bio

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at CSUSB and Principal Investigator directing the Leaning to Learn (L2L) Lab, where we study the development of reasoning, learning and achievement. (I reside in Los Angeles.)

Since receiving my PhD in Developmental Psychology working with Dr. Deanna Kuhn at Columbia University, I have completed postdoctoral fellowships at UCLA and UCSD working with Education researchers and Learning Scientists on large grants funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), where I managed large projects with Dr. William A. Sandoval (formerly at UCLA), in the Department of Education and collaborated with Dr. Gerardo Ramirez in the Department of Psychology. I was a 2021 Deeper Learning Fellow with the American Education Research Association (AERA) funded by the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation in collaboration with the American Institutes for Research (AIR).

During the Spring 2023 semester I completed a micro-Sabbatical at Princeton University, in the Department of Psychology with Dr. Tania Lombrozo.

My research explores the development of child and adolescent learning by examining individual, developmental, and sociocultural factors impacting real-world outcomes. This work spans early childhood through adolescence, employing both laboratory and field-based methodologies, where I bridge the fields of cognitive science and education. My work is guided by a broader goal of informing policy, practice, and intervention that aim to reduce societal inequalities, some of which, I believe, very well stem from learning environments and social contexts.