Faculty
Daniel Berry Daniel Berry
- Associate Professor
- he/him/his
- dberry@umn.edu
My research focuses on clarifying the processes—mind, brain and environment—through which children’s experiences shape their abilities to control their impulses, purposely maintain and shift their attention, and hold and manipulate information…

Stephanie Carlson Stephanie Carlson
- Associate Director, ICD
Distinguished McKnight University Professor - smc@umn.edu
I investigate basic developmental processes in executive function (brain basis of self-control) in children from infancy through adolescence, with a focus on the preschool period.

Jed Elison Jed Elison
- Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Development
Distinguished McKnight University Professor - jtelison@umn.edu
My research examines basic developmental processes that contribute to individual differences in social communication during the infant and toddler period.

Damien Fair Damien Fair
- Professor in the Institute of Child Development, Department of Pediatrics, and University of Minnesota Medical School
Redleaf Endowed Director, Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain - faird@umn.edu
My research focuses on mechanisms and principles that underlie the developing brain. The majority of this work uses functional MRI and resting state functional connectivity MRI to assess typical and atypical populations.

Gail Ferguson Gail Ferguson
- Professor
- she/her/hers
Dr. Ferguson's interests reside at the interface of developmental psychology, cross-cultural psychology, and clinical psychology, with a focus on understanding the implications of 21st Century globalization for cultural socialization and…

Michael Georgieff Michael Georgieff
- Professor - Institute of Child Development, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota Medical School
Co-Director - Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain - georg001@umn.edu
Dr. Georgieff’s research focuses on fetal/neonatal nutrition and brain development, specifically on the effect of early life iron nutrition and neurocognitive function.

Megan Gunnar Megan Gunnar
- Regents Professor
Distinguished McKnight University Professor - she, her, hers
- gunnar@umn.edu
Professor Gunnar has spent her career studying how stress biology affects neurobehavioral development and the processes that help children regulate stress hormones.

Ka I Ip Ka I Ip
- Assistant Professor
- he, him, his
- kaip@umn.edu
My research focuses on three key areas: (a) the development of emotion regulation in both typical and at-risk populations, (b) the role of cultural contexts in shaping emotion regulation, and (c) how early adversity, structural racism, and social…

Canan Karatekin Canan Karatekin
- Associate Professor
- karat004@umn.edu
Canan Karatekin is an associate professor at the Institute of Child Development. She has a BA in Psychology from Harvard College, and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from UCLA.

Melissa Koenig Melissa Koenig
- Director of Graduate Studies, ICD
Professor - she/her/hers
- mkoenig@umn.edu
My research focuses on the factors that constrain and support children's social and testimonial learning. Together, my lab studies various aspects of trust, cultural learning, memory, language and cognitive development.

Michele Mazzocco Michele Mazzocco
- Professor
- she, her, hers
- mazzocco@umn.edu
My research interests focus primarily on individual differences in cognition and how these differences affect the development and function of problem solving behaviors.

Charisse Pickron Charisse Pickron
- Assistant Professor
- she, her, hers
- cpickron@umn.edu
Dr. Pickron's work focuses on socio-cognitive development focusing on infants' perception and representation of social groups along gender and race. She uses measures including behavioral, electrophysiological, and eye-tracking.

Arthur Reynolds Arthur Reynolds
- Professor
- ajr@umn.edu
I study the effects of early childhood intervention on children's development from school entry to early adulthood. I also investigate the family and school influences on children's educational success.

Glenn Roisman Glenn Roisman
- Robert Holmes Beck Chair of Ideas in Education
Distinguished McKnight University Professor - roism001@umn.edu
Professor Roisman’s scholarly interests concern the legacy of early relationship experiences as a foundation for psychological, interpersonal, physical, and cognitive health across the lifespan.

Kathleen Thomas Kathleen Thomas
- Director, ICD
William Harris Professor - she/her/hers
- thoma114@umn.edu
My research interests lie in the development and neurobiological correlates of attention, learning, and memory functions during childhood and adolescence.

Sylia Wilson Sylia Wilson
- Associate Professor
McKnight Land-Grant Professor - she, her, hers
- syliaw@umn.edu
I am interested in the developmental etiology of psychopathology--the underlying processes that lead to the development of mental illness. I focus in particular on major depression and substance abuse.

Philip Zelazo Philip Zelazo
- Nancy M. and John E. Lindahl Professor
- he/him/his
- zelazo@umn.edu
Professor Zelazo studies the development and neural bases of executive function, or the conscious control of thought, action, and emotion. He does so using a variety of approaches, from experimental to cross-cultural to electrophysiological (EEG/ERP)
