I am a 5th year doctoral candidate (ABD) in the Combined Program in Education and Psychology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and National Academy of Education / Spencer Fellow and Rackham Predoctoral Fellow. My dissertation, under the direction of Drs. Annemarie Palincsar, Stuart Karabenick, Susan Gelman, and David Whitebread, is entitled “Conceptualizing and Assessing Metacognitive Development in Young Children.” The central question that guides my research is how malleable early cognitive development is and what types of factors (individual differences, instruction, experiences, input) are associated with quantitative and qualitative changes.  In addition, I examine on how early instruction and intervention are associated with changes in development and academic trajectories. In my current research, I focus on conceptualizing and assessing early metacognitive development-or the development of knowledge, monitoring and regulation of cognition. This includes examining mechanisms underlying its development, facilitation, and predictive power for enhancing learning and academic functioning and associations to executive functions and expressive language. My ultimate goal is to examine what types of learning experiences and training provide the most improvement in learning and achievement and integrating this into educational curriculum and policy. In my research, I integrate behavioral, neurological, and educational perspectives and a multimethod assessment approach (including observation, interviews, EEG, and experimental testing).
I earned a M.A. from Michigan State University in Curriculum and Instruction, a M.A. from Northwestern University in Cognitive Psychology, and a M.S. from the University of Michigan in Developmental Psychology. I will complete my Ph.D. in Education and Psychology from the University of Michigan in April, 2014. Previously, I was a Visiting Scholar under the supervision of Dr. David Whitebread in the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge, UK, and previous to pursuing graduate school, I was an elementary school teacher, learning specialist and curriculum board member.