DR. MOIRA DILLON

I study infants’ and children’s precocious knowledge about the world, from the objects and places in it to the people and animals that act on those objects and move through those places. I ask how that knowledge derives from our evolutionary inheritance and how it forms the basis of uniquely human cultural and intellectual achievements. In doing so, I use my expertise in human commonsense to improve machine commonsense, creating AI that will better understand us and that we can better understand.

moira.dillon@nyu.edu

gILLIAN BROOME

I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2022 where I majored in Neuroscience. At Penn, I worked as a research assistant in the Changing Brain Lab, where I studied the development of reading and math skills in children. Currently, I am interested in studying the underlying mechanisms of social cognition and math skills in infants and children. Additionally, I am enthusiastic about science outreach and communication aimed at helping caregivers and teachers improve early childhood education. In the future, I hope to pursue a Ph.D. in Psychology. Outside of the lab, I enjoy trying new coffee shops around the city, running, and caring for my multitude of houseplants.

gillian.broome@nyu.edu

Eli Mitnick

I graduated from Brown University in 2021 with an Sc.B. in Psychology. At Brown, I worked as a research assistant in the Brown Language and Thought lab, conducting research on logical reasoning. I am especially interested in studying the development of our mental representation of the world, specifically how we begin to segment the perceivable world into meaningful units and how those units are categorized. I also enjoy engaging with philosophy and literature and am interested in pursuing research that bridges the gap between these fields and psychology. Soon, I hope to pursue a Ph.D. in Psychology. Until then, I am thrilled to be gaining more experience in developmental psychology research and exploring my interests within this domain of psychology.

eli.mitnick@nyu.edu

Dr. YI LIN

How do young children learn to use language productively while observing the many constraints imposed by their native languages? How do infants represent the physical world, including the physical properties of objects, the number of objects, and the spatial relations and interactions between objects? How does language affect other domains of knowledge and vice versa? These are some of the questions that I am interested in. I earned a MSc in psycholinguistics from The University of Edinburgh and a PhD in psychology from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Outside of the lab, I enjoy morning walks, yoga and lots of cooking, baking and eating.

yl8476@nyu.edu

MOHIT MUKHERJI

I graduated from Temple University in May 2022 with a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy. As an undergraduate, I worked in the Research In Spatial Cognition (RISC) lab, where I studied how people think about feedback loops. My research interests lie in the development of logical thinking. I’m also interested in learning more broadly about cognitive architecture, modularity, and the relationship between language and thought. Outside school, I enjoy running, watching soccer, and (sometimes) making music.

mohit.mukherji@nyu.edu

Shannon Yasuda

I graduated from Yale University in 2020 where I studied Computer Science and Psychology. While at Yale, I was a research assistant in the Yale Social Robotics Lab where I conducted research on perceptions of agency in social norm-violating robots. After graduating, I worked in the Yale Cognitive and Neural Computation Lab where I studied physical event perception before working in the Lab for the Developing Mind as a Lab Manager, studying agency perception in infants and machines. Now as a PhD student in the same lab, I am interested in studying infants, children, adults, and machines to better understand the “software” in the human mind that dictates our perceptions of and behaviors within the physical and social worlds. I am especially interested in how our perceptions of agency develop, and how we can use multidisciplinary approaches to study cognition and perception.

shannon.yasuda@nyu.edu

Lauren Bass

I am currently a senior at NYU majoring in psychology. I am interested in studying cognitive development and learning more about how different aspects of a child’s daily life can affect their behaviors and reasoning. I have always enjoyed working with children through tutoring and childcare and want to continue learning about the human mind through a clinical and research setting.

lcb6354@nyu.edu

Khadijah Ceesay

I’m a senior majoring in Psychology and minoring in Urban Teaching at Barnard College. I’m interested in studying how children learn and perceive the world around them. Specifically, I’m interested to see how the current educational system can be adapted to better educate children in an effective and engaging way. Through my experience at the LDM, I hope to learn more about psychological research and gain new insights that I can eventually apply to my future teaching career. Outside the lab, I enjoy reading, watching documentaries, and spending time with my friends and family.

krc2173@barnard.edu

Jocelyn Chow

I am a junior at NYU majoring in Psychology and minoring in Child & Adolescent Mental Health Studies and French. I love learning about why children do the things they do, but interacting with them brings me the most joy. I’m excited to study infants' and children's reactions to certain situations, their use of language and other means to express themselves, and how they connect with others. I plan to be a clinical psychologist in the future. In my free time, I like to babysit, make hojicha drinks, and go to karaoke with friends!

jnc6392@nyu.edu

Gissell Duran

I am a current junior at NYU majoring in Psychology and minoring in Creative Writing and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies. I’m interested in studying the influences and experiences that impact cognitive development in infants and children. I’m also interested in studying the effects of maternal trauma exposure on the cognitive and behavioral development of infants, specifically its impact on their perception of the world. At LDM, I hope to gain a better understanding of different research skills, especially within the field of cognitive development, that I can utilize as an aspiring psychologist. Outside of the lab, I enjoy reading psychological thriller books, baking, watching Gilmore Girls, spending time with family and friends, and working on my own poetry and prose!

gd2104@nyu.edu

Anuj Jain

I am a sophomore double-majoring in Psychology & Public Policy, and minoring in South Asian Studies at NYU. I am interested in researching cognitive and developmental psychology. Specifically, I want to explore how children develop spatial reasoning and language. I also want to learn how close AI can get at mimicking infant development and the implication that will have on future psychology research. Outside of the lab, I enjoy reading comics and reviewing albums.

anuj.jain@nyu.edu

Shubhdip Kundlas

I am a current junior at NYU, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies. An aspiring Psychologist, I love helping people and working with people, especially children. My passion for Psychology and helping people is what motivates me to explore the intricate subject of the developing mind. The Lab for the Developing Mind provides me with eclectic opportunities to research the cognition of infants and how their mind perceives the world around them, as well as more complex research areas like how the infant mind develops transitioning to adolescence and how factors like the environment or family life influence the development. I also hope to gain the necessary research skills and experience to work in a professional setting, learning procedural methods, and building connections with my fellow colleagues. Outside the lab, I like to work, meet new people, watch shows, volunteer as a camp counselor, and enjoy time with friends and family!

ssk9829@nyu.edu

KIRsten Mark

I am a senior majoring in Psychology and minoring in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies. I have a passion for working with children and hope to work with them in the future in the field of developmental psychology. More specifically, I am interested in learning about how our different experiences throughout development change how we process the world and the people around us. In terms of the LDM’s work, I am particularly interested in studies investigating how children perceive the world through their drawings. Outside the lab, I enjoy trying new food spots, watching shows, and exploring the city with friends!

kem9162@nyu.edu

Tanvi Patel

I am a sophomore studying Global Public Health and minoring in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies on the premedical track at NYU. I am interested in further exploring how environmental and cultural factors can impact a child’s cognitive upbringing and how this information can be implicated for efficient patient care. I am also interested in developing a deeper understanding of the relationship between AI and infant intelligence. In my free time, I love going on long walks, hanging out with the ones I love, and playing with my cat!

trp8625@nyu.edu

sAVANNAH pRAGER

I am a senior majoring in Psychology and Journalism at NYU. Since taking the developmental psychology course at NYU, I’ve known that this is the field I’m interested in. I’m greatly looking forward to learning from the amazing team at the Lab for the Developing Mind and continuing work with children. I am interested in how infants construct the world around them and how far AI can go in relation to mimicking human emotion. Outside of the lab, you can find me playing Sudoku and the NYT’s mini, as seen by my hours-long screen times on the apps.

spp9324@nyu.edu

Rida Sophia Saad

I am a senior studying Psychology with a minor in Child and Adolescent Minor Studies on the prehealth track at the NYU College of Arts and Science. I am looking forward to gaining a stronger idea of the cognitive processes that guide infants’ perception and contextualizing it in applications in mathematical reasoning. I am interested in exploring how these processes connect to learning patterns and recognition in infants as well as a deeper understanding of the various components of infant research. Outside of the lab, I enjoy hiking, singing, listening to music, and spending time with friends and family.

rsk8486@nyu.edu

Riya Sapkal

I am a current junior at NYU, majoring in Psychology on the pre-medicine path. My love for kids stems from babysitting, volunteering in pediatrics, and my pageant community service projects centered around children’s health and education. Studying psychology gives me a foundation in understanding the relationships of people with each other, the environment, technology, and society, and how the mind develops and adapts to certain phenomena. My interest lies in the impact of children’s development on learning pathways, and also how socioeconomic and cultural factors play a role in how they adapt to their worlds and lifestyles. I hope to utilize my experiences with LDM to expand my community service projects so that funds and resources can be allocated to assets that are most compatible with how a child’s mind develops based on their circumstances. I also hope to acquire unique research skills and professional experiences to better understand my future patients and be a more accommodating and attentive doctor. Outside of the lab, you can find me competing in a pageant, at practice with my competitive dance team, tutoring, painting, or most likely strolling through a Target!

rss9273@nyu.edu

WeiWei Tan

I am currently a senior at NYU pursuing a double major in Psychology and Journalism. My passion lies in exploring cognitive and developmental psychology, with a particular focus on understanding children's cognitive development in the context of geometry, language, and its connection to the rapidly advancing field of AI. Also, I hope to gain more experience working with children of different ages in LDM. Outside the lab, I like journaling, film photography, discovering the vibrant city of New York, and traveling around the world.

wt2111@nyu.edu

NAlinda wanikpun

I am a junior at NYU studying psychology and child and adolescent mental health studies. I have ambitions of becoming a clinical psychologist working with young children and adolescents in the future. My research interests are in attachment theory and parenting styles and how they are related to the development of prosocial behavior, dependence and independence, emotional intelligence, and predictions of psychological symptoms. I am interested in learning to conduct research with young children, especially on projects that investigate the development of infants' perception of the world, so that I may one day pursue conducting my own studies. Outside of the lab, you can find me competing for NYU's golf team, rock climbing, or hosting dinner parties with my close friends! 

nw2176@nyu.edu

SEÁN REILLY

I’m Dr. Dillon’s son, and I’m interested in language, people, objects, and books. When I’m not participating in developmental research studies, you can find me developing! I spend my free time at the playground, making art, kicking the soccer ball, and singing. I speak English and French!