Department Of Psychology And Human Development

By Jenna Somers A recent study finds that Black high-school students tend not to believe that their teachers are adequately prepared to teach them math in appropriate ways, have negative perceptions of their math ability, and lack awareness about the intersection between math and their desired careers. Published in… Read More

By Jenna Somers Kathryn Humphreys During pregnancy, the body undergoes dramatic physical changes. However, how brain structure and function change is not well understood. A new study aims to shed light on these changes and their potential effects on mental health throughout the peripartum period, the time during pregnancy… Read More

By Jenna Somers Scholars at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development travel across oceans and borders to answer pressing questions on improving the human condition, a mission shared by scholars the world over who collaborate in partnership with Peabody. To strengthen this mission and advance Peabody’s global… Read More

Four digital technology projects in the initial stages of development will advance at Vanderbilt, thanks to funding from the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries’ Digital Lab. The project proposals were evaluated for their cultural importance, global impact and potential for interdisciplinary collaboration, as well as their ability to be preserved in perpetuity. Read More

Thirteen outstanding faculty members from across the university have been selected for the 2024 cohort of Chancellor Faculty Fellows. This group is composed of highly accomplished, recently tenured faculty from a wide variety of disciplines and areas of expertise.    Read More

In May, the Nashville Partnership for Education Equity Research—a collaboration between Metro Nashville Public Schools and Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development—hosted its inaugural research symposium at the MNPS Martin Center for Professional Development. The symposium included poster presentations on research projects to improve equity outcomes… Read More

Ten faculty members from Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development were awarded global engagement funding for the current and upcoming academic year from the Office of Global Engagement. These awards reflect Peabody’s commitment to worldwide collaboration that enhances learning and development in diverse contexts and translates… Read More

As vice provost for special initiatives, Watson will lead a multi-faceted effort to solidify the strategic underpinnings of the College of Connected Computing. He will also oversee the collaborative strategic planning for the college’s “hub and spoke” model, which aims to connect all computing-based scholarship in every college. Read More

By Jenna Somers Alex Christensen Eric Wilkey Alex Christensen and Eric Wilkey, assistant professors of psychology and human development, are emerging leaders in the psychological sciences, strengthening Vanderbilt’s expertise in data science and the neuroscience of mathematical learning,… Read More

LIVE, the Learning Innovation Incubator at Vanderbilt University, has awarded the inaugural LIVE Spark Grants to three interdisciplinary teams innovating cutting-edge learning technologies that leverage AI to advance literacy, music education and aid in the care of people with dementia. Selected from a strong pool of applicants,… Read More

In April, Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development hosted the panel discussion “Ethical and Equity Considerations in the Age of AI” as part of the Peabody Dean’s Diversity Lecture series. The session explored societal, ethical and moral questions regarding AI’s growing role in higher education, with special consideration of social justice, bias, equity and discrimination concerns. Read More

The Women's Center presents awards in three categories each year: the Margaret Cuninggim Women's Center Leadership Award, the Mentoring Award and the Mary Jane Werthan Award. This spring, the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center named five people from the Vanderbilt community as recipients of its annual awards. Read More

The researchers, including Vanderbilt’s team led by Kari Hoffman, focused their efforts on the detection of hippocampal ripples, which are considered biomarkers of memory and are affected by epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease. Read More

Ilana Horn Bethany Rittle-Johnson Chezare Warren Mariah Harmon Following Ilana Horn’s selection earlier this year as a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association, she was inducted on Friday, April 12, at the AERA 2024 annual meeting… Read More

By Jenna Somers   Bethany Rittle-Johnson (Vanderbilt University) Bethany Rittle-Johnson, professor of psychology at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development, recently hosted visiting scholar Serkan Özel through Vanderbilt’s Global Scholars in Residence program. Özel is an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics… Read More

Could unlocking metacognitive skills be the key to math motivation in middle school? Teachers across the globe face the same challenge – how to make math not just bearable, but exciting. Research shows that in middle school, motivation for math in students starts to decline. But at the same time,… Read More

Camilla P. Benbow Jason Grissom Carolyn Heinrich Rich Milner Education Week recently released the 2024 Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings, an annual list of education researchers who have demonstrated the greatest influence over educational policy and practice. Four researchers from Vanderbilt Peabody College of… Read More

By Jenna Somers Autumn Kujawa A five-year, nearly $3.6 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health will support Autumn Kujawa, associate professor of psychology and human development at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development, and her team in examining changes in brain… Read More

By Jenna Somers Deon Benton Deon Benton, assistant professor of psychology and human development, is leading an experimental study to understand when and how infants learn to distinguish that people can cause action both from a distance and by contact, but objects can only cause action by contact. While… Read More

By Jenna Somers Bahr Weiss Research Professor of Psychology and Human Development Bahr Weiss is helping to lead efforts to develop Vietnam’s licensure criteria for clinical psychologists, and as part of his primary efforts at capacity development, he and his team are adapting, implementing, and evaluating a mindfulness-based… Read More