Iliad Nazari

Iliad is a senior undergraduate student in Linguistics and Developmental Psychology at the University of Minnesota. He is interested in Central Asian languages, phonetics, language acquisition, and the psycholinguistics of multilingualism. He has started working in the Early Language and Experience Lab in Spring 2023.

Naomi Glunz-Kennedy

Naomi is a junior undergraduate student majoring in Psychology (B.A.) with a concentration in Community and Global Health at Macalester College. As of Summer 2023, she began working in the Early Language and Experience Lab.

Norwood Glaspie

Norwood is a fourth-year graduate student at the Institute of Child Development. His interest encompasses topics such as Cognitive Development, Social Cognition, and Early Learning in children. Specifically, the role language plays in children’s understanding of social categories and concepts. Norwood is from North Carolina, where he received his Bachelors in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke in 2018.

Carol Messias

Carol is a Ph.D. student at Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar) in Brazil. She was a visiting researcher at the ELEL in 2020-2021 and continues collaborating with the lab. She is interested in social cognitive development. Specifically, she is investigating the effects of gender and body type on children’s selective trust. Carol is Brazilian and also got her bachelor’s degree in psychology at UFSCar.

Isaac Bisla

Isaac is a fourth-year graduate student at the Institute of Child Development. His primary interests include topics such as Cognitive Development, Social Cognition, Selective Trust, and Suggestibility to Misinformation. Specifically, he is interested in how selective trust plays a role in children’s ability to resist misleading suggestions. As well as the role individual differences such as executive functioning, theory of mind, vocabulary knowledge, and SES background might play. Isaac is from California, where he received his Bachelors in Psychology from the University of California, Irvine in 2020. 

Diqi Zeng

Diqi (pronunciation: Dee-chi) is a third-year graduate student at the Institute of Child Development. She is interested in speech sound development and children’s learning preference towards speaker of various acoustic features. Diqi is originally from Hunan, China and raised in Guangdong, China. She received her B.S. in Geography and Psychology from University of Cincinnati in the U.S., her B.E. in Hydrology and Water Resource Engineering from Sun Yet-san University in China, and her M.A. in Social Science from University of Chicago.

Yeonju Suh

Yeonju is a third-year doctoral student on the developmental science track at ICD. She graduated from Duke University with a B.S. in Psychology in 2020 and worked as a lab manager for Dr. Tamar Kushnir before coming to ICD. As a first-year student, Yeonju is actively exploring her academic interests, but she is broadly interested in children’s intergroup social cognition. Specifically, she wants to know how children perceive social groups, how group membership relates to self-identity, and how children learn of stereotypes. In the ELE Lab, Yeonju is working on a project that looks into how children learn of stereotypes.

Ellie Dewitt

Ellie is a senior studying Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences with a minor in Developmental Psychology. She is excited to build her knowledge for a future career as a speech-language pathologist, focusing on language acquisition and social cognition. Ellie started as an RA in the Early Language and Experience Lab in the Fall of 2024 and looks forward to learning and growing in her field.

Abbie Jordan

Abbie is a senior undergraduate student double majoring in Developmental Psychology (B.S) and Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences. As of Fall 2023, she has started working as an RA in the Early Language and Experience Lab.

Madeleine kemper

Madeleine is a senior undergraduate student majoring in Psychology (B.A.) with a minor in Statistics at Macalester College. She is passionate about youth cognitive and social development and social processes. As of Summer 2024, she began working as an RA in the Early Language and Experience Lab.

Natalie Worzalla

Natalie is a senior undergraduate student majoring in Psychology (B.A.) with a minor in Developmental Psychology. She is excited to learn more about the interworking’s of research studies and to work with and interact with children. She is especially interested in forensic and clinical psychology in adolescents and young adults. As of Summer 2023, she has started working as an RA for the Early Language and Experience Lab.

Kelsie Donaldson

Kelsie is a Junior undergraduate student majoring in Developmental Psychology with a minor in art. She is passionate about working with kids, especially in creative ways. Kelsie began working as an RA for the ELE lab during the summer of ‘24.

Rose Kindred

Rose is a junior undergraduate student majoring in Developmental Psychology (B.A.) with a double minor in Integrative Neuroscience and French Studies. She is excited to learn more about children’s group socialization and work with children in the lab. As of Fall 2023, she has started working as an RA for the Early Language and Experience Lab.

Rose is currently studying abroad!

Natalia JaHnke

Natalia is a junior undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota majoring in Psychology (B.A.) with minors in Developmental Psychology and Family Social Sciences. She has been working with the Early Language and Experience lab since the Summer of 2023.

Chi la vue

Chi is a junior undergraduate student majoring in Developmental Psychology (B.S.). She is excited to explore the different topics in the developmental psychology field, particular about the impacts of early experiences on development. As of Summer 2024, she has been working as an RA in the Early Language and Experience Lab.

Mackenzie Vang

Mackenzie is a junior undergraduate student majoring in Developmental Psychology (B.S). She is interested in studying children’s language and cognitive development as well as how they develop critical thinking skills. As of Fall 2024, she began working as an RA for the Early Language and Experience lab.

Kalea yang

Kalea is a third-year undergraduate student majoring in Developmental Psychology (B.S.). She began working as an RA in the Early Language and Experience Lab in Summer 2024.

Nevaeh Yang

Nevaeh is a junior undergraduate student majoring in Developmental Psychology (B.S.). She has a passion for working with young children and learning more about their cognitive development. In Fall of 2024, she joined the Early Language and Experience Lab as an RA.

Cynthia Ghannoum

Cynthia is a sophomore undergraduate student majoring in Psychology (B.S.) and minoring in music. She is excited to learn and apply knowledge within her field to research. Her interests in psychology are specifically in child development and medicine. As of Fall 2023, she has been working as an RA at the ELE lab.

Yasmin morad

Yasmin is a Sophomore undergraduate student Majoring in Psychology (B.S) with a minor in Health Psychology. She is interested in learning more about child development and applying what she has learned about research. She started working as an RA at the Early Language and Experience Lab in the summer of 2024.

Natalie Warnke

Natalie is a sophomore undergraduate student majoring in Psychology (B.A.) with a minor in Developmental Psychology. She started working as an RA at the Early Language and Experience lab in the fall of 2023.

Dr. Charisse Pickron

Dr. Pickron earned her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology in 2018 from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in Amherst Ma., after having earned her M.S. at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2015 and her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Ma., in 2008. In her work as a President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, she used multiple methodologies to measure face processing and social cognitive development. She is an assistant professor in the Institute of Child Development and a PhD student advisor at the University of Minnesota. Dr Pickron also runs the Child Brain and Perception Lab focused on an interdisciplinary approach to study how young children understand and perceive others, peers, and groups through social experiences.