LangCog Lab Fall 2022
LangCog Lab Social Winter 2024
LangCog Lab Social Fall 2023
LangCog Lab Social Spring 2023
Principal Investigator
Mike did his undergraduate degree at Stanford in Symbolic Systems and his PhD work at MIT. He is broadly interested in the relationship between language and cognition, especially as it relates to children's early language development.
Postdocs
Kat completed her PhD in developmental psychology at NYU in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. She broadly studies how young children adapt their attention and learning behaviors to best match different early environments, with particular focus on understanding variability and strengths in contexts of early adversity. A key aim of her research is to create and collaborate on innovative uses of technology and statistical methods to support education and developmental science.
Rebecca received her B.Sc. from the University of Toronto and her Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. Her research program investigates when and how children learn about - and consequently learn from - symbolic systems, such as language and pictures. Specifically, her postdoctoral work investigates the development of picture comprehension across cultures and contexts.
Mira completed her PhD in psychology at Princeton University. Her research examines how the dynamics of emotion and language shape learning in infancy.
Fionnuala completed her PhD at the University of Oxford, where she studied the development of executive function in early childhood and interventions to support its growth. Her current research explores how cognitive skills emerge and interact during childhood to support learning.
Joseph finished his PhD in Psychology at Harvard University. His research focuses on the role of children’s home environments in their language development. What do children need to learn language in a healthy timeframe? What are the cognitive mechanisms that link children’s speech input to their later outcomes? And how can we more effectively measure linguistic development within different cultural contexts?
Vlad Chituc completed his PhD in psychology from Yale University, where his doctoral work was awarded the Cognitive Science Society’s Glushko Dissertation Prize in 2025. Researchers often ask people to rate their subjective experience — on a scale from one to ten, how happy are you? how wrong would that be? how intensely are you feeling that emotion? His work draws from sensory psychophysics, psychometric modeling, and information theory to understand what those numbers actually mean.
Graduate Students
Prior to the PhD, Julio received his BS with a double major in Mathematics and Structural Engineering from UC San Diego and an MS in Computational and Mathematical Engineering from Stanford University. He has ongoing work on computational modeling of human physical intrinsic motivation. His more recent interests are in the area of modeling multi-agent/social learning and theory of mind.
Alvin received a BA in Psychology and Linguistics from Oxford in 2020, and an MS in Symbolic Systems from Stanford in 2022. He is interested in language learning in young children.
BSC in electrical engineering from University of Khartoum, MSc in cognitive science from Columbia University. Interested in the study of cognitive development and language development in particular. Intrigued by the intersection between language and cognition from a cross-cultural perspective.
Steven is a Computer Science PhD student, working with the Stanford AI and NLP groups. He completed a master's at Carnegie Mellon University and an undergrad at the University of Waterloo. He wishes to advance AI with multidisciplinary knowledge, mainly by enhancing machine understanding and generation of human language and vision. This includes exploring methods to improve the controllability and reasoning of language and visual models, and investigating cognitive strategies to align human and machine learning.
Research Staff
Victor is the lab manager. He graduated from Dartmouth College with a BA in Quantitative Social Science and a minor in Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies. As an undergrad, he studied language, identity, and intergroup relations in Dr. Kiara Sanchez’s Social Identity in Dialogue Lab. He is interested in researching the cognitive processes underlying information processing and political decision-making, particularly those that contribute to belief polarization.
Serena is a research coordinator. She graduated from UCLA with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Education Studies. During undergrad, she was a research assistant in UCLA's Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience Lab. Serena is interested in how social and cultural influences shape adolescent development, and how these factors can contribute to the onset of mental health difficulties.
Heidi was an undergrad at Stanford, did her graduate work at UC Davis, and was a postdoc at Brown University. She's happy to be back at Stanford working as the Executive Director of ManyBabies, a global consortium of developmental psychology labs.
Mika is a software developer working on tools that enable data sharing and promote open science practices. Previously they received their PhD from MIT, where they studied children's early language learning, specifically data-driven analyses of lexical and morphological development.
Amy is a Senior Research Scholar. She completed a B.A. in Psychology and M.A. and Ph.D. in Psychological Studies in Education, all at UCLA. Amy has spent many years at the intersection of neuroscience, genetics, cognition, emotion, and behavior studying developmental trajectories in children with conditions such as fragile X syndrome. More broadly she is interested in research designed to improve learning, educational, and social-emotional outcomes, particularly for vulnerable populations.
Theresa is a research scientist and educator. She completed her undergraduate degree at CSU Los Angeles, PhD at the University of Oregon, and EdM and postdoctoral training at Harvard University. Her research explores how developmental timing and experience shape social development, particularly during the transition to adolescence. She is also interested how scientific pedagogy can empower learners and foster social responsibility.
Honors Students
Senior Research Assistants
Victoria is a current Research Assistant. She is an undergraduate student pursuing a B.A. in Psychology. Victoria is interested in the physical and psychological development of children. She is excited to learn more about how children’s interactions and relationships with others shape their understanding of the world.
Rachel is a current Research Assistant. She is a junior majoring in Symbolic Systems and Classics, and minoring in Education. Rachel is interested in language-learning in children, second language acquisition, and literacy. She loves learning about how children think, learn, and behave through her interactions with children in educational settings.
Yasmine is a current Research Assistant completing her B.A. in Psychology at UC Berkeley. She is interested in children’s language development and categorisation, and how factors like noise and emotion shape early word learning, as well as how children represent concepts through drawing and early writing. Yasmine is excited to explore how children learn from their environments and how they acquire language more broadly.
Lab Alums
Bobby Sparks (Lab Manager) -- Graduate Student, Harvard University
Meesha Ryan (Research Coordinator) -- Graduate Student, University of Oregon
Veronica Boyce (Graduate Student) -- Postdoctoral Scholar, MIT
Sachin Allums (Research Coordinator) -- Fulbright Scholar, South Korea
Grace Keene (Research Coordinator) -- Graduate Student, UW Madison
Rondeline Williams (Graduate Student) -- Postdoctoral Scholar, University of South Florida
Anjie Cao (Graduate Student) -- Consultant, Boston Consulting Group
Bria Long (Postdoctoral Scholar) -- Assistant Professor, UC San Diego
Georgia Loukatou (Research Fellow)
Eva Portelance (Graduate Student) -- Postdoctoral Scholar, McGill University
Jessica Mankewitz (Lab Manager) -- Graduate Student, UW Madison
Sama Radwan (Research Coordinator)
George Kachergis (Research Scientist) -- SkillPrint
Angeline Tsui (Postdoctoral Fellow) -- Research Data Scientist, Huawei Technologies
Yang Wu (Postdoctoral Fellow) -- Assistant Professor, University of Toronto
Alex Carstensen (Postdoctoral Fellow) -- Postdoctoral Fellow, UC San Diego
Joseph Outa (Research Coordinator) -- Graduate Student, John Hopkins University
Charles Murray (Research Coordinator)
Megan Merrick (Research Coordinator) -- Graduate Student, Indiana University
Hang Jiang (Graduate Student) -- Graduate Student, MIT
Ben Peloquin (Graduate Student) -- Data Scientist, Apple
Pooja Paul (Postdoctoral Scholar)
Benny deMayo (Lab Manager) -- Graduate Student, Princeton University
Vivian Zhang (Research Coordinator) -- Graduate Student, Cornell University
Erica Yoon (Graduate Student) -- Teaching Coordinator for Symbolic Systems Program, Stanford University
Judith Fan (Postdoctoral Scholar) -- Assistant Professor, UC San Diego
Manuel Bohn (Postdoctoral Scholar) -- Postdoctoral Scholar, Leipzig Research Center for Early Childhood Development
Abdellah Fourtassi (Postdoctoral Scholar) -- Assistant Professor, Aix-Marseille University
Kyle MacDonald (Graduate Student) -- Postdoctoral Scholar, UCLA
Tom Hardwicke (Postdoctoral Scholar) -- Postdoctoral Scholar, Meta-Research Innovation Center, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Alessandro Sanchez (Research Coordinator) -- Software Engineer, Atomwise
Emily Hembacher (Postdoctoral Scholar) -- Data Scientist, Nextdoor
Danielle Kellier (Lab Manager) -- Medical Student, University of Pennsylvania
Gabe Doyle (Postdoctoral Scholar) -- Assistant Professor, San Diego State University
Veronica Cristiano (Research Coordinator) -- Graduate Student, Gallaudet University
Molly Lewis (Graduate Student) -- Research Faculty, CMU
Dan Yurovsky (Postdoctoral Fellow) -- Assistant Professor, CMU
Rose Schneider (Lab Manager) -- UX Researcher, Blink
Mika Braginsky (Research Coordinator) -- Postdoctoral Scholar, Stanford University
Ann Nordmeyer (Graduate Student) -- Assistant Professor, Southern New Hampshire University
Sarah James (Research Coordinator)
Andrew Weaver (Research Coordinator)
Alexandra Horowitz (Graduate Student) -- UI Researcher, Facebook
Ally Kraus (Lab Manager) -- Analyst, Education Elements
Janelle Klaas (Research Student)
Theresa Hennings (Research Coordinator) -- Graduate Student, University of Washington
Stephan Meylan (Research Coordinator) -- Postdoctoral Fellow, Duke University and MIT
Chigusa Kurumada (Graduate Student) -- Assistant Professor, University of Rochester
Marisa Casillas (Graduate Student) -- Assistant Professor, University of Chicago
Alex Stiller-Shulman (Master's Student) -- Assistant Professor, San Diego Miramar College
Former Research Assistants
Kaitlyn Leahy (Graduate Research Assistant)
Chloe Haydel Brown (Graduate Research Assistant) -- Fulbright English Teaching Program
Former Honors Students
Maya Martinez-Krams (2026) -- Psychology
Malia Perez (2025) -- Human Biology
Khuyen Le (2021) -- Symbolic Systems
Gloria Yi (2021) -- Symbolic Systems
Hannah Marshall (2021) -- Psychology
Claire Baker (2021) -- Human Biology
Elizabeth Swanson (2021) -- Human Biology
Isabella Duan (2021) -- Human Biology
Tania Dhaliwal (2020) -- Symbolic Systems
Sophie Regan (2020) -- Symbolic Systems
Benjamin deMayo (2018) -- Psychology
Tamara Mekler (2017) -- Human Biology
Allison Dods (2016) -- Symbolic Systems
Sarah Lucy Case (2015) -- Human Biology
Rachel Chung (2015) -- Science, Technology, and Society
Nicholas Moores (2015) -- Linguistics
Elise Sugarman (2014) -- Symbolic Systems
Laura Soriano (2014) -- Human Biology
Kaia Simmons (2013) -- Human Biology
Stephanie Muscat (2013) -- Human Biology
Rebecca Chung (2012) -- Symbolic Systems
Summer Interns
Dena Kumsa (2025) -- Stanford University Human Biology
Sadio Abdi (2024) -- Stanford University Psychology
Karen Barrera (2024) -- Stanford University Psychology
Caleb Benz (2024) -- Stanford University Linguistics
Lauren Burch (2024) -- Stanford University Human Biology
Ayan Dalmar (2024) -- Stanford University Human Biology
Brooke Ho (2024) -- Grinnell College
Yannick Mofor (2024) -- Stanford University Symbolic Systems
Rebecca Pizzitola (2024) -- Stanford University Symbolic Systems
Zoe Wu (2024) -- College of San Mateo
Ilaria Chen (2023) -- Stanford University Symbolic Systems
Meghan Dontha (2023) -- Stanford University Psychology
Bella Fontanilla (2023) -- College of San Mateo
Abigail Maldonado (2023) -- Stanford University Human Biology
Alissa Pascual (2023) -- Stanford University Human Biology
Malia Perez (2023) -- Undergraduate Intern
Katya Sander (2023) -- Stanford University Human Biology
Naiomi Solomon (2023) -- Stanford University Symbolic Systems
Brittany Linus (2022) -- Stanford University Symbolic Systems
Deba Elaiho (2021 & 2022) -- Stanford University Human Biology
Jason Miranda (2022) -- Stanford University Human Biology
Mary Markley (2022) -- Stanford University Linguistics
Minh Khổng Bùi (2022) -- University of California Fullerton
Morgan Wyatt (2022) -- Stanford University Psychology
Renaecia Mae Deleon Guerrero (2022) -- Stanford University Human Biology
Isaac Bever (2021) -- Stanford University Symbolic Systems
Grace Butler (2021) -- San José State University
Qi Han (2021) -- Stanford University Linguistics
Ummara Khan (2021) -- Stanford University Human Biology
Hannah Marie Matteson (2021) -- Stanford University Psychology
Brennan Nick (2021) -- Stanford University Linguistics
Isobel Taylor (2021) -- Stanford University Psychology
Jiayi Wang (2021) -- Boston University
Ruby Ru (2020) -- Smith College
Yiling (Elaine) Ren (2020) -- Trinity College
Naiti Bhatt (2020) -- Scripps College
Elizabeth Swanson (2020) -- Stanford University Linguistics
Hannah Marshall (2020) -- Stanford University Psychology
Claire Baker (2020) -- Stanford University Human Biology
Isabella Duan (2020) -- Stanford University Human Biology
Gloria Yi (2020) -- Stanford Univeristy Symbolic Systems
Sophie Regan (2020) -- Stanford University Symbolic Systems (M.S.)