College of Education and Human Development

Institute of Child Development

Amanda Hodel

  • Pronouns: she, her, hers

  • Instructor

  • Institute of Child Development
    Carmen D. and James R. Campbell Hall
    Room 193
    51 E River Pkwy
    Minneapolis, MN 55455

  • hodel004@umn.edu
Amanda Hodel

Areas of interest

Adolescents and youth; Cognitive development; Developmental neuroscience; Early childhood; Executive function; Infancy; Prenatal; Stress and maltreatment

Degrees

PhD in Developmental Psychology, University of Minnesota (2016)
BA Statistics, University of Minnesota, May 2008; B.A. Child Psychology, University of Minnesota, December 2008

Biography

I am a graduate of ICD’s Developmental Psychology PhD program (2016) and have been teaching within the department since 2012. After growing up in Minnesota (and also attending the University for my undergraduate degrees), I moved to Seattle, WA in 2019 and now develop and teach courses online.

My training is in developmental cognitive neuroscience, and my research interests focus on how early life adversity shapes trajectories of brain development. I am especially interested in plasticity, including how we can take advantage of rapid prefrontal cortex development in the first years of life to support healthy developmental trajectories of executive function skills.

I love "giving away" scientific knowledge through teaching and working in the community. I enjoy interacting with both undergraduate and graduate students and am passionate about helping students discover topics and careers that excite them.

Interests: Cognitive neuroscience, brain development.

General Developmental Psychology Track

Courses recently taught

  • CPsy 2301/3301 - Introduction to Child Psychology (online)
  • CPsy 4302 - Infant Development CPsy 4303 - Adolescent Psychology (online)
  • CPsy 4329 - Biological Foundations of Child Development
  • CPsy 4343 - Cognitive Development
  • CPsy 5302 - Cognitive and Biological Development (online)
Publications

Hodel, A. S. (2018). Rapid infant prefrontal cortex development and sensitivity to early environmental experience. Developmental Review, 48, 113-144.

Hodel, A. S., Brumbaugh, J. E., Morris, A. R., & Thomas, K. M. (2017). Hot executive function following moderate-to-late preterm birth: Altered delay discounting at 4 years of age. Developmental Science, 19(2), 221-234.

Hodel, A. S., Hunt, R. H., Cowell, R. A., Van Den Heuvel, S. E., Gunnar, M. R., & Thomas, K. M. (2015). Duration of early adversity and structural brain development in post-institutionalized adolescents. Neuroimage, 105, 112-119.