People

Dr. Stephanie Carlson

Dr. Carlson is Associate Professor in the Institute of Child Development and the Center for Neurobehavioral Development, University of Minnesota. She received her BA from Bucknell University and PhD from the University of Oregon, and was previously a professor at the University of Washington. Her research focuses on the development of executive function (self-control of thought and action) in early childhood using multiple levels of analysis, including behavioral, brain, and cross-cultural studies (in Japan, Singapore, Korea, China, West Africa, and subcultures of the U.S.). Her work on executive function is funded in part by foundations devoted to youth development (Templeton Foundation) and child health (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation). She is currently directing a NICHD-funded project designed to validate and norm a brief executive function measure for preschool children. She is also co-PI on a formative research project to develop measures of executive function for the National Children’s Study, and co-PI on an IES-funded project to develop intervention tools for executive function in highly disadvantaged preschoolers. Other research interests include affective and economic decision-making, theory of mind, and pretend play in children from diverse populations. Dr. Carlson is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Div. 7) and the Association for Psychological Science, is Vice President of the Jean Piaget Society, and serves on several editorial boards including Child Development and the Journal of Cognition and Development.

Publications     Honors and Grants

Catherine Schaefer

Catherine graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006 with a BA in Psychology. Her previous work includes assisting with a study of cognitive behavioral therapy at Penn's Depression Research Unit, managing a study evaluating a primary care psychiatric consult service, and coordinating lab activities at the Carlson Lab at the University of Washington.

Josh Harrod

Josh graduated from the University of Minnesota with a BS in Early Childhood Education. He works in the Carlson Lab on a variety of research that focuses on Executive Functioning in typical and atypical children. He has worked with children with Autism in a variety of different settings for the last seven years and plans to incorporate it into his graduate work, ultimately making a career of it.

Maya Buckner

Maya graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2009 with a BS in Child Psychology. She works in the Carlson Lab as research assistant studying Executive Functioning. Specifically, Maya works in the metro area community recruiting and conducting sessions with families from a wide variety of backgrounds. Maya also works as the Community Coordinator with Co-PIs Dr. Stephanie Carlson, Dr. Phil Zelazo, and Dr. Ann Masten and The National Children's Study.

Jacob Anderson

Jacob graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College with a degree in psychology, and then completed his Masters in psychology at New Mexico State University. His primary interests include developmental cognitive psychology and EEG/ ERP methods. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking and photography.

Sam Hirschey

Sam Hirschey graduated in 2009 from UW Madison with a BS in Consumer Science. She is currently working on the EF Measurement study, in addition to coordinating general lab activities. Sam plans to pursue a degree in counseling psychology, and hopes to someday work in a community mental health setting.

Meg Soli

Meg graduated from Macalester College in 2009 with a B.A. in Psychology. She is currently the project coordinator for an intervention study aimed at promoting executive function in homeless/highly mobile preschoolers (funded by the Institute of Education Sciences). She works on this project with co-PIs Drs. Ann Masten, Stephanie Carlson, and Phil Zelazo and other stakeholders, including early childhood teachers, graduate students, and community partners. Meg is primarily interested in studying the development of self-control, designing interventions for children who have faced early adversity, and exploring how preschool can promote positive development.

Catrina Helseth

Catrina graduated from the University of Minnesota in May of 2011 with a BS in Child Psychology. She currently working as a field tester in the Carlson lab on the EF Measurement project. She is also working on the National Children's study under Co-PIs Dr. Stephanie Carlson, Dr. Phil Zelazo, and Dr. Ann Masten. She has a strong interest in adolescence and resiliency and hopes to pursue this topic through further studies. When not in the lab she enjoys spending time with her six year old son, being outdoors, playing board games, and watching cartoons.

Erin Casey

Erin graduated from the University of Wisconsin in the spring of 2011 with a B.S. in psychology. As a student at the Institute of Child Development, Erin hopes to study social cognitive functioning in early childhood and parenting influences on such functioning.

Jason Cowell

Jason is a graduate student at the Institute of Child Development working with Dr. Carlson and Dr. Philip D. Zelazo. He came to the Institute after graduating with a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of St. Thomas. Currently, Jason’s research deals with the situational constraints to executive function. Several lines of research are aimed at this question, largely dealing with the concept of the effects of prior regulation on current self-regulation (Ego Depletion), particularly as it is shown in children and across development. He is also interested in social cognition, particularly regulation in the moral domain. In his spare time, Jason enjoys kayaking, swimming, skiing, and triathlons.

Madeline Harms

Madeline graduated from Wellesley College in 2008, where she researched preschoolers' social and cognitive development with Dr. Tracy Gleason and Dr. Jennie Pyers. She then spent two years at the NIMH working with adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. She is interested in the relationships between executive function, social understanding, and emotion processing in children. In her free time, she enjoys running around the lakes in Uptown.

Wendy Lee

Wendy is a student at the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota. She graduated from the University of Toronto, where she worked with Dr. Philip D. Zelazo. Wendy’s research interests include the development of self-control and other cognitive processes in early childhood.

Emily Ostergaard

Emily is a graduate student at the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota. She graduated in the spring of 2009 with a B.A. in Psychology and a concentration in Neuroscience. After graduating, Emily spent two years working on the Language Development Project at the University of Chicago. Emily’s research interests include general cognitive development with a particular focus on the development of executive function and symbolic representation.

Julianna Sapienza

Julianna is currently a graduate student at the University of Minnesota. She graduated from the University of Minnesota in the spring of 2010 with a B.A. in child psychology. She hopes to get a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychopathology. Julianna has also been working with Dr. Ann Masten, studying resilience in homeless and highly mobile children, and with Drs. Peter and Jessica Hobson, studying autism in young children.

Tamara Spiewak-Toub

Tamara is a graduate student working with Dr. Carlson and Dr. Repacholi in the Social and Emotional Development Lab at the University of Washington. Currently, Tamara's research focuses pretend play and the influence of pretense on self-control strategies. After earning a Bachelor's degree in Psychology at Harvard University, Tamara worked in New York as a research assistant. Her projects included the School-Age Care Project at the Cornell Early Childhood Program and a variety of early language development studies in the Psychology Department at Hunter College.

Rachel White

Rachel is a graduate student at the Institute of Child Development. After graduating from Wellesley College with a B.A. in Psychology, she spent two years working in Dr. Richard Aslin’s Infant Perception Lab at the University of Rochester. Her research now focuses on children’s pretend play and related cognitive development in the preschool years, such as executive function and theory of mind. Rachel is particularly interested in the development of imagination, and imaginary companions. In her spare time, she enjoys singing, photography and traveling the world as often as possible.

Anita Fuglestad

Anita recently completed her PhD at the Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota. She is interested in nutrition and development, and her graduate work examined the role of nutritional status in development in international adoptees. She is currently working as a post-doc in the Carlson Lab.

Emily Bendoraitis

Emily is a senior this year as the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She plans to graduate in the Spring of 2012 with a B.A. in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and a minor in Child Psychology. Following graduation, she hopes to attend graduate school in pursuit of a master’s degree in speech language pathology with an emphasis on early intervention, working with children ages 0-3.

Matt Cleghorn

Matt plans on graduating in the Spring of 2013 with a B.A. in Psychology. He plans to continue his education by attending graduate school for psychology and would like to work with at risk teenagers as a clinical psychologist. Matt is involved with many on campus extracurricular activities and intramural sports, and in his free time enjoys playing soccer and spending time with family and friends.

Sara Fischer

Sara will graduate in the spring of 2012 with a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Spanish. She plans to continue on to graduate school in psychology and would like to do early diagnosis and intervention with children with ASD. She currently works for MN Autism Center as a Behavioral Therapist, volunteers at the Neurodevelopmental Disorder Clinic at the U, leads Students for Gluten Free Awareness as the President, and in her free time enjoys cooking gluten free food, reading, traveling, and spending time with her friends and family.

MJ Heise

MJ is a junior child psychology major. She is interested in the development of theory of mind and in pretend play. After completing her B.S., she plans to attend graduate school to become a child psychologist. Aside from working in the lab and taking classes, MJ enjoys hiking, biking, and cooking.

Kristen Johnson

Kristen is an undergrad at the University of Minnesota and plans to graduate spring of 2014 with a B.S. in child psychology with a minor in sociology and family social science. Currently, she works as an assistant teacher at a daycare center. Following graduation, she plans to attend a masters program and work toward her doctorate in developmental psychology. In her spare time, she enjoys dancing, yoga, and playing the piano.

Lindsay Johnson

Lindsay is a junior studying child psychology and American sign language. She is originally from rural southern Minnesota. Some of her favorite things to do are water sports, snowmobiling, reading, and running. She also enjoys spending time with her friends and family, especially her one year old niece.

Sara Phillips

Sara is graduating this spring from the University of Minnesota with a B.S. in Child Psychology and a minor in Biology. She plans to continue studying Educational Psychology in graduate school and get more experience with research. She is very interested in educational interventions, such as mindfulness practices, in the development of executive function. She is currently a member of Delta Gamma Fraternity on campus and loves to run, knit, and read in her free time.

Hannah Saunders

Hannah plans to graduate in the Spring of 2014 with a B.S. in Child Psychology and a minor in Spanish. Afterward, she plans to work toward her Ph.D. in developmental or child psychology. In her free time, she loves to run, take photos, and spend time with family and friends.

Jennifer Wallin

Jennifer is currently a junior undergraduate. She will be graduating in the Spring of 2013 with a B.S. in Child Psychology and a minor in Political Science. She plans on pursuing a Masters in Nonprofit Management. Her focus is to help kids in third world countries, particularly in orphanages and refugee camps. She is looking at the Caribbean as well as some parts of Africa and India. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her kids, cooking, and running.

Kristin Weeker

Kristin will graduate from the University of Minnesota in the spring of 2013 with a BA in Sociology and a minor in Child Psychology. After graduation, she hopes to continue her schooling and obtain a Master's degree in social work. She hopes to be able to work with less fortunate children as a career. This summer she has an internship at the MN Adopt organization.

Danielle Beck, Ph.D.

Danielle Beck is an assistant professor at Simpson University. She has recently completed her graduate work at the University of Washington. She received her B.A. in Psychology from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA. Danielle spent several years working as an ABA therapist and an RA working with children with autism. She then focused her attention to typically developing children and her graduate work investigated self-control in preschoolers. Outside of school, she loves to spend time with her husband and watch movies, ski, hike, and sleep.

Angela Davis-Unger, Ph.D.

Angela has completed her Ph.D. in developmental psychology in the Carlson Lab. She graduated from St. Joseph's College in Maine,with a B.A. in Psychology. She also received a M.A. from Tufts University in School Psychology. Her interests include children's theory of mind, self-control and pretend play skills. She is currently working as a research scientist in the University of Washington Office of Educational Assessment. When she is not working diligently, she enjoys hiking, biking and snowboarding (thus far...no major injuries to report).

Toshie Imada, Ph.D.

Toshie is currently a post-doctoral fellow at Wesleyan University. Her research investigates the interplay between individuals’ psychological tendencies and their cultural environment. On the psychological side, her research aims to identify culturally variant forms of cognitive processes of individuals, particularly North Americans and East Asians. On the environmental side, her research examines factors that foster and maintain culturally specific psychological tendencies, such as children’s stories, narrative communication, and historical contexts. Through her research, she tries to address the importance of understanding human cognition and behaviors in cultural contexts and to explain the functional meanings of culturally specific psychological propensities.

Vivian Zayas, Ph.D.

Vivian is assistant professor of psychology at Cornell University. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the Carlson Lab at the University of Washington during which time she worked on an ERP study of childhood executive function. Her current research examines the cognitive-affective processes that regulate behaviors within close relationships.