her B.A. from the University of Washington in 2007 in psychology and sociology. She is currently studying sibling relationships in families where one child has a disability, as well as infants' understanding of tool use. She has been in the lab for 2 years, and will further her graduate studies next year by joining the research team at the University of Oregon.
	Irina Kolobova recently graduated from UW with an Honors B.S. in Psychology. Her research interests revolve around infants' motor development, particularly their ability to create a plan in order to solve a problem. She plans to pursue a masters degree in Family and Marriage Therapy.
	Kaitlin Venema received her B.A. in psychology with a minor in history in March 2008. She has been working with the ECCL for almost two years and is excited to continue with more conditions of the study she has been working on. In the future Kaitlin is planning to apply to graduate school in clinical psychology.

Undergraduate Research Assistants
	Allison Harmon is a senior at the University of Washington and will graduate with a B.S in Psychology this year. She plans to attend graduate school in the areas of child clinical and educational psychology.
	Brenda Hershaw is a senior in psychology. Some of her interests are childhood development, personality and social psychology with an emphasis on education. She may pursue a career in school counseling or school psychology.
	Rachel Lowy is a senior at the University of Washington. She is pursuing a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Law, Societies, and Justice. She hopes to attend graduate school in the future and is interested in studying neuroscience.
	Samuel Shin is a junior at the University of Washington pursuing a B.S. in Psychology. His main interest lies in applying principles of (cognitive/behavioral) neuroscience to the area of child clinical psychology.
	Victoria Skinner is a junior at the University of Washington, working towards her Bachelors of Science in Psychology. This is her first year at the University; she transferred from Green River Community College where she earned her Associates of Arts degree last year. In the future, she hopes to move on to Graduate School with a focus on Developmental Psychology.
	Morgan Stewart is a senior at the University of Washington majoring in general biology. Her tentative plan after graduating is to get a Masters in Teaching and teach elementary school.
	Erica Tomas is a senior majoring in Biology. Her interests lie in neurosciences, and she plans to go on to medical school, with a focus in pediatrics or neurology.
	Stacie Woods is a recent graduate from the University of Rochester with a BS in Neuroscience and a BA in Psychology. She will be applying for graduate work in pediatric clinical psychology.

Lab Collaborators
	Cristina Atance, Ph.D ., Associate Professor, University of Ottawa
	Jean Decety, Ph.D., Professor, The University of Chicago
	Amy Hammond, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Centenary College
	Laura Schulz, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, MIT
	Dave Sobel, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Brown University
	Amanda Woodward, Ph.D., Professor, The University of Maryland
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