bio

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at CSUSB and Principal Investigator/ Director of the Learning to Learn (L2L) Lab. (I reside in Los Angeles!)

My PhD in Developmental Psychology was under Dr. Deanna Kuhn at Columbia University.

I completed postdoctoral fellowships at UCLA and UCSD with Dr. William A. Sandoval on projects funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Hosted by Dr. Tania Lombrozo, I completed the micro-Sabbatical program at Princeton University.

My undergraduate training at UC Berkeley was in both Psychology and Public Policy, where my primary advisor was Robert Reich, J. D. 

A 2021 Deeper Learning Fellow with the American Education Research Association (AERA), my work has been supported by the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation in collaboration with the American Institutes for Research (AIR).

I've previously served as faculty in the Department(s) of Psychology at Thomas Jefferson University (where I began tenure track), as well as UPenn and Columbia University.

My research explores the development of child and adolescent learning by examining individual, developmental, and sociocultural factors impacting real-world outcomes. This work employs both laboratory and field-based methodologies, where I bridge the fields of cognitive science and education. My work is guided by a broader goal of informing policy, practice, and intervention that aim to reduce societal inequalities, some of which stem from learning environments and social contexts.

updated December 2025