Zoe Tauxe
Zoe was a graduate student in the lab working on understanding infants ability to learn in contingent interactions with their caregivers. Her research began as an undergraduate at Colorado State University. She is currently working at Cortica, an Autism and Neurodevelopment research center and clinic in San Diego.
Jae Engle
Jae was a joint graduate student of Dr. Leslie Carver and Dr. Caren Walker. She received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience in 2021. Her research interests revolved around improving scientific reasoning skills in young children using both behavioral and EEG methods. She is currently the interim graduate coordinator for the Department of Psychology.
Isa Hutching
Isa was a first-year graduate student in the lab working on understanding social motivation in toddlers. Her research on the brain began as an undergraduate at Cornell University. After serving in the Peace Corps in Ecuador, she also studied public health at Emory University before coming to UC San Diego. Currently, she is a law student at UC Berkley.
Victoria Licht
Victoria was a research assistant in the DN Lab for 4 years. She was the lead experimenter for the Real Event Segmentation study but was also a part of several other studies throughout the years. Currently, she is in a Masters program in Germany.
Katherine Stavropoulos
Katherine received her Ph.D in July of 2014. Her dissertation examined the role of social motivation in children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder. She is currently an assistant professor at the University of California, Riverside.
Amy Pace
Amy received her Ph.D in August of 2013. She is currently a post-doctorate researcher at Temple University.
Lisa Tully
Lisa received her Ph.D in UCSD’s experimental program after defending her dissertation on Social Cognition. She is interested in how adult behavior can shape the behavior of children by looking at the effects of praise on help seeking behavior. She is particularly interested in examining ways to build resiliency in young children.
Rebecca Cunningham
Rebecca received her B.A. in psychology and minor in human development from UC San Diego in 2008. She was the manager of the lab for four years was responsible for memory and social referencing testing at 9, 18, and 32-36 months. She is currently attending graduate school in occupational therapy at USC.
Chelsea Hays
Chelsea was an undergraduate Honors student at UCSD who worked on the Lie Telling study. Her research interests are in neuropsychology, specifically pediatric traumatic brain injury.
Emily Little
Emily graduated with a PhD from the developmental psychology program and studied culture and infant-caregiver interaction. She has done fieldwork in Vanuatu, Bolivia, and Guatemala, where she has volunteered with local NGOs on maternal-infant
health programs while documenting cultural variation in early socialization.
See Emily’s personal website for more information.
Hannah Van Etten
Hannah got her PhD from UCSD’s Department of Psychology. Her research focused on how children with Autism Spectrum Disorder are impacted in their social communication skills as a result of difficulties in understanding social cues. Hannah’s interest in Autism research stem from her time as Teacher’s Assistant and Behavior Therapist for children with Autism while residing on the east coast.
Other Lab Alumni: