People
Directors
Dr. Stephanie Carlson
Stephanie M. Carlson is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, the #1-ranked department for developmental psychology (U.S. News & World Report). She received a BA (summa cum laude) with Honors in Psychology from Bucknell University (1991) and a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Oregon (1997). After a McDonnell-Pew postdoctoral fellowship in developmental cognitive neuroscience, Dr. Carlson became an Assistant and then Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington (1998-2007). She has been at the University of Minnesota since 2007, and was promoted to the rank of Professor in 2013.
Dr. Carlson is an internationally recognized leader in the study of executive function (brain basis of self-control). She has developed innovative ways of measuring executive function in very young children and made discoveries about the role of executive function in other important aspects of human development (decision-making, perspective-taking, and creativity). Dr. Carlson’s current research focuses on the developmental antecedents of executive function skills in toddlers, relations between executive function and academic achievement, and ways to help promote executive function through caregiving practices and preschool curricula. Her work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Institute of Education Sciences, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, John Templeton Foundation, and the Character Lab. She also has conducted cross-cultural research in North and South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe, and has been a Guest Professor of Southwest Normal University in Chongqing (2006-2009) and Zhejiang Normal University in Hangzhou, China (2013-2016).
Dr. Carlson is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science. She has served on several editorial boards, as Vice President of the Jean Piaget Society, and as a member of the Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Global Working Group (University of Chicago) and the Frontiers of Innovation Pre-K Standards and Assessments Working Group (Harvard Center on the Developing Child and the National Governors’ Association). She has been an advisor to Transforming Education, the Minnesota Children’s Museum, and Sesame Workshop, and currently advises Playworks Minnesota, Understood.org, Noggin, and Bright Horizons Family Solutions. She has been nominated as a “Favorite Professor” by undergraduates and is frequently invited to speak at national and international meetings.
Dr. Carlson’s complete list of citations can be found here.
Dr. Philip David Zelazo
Phil Zelazo (Hons. BA, McGill 1988; PhD with distinction, Yale 1993) holds the Nancy M. and John E. Lindahl Leadership Chair at the Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota. He previously taught at the University of Toronto, where he held the Canada Research Chair in Developmental Neuroscience. Zelazo’s research has helped shape current understanding of executive function (EF) and its development, including the key roles of reflection, rule use, hierarchical complexity, mindfulness, and emotion (hot versus cool EF). He was lead developer of the EF measures for the NIH Toolbox and the “Cognition and Executive Function” measures for the NIH Infant and Toddler Toolbox, and has designed effective interventions for promoting the healthy development of EF in childhood. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), the Association for Psychological Science (APS), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the Mind and Life Institute, and the recipient of numerous awards, including the Boyd McCandless Young Scientist Award (APA, 1996), a Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Award, and the 2025 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Developmental Psychology (APA). From 2012-2014, he served as President of the Jean Piaget Society. He was Founding Editor of the Journal of Cognition and Development, he serves on several editorial boards (e.g., Developmental Review), he was lead editor of the Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness (Zelazo, Moscovitch, & Thompson, 2007), and editor of the two-volume Oxford Handbook of Developmental Psychology (2013). His forthcoming book, Executive Function, Reflection, and the Developing Brain: A Multi-level Account of the Development of Conscious Control, will be published by MIT Press later in 2026. To date, his work has been cited over 55,000 times. Dr. Zelazo’s complete list of citations can be found here.
Post-Doctoral Associate
Valerie Umscheid
Valerie Umscheid is a post-doctoral associate for Dr. Carlson's NIH- and NSF-funded studies, Predictors of Health Outcomes and Predictors of Career Interests. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Michigan and her B.A. in Cognitive Science and Educational Studies from Carleton College. Her research broadly examines how children and early adolescents think about the world around them, and what factors influence their thinking. Outside of research, Valerie enjoys spending time outside, playing with her cat, and practicing aerial arts.
Staff
Farah Yahaya
Farah is the DSCN lab manager, and the research coordinator for Dr. Carlson's NIH and NSF funded studies. She holds a B.S. in Cognitive Neuroscience, and a B.A. in Literary Arts from Brown University. Her research interests include social and moral development.
Graduate Students
Destany Calma-Birling
Destany graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay with a B.S. in Psychology and Human Development. Her research interests include developmental neuroscience, executive function, and mindfulness.
Colin Drexler
Colin graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A. in Psychology and History. He is interested in examining executive function, developmental neuroscience, and their effects on mental health.
Seokyung Kim
Seokyung holds a B.A. in Psychology from Grinnell College (2021) and an M.A. from the Institute of Child Development (2023). She is interested in studying children's and adolescents' decision-making strategies during task persistence, with a particular focus on their exploration and exploitation approaches. Her research also examines how self-regulation skills and temperamental characteristics relate to individual differences in persistence decision-making. Seokyung's long-term research aim is to help children make more effective and personally fulfilling decisions.
Isabelle Morris
Isabelle received her B.A. in psychology from Stanford University in 2019. Her research interests include theory of mind and stimming (repetitive behaviors) as nonverbal communication in the autistic community. Being Autistic herself, Isabelle recognized the lack of autistic representation in autism research. She hopes to help change this through her recently-launched participatory research project, RADAR. Isabelle is also a 2022-2023 MN LEND Fellow.
Jinyi Zhang
Jinyi holds a B.A. in Psychology from Emory University and an M.A. from the Institute of Child Development. Her research focuses on children's future thinking abilities and developing strategies that support their future-oriented decision-making. Outside of her work, she enjoys outdoor hiking and experimenting with new recipes in her kitchen.
Timothy Martin
Timothy Martin holds a M.A. in Clinical Psychology from University of Hawai‘i at Manoa (2019) and M.T.S. in Buddhist Studies from Harvard Divinity School (2016). His research interests include developmental cognitive neuroscience and executive function. He is especially interested in educational practices and clinical interventions, such as self-reflection and mindfulness, which promote children’s cognitive functioning.
Salma Ibrahim
Salma received her B.S. in developmental psychology from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in 2023. Her research interests include examining executive function and cognitive development through a risk-and-resilience lens to inform strategies that support learning, health, and well-being in immigrant- and refugee-background children and youth facing multi-system adversities. She is especially interested in strengthening resilience at individual and community levels through accessible, culturally relevant, and developmentally informed programs that foster positive outcomes.
Isabella Viducich
Isabella holds a M.A. in Social Welfare from the University of California, Los Angeles (2021) and a B.A. in psychology and film from the University of Notre Dame (2018). She hopes to conduct research related to how interventions involving play, such as pretend and imaginative play, can help children persist on difficult tasks and reach other important developmental milestones.
Undergraduate Research Assistants
- Alharith Dameh
- Soleil Anthony
- Maya Fteiha
- Kenani Gemechu
- Cali Keller
- Isabella Myrland
- Flor Tzaj
- Alex Wedin
- Lydia Wee
- Ruoxi Yun
- Bernadette Rechek
- Danna Rizo Lozano
- Ayana Russell
- Beatrix Page
- Khadra Ahmed
- Danielle Goodspeed
- Hibaq Hassan
- Osman Hernandez Banos
- Ava Korby
- Mengze Li
- Kayleigh Numkena
- Avery Peterson
- Lillian Rajewsky-Guimond
- Henry Wilcox
PhD Alumni of ICD
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Romulus Castelo, PhD 2024
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Fors Marsh and Reflection Sciences Inc – Thesis Advisor: Stephanie Carlson
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Jasmine Ernst, PhD 2023
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Purdue University – Thesis Advisor: Stephanie Carlson
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Andrei Semenov, PhD 2021
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University of Minnesota – Thesis Advisor: Phil Zelazo
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Julie Vaisarova, PhD 2022
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Arizona State University – Thesis Advisor: Stephanie Carlson
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Amanda Grenell, PhD 2020
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University of Tampa – Thesis Advisor: Stephanie Carlson
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Rebecca Distefano, PhD 2019
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Roger Williams University – Thesis Advisor: Stephanie Carlson and Ann Masten
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Alyssa Meuwissen, PhD 2017
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University of Minnesota – Thesis Advisor: Stephanie Carlson
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Emily Prager, PhD 2016
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Minneapolis Public Schools – Thesis Advisor: Stephanie Carlson
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Erin Schubert, PhD 2016
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Sojourner Family Peace Center, Milwaukee, WI – Thesis Advisor: Stephanie Carlson
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Madeline Harms, PhD 2015
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University of Minnesota- Duluth – Thesis Advisor: Kathleen Thomas and Stephanie Carlson
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Sabine Doebel, PhD 2014
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George Mason University – Thesis Advisor: Phil Zelazo
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Wendy Lee, PhD 2014
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Ontario Centre for Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health – Thesis Advisor: Stephanie Carlson
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Jason Cowell, PhD 2012
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University of Wisconsin-Green Bay – Thesis Advisor: Stephanie Carlson
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Rachel White, PhD 2012
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Hamilton College – Thesis Advisor: Stephanie Carlson
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Donaya Hongwanishkul Schwindt, PhD 2011
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Psychologist, Richmond Hill, Ontario – Thesis Advisor: Phil Zelazo
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Amanda Kesek, PhD 2010
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Queen’s University – Thesis Advisor: Phil Zelazo
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