Board Elections
CDS invites all members to nominate candidates for and vote in the elections of the Board of Directors. During this year’s Board elections, there will be the following vacancies to fill:
Officers
- President-Elect (2-year term), followed by a 2-year term as President
Board members
- (2) Board member (6-year term)
- (2) Student board member (2-year term)
Board terms will start on April 10, 2024, which can be renewed with a maximum of one additional term.
CDS membership is not a requirement to nominate or be a candidate.
Board members are expected to participate in regular board meetings via conference call and to attend a face-to-face board meeting during the CDS Conference, as well as assisting with specific duties and portfolios as assigned by the Board Executives.
2024 Elections Timeline
Nomination period opens: January 1
Nomination period closes: January 22
Elections open: February 1
Elections close: February 15
Selection
The selection of the slate will be made by the Board Nomination Committee consisting of the President, President-Elect, and Past President. Consideration will be given to the following:
- Professional reputation (e.g., involvement in cognitive development research, education),
- Service to the Society (e.g. participation on committees, reviewer, presentation at conference),
- Contributions to cognitive development research,
- Diversity, broadly defined, including: gender, race, ethnicity, disability, institution type, career stage, or other dimensions.
Candidates for Officer Positions
President-Elect
Kristin Shutts
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Kristin's Statement
The Cognitive Development Society has been an important part of my scholarly and professional development from the time I was a graduate student. I would be honored to serve as President of the Society and ensure that the Society continues to lead the field and support individual scholars.
The engagement and feedback I received on my first CDS meeting poster (2005) and conference paper (2007), as well as on my first manuscript submission to the Journal of Cognition and Development (2009), influenced the trajectory of my research program. To this day, I look forward to attending CDS meetings; I always leave them with new ideas, new colleagues, and a renewed energy for our discipline. CDS’s dedication to supporting individuals from diverse backgrounds and career stages is also meaningful to me. In recent years, I have benefitted from serving as a mentor in CDS’s innovative mentoring program and from participating in lunch table discussion groups (e.g., LGBTQ+ in academia).
If elected, my goals as President of the Society would include focusing on initiatives aimed at improving representation and belonging for scholars from historically marginalized groups and supporting early-career researchers and scholars from diverse institutions. For CDS meetings specifically, additional goals would involve enhancing and creating new mechanisms for deep dialogue among scholars about significant issues in the field, and increasing the transparency of the conference submission review process. I would generate further goals and initiatives based on outreach efforts aimed at understanding the needs of existing and potential CDS members.
Mark Sabbagh
Queen’s University
Mark's Statement
The Cognitive Development Society fosters intellectual growth by challenging its members to embrace creative, novel, and methodologically diverse ways of understanding the origins, processes, and outcomes of cognitive development. As a past board member and mentor within CDS, I have seen the society expand to become an exciting hub for those eager to have their science serve issues that bear deep theoretical, practical, and social significance. In my time as president, I will seek to further strengthen the Society’s role as a hub for a diverse group of scientists striving to better understand the mechanisms of Cognitive Development, and the ways in which the insights we glean together can affect children’s lives. I will do this by reemphasizing CDS’s commitment to showcasing multiple theoretical and methodological perspectives ranging from cross-cultural to neuroscience approaches, especially highlighting the innovative work that is being done by our members integrate traditionally disparate perspectives. I will also advocate for strengthening the society’s outreach efforts that are focused on underlining the ways in which the work of our membership can inform policy and practice on issues of social justice and children’s well-being. Finally, I will continue to promote CDS programs that are designed to engage students and other junior members within the society, particularly those from historically underrepresented and equity-deserving backgrounds. These efforts are essential to ensuring that the society remains a vital, relevant, and accessible intellectual hub for a diverse group of new scientists.
Candidates for Board Positions
Student board members (2 positions)
Adine DeLeon
Boston University
Adine's Statement
As a Latina and first-generation college student, the relationships I cultivated with peers and mentors at past CDS meetings have been transformative, deepening my curiosity in cognitive development. Reflecting on the powerful impact of embracing diverse perspectives in this field, I am enthusiastic about the chance to apply my skills and contribute to the ongoing success and impact of the Cognitive Development Society.
Throughout my higher education, I have actively contributed to research on how children learn about religion and science, collaborating with principal investigators Jennifer Clegg at Texas State and Kathleen Corriveau at Boston University. I presented my work at the CDS conference in 2022 and am accepted to present at the upcoming 2024 conference. Furthermore, I have contributed as a reviewer for student poster awards at conferences such as the Society for Research in Child Development and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.
As a student board member, I hope to contribute to the society’s efforts to spark connections between ideas and embrace the perspectives of those from diverse backgrounds. Additionally, I will aim to foster environments that enable enjoyable and stimulating learning experiences for young scholars and first-generation students. I am confident that my experience as a researcher at both R1 and non-R1 institutions provides me with valuable insights into resources that will benefit students from diverse educational backgrounds.
Ashley Marin
University of California, Riverside
Ashley's Statement
My name is Ashley Brianda Marin, a first-generation doctoral candidate, in both Dr. Rebekah Richert’s Childhood Cognition Lab at the University of California, Riverside, and Developing Belief Network (DBN), where I am a part of a global network of researchers studying cultural variation in cognitive development. My research is driven around children’s engagement in cultural practices and encompasses the following two lines of inquiry: 1) how children learn to participate in the culturally salient social conventions around them and 2) the consequential role that such engagement plays in shaping children’s social and religious cognition. This thread of inquiry is built on my own experiences growing up in a Mexican-Guatemalan family striving to adjust to the values and practices of a new environment.
In the future, I hope to be a professor of psychology at an institution of higher education, where I plan to continue teaching, conducting research with, and supporting students like myself who come from underrepresented backgrounds. As a student board member, my goal will be to continue CDS’ commitment to fostering a research environment that celebrates and respects the diversity of human experiences. I will also aim to foster an equitable space where underrepresented voices and communities are invited, acknowledged, and valued in the field of cognitive development.
Maritza Miramontes
University of California, Davis
Maritza's Statement
I am a third-year Psychology Ph.D. student at the University of California, Davis. My research focuses on children’s cognitive and emotional development within the family cultural context. I am excited to accept this nomination to serve as a Student Board Member for CDS.
My introduction to research began as an undergraduate student, and since then I have contributed to the field of Psychology with several first-authored posters, presentations, and a growing number of co-authored publications. I strive towards inclusive research practices and enhancing methodologies that showcase children’s cognitive and socio-emotional development. As I continue to work towards advancing the science of cognitive development from the research side, I am also eager to contribute to service activities and collaborations that help promote diversity and be a voice for those in the minority in the field.
I am committed to the continuous growth of our knowledge and providing space for new ideas to be heard. As the daughter of immigrants, I aim to help build pathways for first-generation and immigrant scholars and others to network and build community in the field, as well as to support unique opportunities for underrepresented student scholars to present their work.
My service experience thus far includes hosting networking events for graduate students of color and providing mentoring to underrepresented undergraduate students to achieve their research goals and apply to graduate school programs. If elected, I aim to leave a positive impact for current and future scholars.
Qingyang Liu
Syracuse University
Qingyang's Statement
My name is Qingyang Liu, and I am excited to self-nominate for the Student Board Member position at the Cognitive Development Society (CDS). As a fourth-year doctoral candidate in Human Development and Family Science at Syracuse University, my research examines selfregulation trajectories among children from diverse socioeconomic and racial backgrounds with a specific focus on identifying early contextual factors (i.e., poverty, parenting, and neighborhood) that shape the developmental pathways of self-regulation from preschool to adolescence.
As an international student self-identifying as Chinese, I could contribute diverse and global perspectives to the CDS Board and the broader developmental science community. Over the past four years, I have been actively involved in initiatives to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. In teaching and service, I have led Multicultural Classroom workshops for 350 new incoming Teaching Assistants and served as the Graduate Student Liaison in the Departmental Graduate Committee to advocate for fellow graduate students’ funding and professional development needs. In the broader professional community, I currently serve as the student representative in the Society for Research in Child Development Science and Social Policy Committee. I am deeply committed to translating research evidence into effective social policies, aligning with CDS’s mission to bridge the gap between research and policy and improving the accessibility of research implications to the public that support children and families to thrive. I believe that serving on the CDS Board will allow me to be a voice for international students and advocate for meaningful initiatives that support children and families.
Katie Vasquez
University of Chicago
Katie's Statement
Katie Vasquez’s research advances existing theories on naïve intuitions about social status. Until now, the literature has suggested children have a very simple view of social status (i.e., that agents could be prestigious, dominant, or subordinate). Katie’s research challenges this notion by exploring the complexity of children’s concepts of specific kinds of social status, like popularity and wealth, and how they distinguish these categories. Through careful experimental control, Katie taps into the intricacies of social cognitive development.
Katie believes that having a queer Latina on the CDS Student Board will signal to young scholars that you can be different and successful in all lines of developmental research, including basic research, like Katie. Scholars of color, women, and members of the LGTBQ+ community often gravitate toward applied research, many out of interest in those research questions, but sometimes out of feeling like they only belong in those environments. Katie wants to encourage early career students to follow their research questions and find high-quality mentors so they can find their own sense of belonging in any field.
Katie wants to become a student member of the board because she wants to create learning experiences through CDS. Prior to the meeting, Katie wants to host a webinar about preparing a poster presentation (e.g., creating the poster, answering practice questions). At the meeting itself, Katie wants to host a panel with senior scholars about a topic such as the Hidden Curriculum, but she looks forward to collaborating with her co-student-board-member on selecting a topic.
Board Members (2 positions)
Florencia Anggoro
College of the Holy Cross
Florencia's Statement
My research focuses on conceptual development, specifically the role of language, culture, and formal and informal learning experiences in shaping children’s and adults’ concepts. I am a current member of CDS and have been an active participant in the biennial conference for almost two decades (I can honestly say it is my favorite!). As a candidate for membership to the CDS Board of Directors, my goal is to help promote the Society’s overall mission of bringing together a diverse array of researchers and practitioners in cognitive development. Since 2021 I have been serving on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Cognition and Development, and I have enjoyed contributing my time and expertise to help ensure the journal publishes the highest-caliber research in our field. I am currently a program co-chair for CDS 2024, where I have helped lead the process of reviewing submissions and putting together an exciting conference program. I have also worked to increase access to the conference, for example by advocating for family grants. I am also passionate about mentorship and professional development of early-career scholars, and would look forward to increasing opportunities in this arena. As a woman of color and an immigrant, I will bring my unique background and perspective to our collective efforts to increase diversity, equity, inclusion, and sense of belonging in the community.
Lucas Butler
University of Maryland, College Park
Lucas' Statement
It is my pleasure to be nominated to serve on the CDS board. I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology at the University of Maryland. My research investigates the development of empirical reasoning and how it is shaped by social and contextual factors. I have published in leading journals, including CDS’s own, and my students and I have presented at CDS regularly. I have held several roles in service to the profession, including associate editor at Developmental Psychology, consulting editor at Child Development, and panel co-chair for the 2024 CDS Meeting.
The last several years have challenged us to continue our research and support our students against the backdrop of a global pandemic and social and economic uncertainty. I will work with leadership to shape our society’s next phase, confronting challenges while maintaining the integrity and community focus that makes our society strong.
A paramount goal is fostering a more diverse, representative science of cognitive development. Many members focus on basic scientific research, and despite broad agreement with the goal of diversifying our field, some overlook its relevance to their own research. We must honestly acknowledge how lack of diversity has constrained our science, and work towards a field inclusive and representative of all perspectives—both the science itself and the scientists doing the work. I look forward to helping to facilitate initiatives pursuing this important goal. I am thrilled to be considered and look forward to seeing all of you in Pasadena!
Judith Danovitch
University of Louisville
Judith's Statement
CDS has played a major role in my career, and I would love to give back to the society by serving on the board. My research focuses on the cognitive and developmental processes underlying children’s information seeking and evaluation, particularly when engaging in STEM learning. I consider CDS my professional “home” and CDS meetings reunions with my research “family.” My first research presentation ever was as a graduate student attending the second CDS meeting in 2001 and I have attended nearly every CDS meeting since then. I have reviewed submissions for the past five meetings and presented at the 2022 plenary symposium.
I am deeply committed to sharing our science with the public and I have actively sought out training and opportunities to do so, including recent tenure as a Learning Sciences Exchange Fellow. As a board member, I would work on expanding CDS’ outreach activities, such as creating resources for caregivers and educators, and supporting CDS members who want to share their research with the public and the media.
As a first-generation college graduate and Latina woman, I am grateful to the mentors who have supported me throughout my career. I am eager to continue and expand CDS’ mentorship program and to support CDS in its efforts to include researchers from diverse backgrounds and nationalities. As a board member, I would also welcome and solicit feedback from members and potential members as to how to make CDS a more inclusive and impactful organization.
Jocelyn Dautel
Queen’s University Belfast
Jocelyn's Statement
Dr. Jocelyn Dautel is a developmental psychologist researching how young people navigate their social worlds, especially when they are divided. She is a Senior Lecturer (similar to associate professor) at the School of Psychology and Fellow of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Her research employs mixed-methods to holistically investigate when, and how, sociocultural contexts influence social cognition. She finds that variation in children’s cultural and historical context, exposure to diversity, family socialization, and perceptions of intergroup conflict, can all influence social cognition and behavior. She strives for diversity, equity and inclusion through education, research, and service. Her teaching unites students globally in psychology toward UN SDG of reducing inequalities. She leads on global research collaborations, such as the Developing Belief Network, researching children’s religious cognition and beliefs across 30 field sites with a team of over 40 researchers. She consults as a designated thought leader on Grand Challenges toward Human Flourishing (TWCF) and was an invited panelist at CDS pre-conferences ‘Working towards a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive cognitive developmental science’ (2022) and ‘Building a Global Research Collaborative’ (2024). Through global education, research, and service, she contributes leadership in debates about unique and universal processes in social cognitive development with an aim towards reducing inequalities and promoting peacebuilding. She will bring vast international experience to the CDS Board, promoting a more inclusive and diverse approach to understanding cognitive development, while upholding the rigor of the field.
Dana Miller-Cotto
Kent State University
Dana's Statement
Dana Miller-Cotto is an early career scholar, and currently assistant professor of psychological sciences at Kent State University. She is a first-generation college graduate raised in NYC by Jamaican immigrants. Consistent with CDS’s mission, she is committed to conducting research that can be done alongside practitioners. She is broadly interested in the role of cognitive processes that explain performance in math. Her work falls along two lines of inquiry: 1) testing theories of working memory in early math skills to improve instruction that supports working memory skills and 2) elucidating the measurement and development of executive function, a set of self-regulatory processes for which working memory is believed to fall under, for minoritized children in the U.S. Her work interrogating assumptions of executive function assessment for minoritized children has been recognized as a top downloaded article in Infant and Child Development. Previously, she was a researcher at the EF+Math Program helping to develop a funding source for researchers to build tools that could improve executive functions in the context of math. As a CDS board member, she has two goals: 1) to provide opportunities for trainees to learn how to either translate their skills to industries outside of academia or broaden their skills in a rapidly changing academic market and 2) to engage in conversations about increasing the diversity of our samples in cognitive development while working to create better partnerships with the communities we study (e.g., low socioeconomic status communities, bilingual, racial/ethnic minorities across contexts).
Serkan Ozel
Bogazici University
Serkan's Statement
Bridging the fields of psychology and education, my work as a mathematics education researcher with a background in educational psychology is driven by a commitment to understanding children’s intuitive mathematical thinking and aligning it with formal education. My research primarily focuses on the early development of key mathematical concepts in children.
During a two-year sabbatical at Vanderbilt University, I deepened my understanding of psychological learning theories, collaborating with Prof. Rittle-Johnson to integrate educational and psychological research. This work continued with my selection for the Global Scholars in Residence Program at Vanderbilt, enhancing my global perspective and research network.
In my laboratory, I conduct studies aimed at enhancing children’s learning experiences and exploring innovative teaching methods. Addressing systemic issues in education, I advocate for teacher preparation programs that equip educators to dismantle practices that perpetuate racism and oppression. My collaboration with NGOs in developing projects to combat social injustices in education is a testament to this commitment.
My professional reputation is rooted in my active involvement in cognitive development research and education. I contribute to the academic community through committee participation, peer review, and conference presentations. These activities underscore my dedication to cognitive development advancement.
I am deeply committed to fostering diversity in academia, recognizing the need for diverse perspectives in enriching cognitive development research. My efforts span across gender, race, ethnicity, and career stages. My career demonstrates a continuous effort to serve as a bridge between psychological research and educational practice, making significant contributions to both fields.
Caren Walker
University of California, San Diego
Caren's Statement
I am an Associate Professor in the developmental area of the Psychology Department at UC San Diego and PI of the Early Learning & Cognition Lab. I began this faculty position in 2015, immediately after completing my Ph.D. at UC Berkeley.
My research is in the area of cognitive development and addresses basic questions about knowledge acquisition and the mechanisms underlying learning. I approach this through the lens of scientific thinking—studying children’s reasoning about cause and effect under conditions of uncertainty. I am particularly interested in how young learners infer abstract, relational concepts that go beyond their direct observations. Most recently, I have been examining how features of the learning environment impose constraints on these inferences, impacting the emergence and trajectory of abstract reasoning. I take an interdisciplinary approach to development, and my work is influenced by computational theory, education, cultural psychology, and philosophy.
I have been an engaged member of the Cognitive Development Society since 2008, and served on the CDS board as a graduate student from 2011-2013. I would be grateful for the opportunity to give back to CDS by returning to the board to serve as a faculty member. I will prioritize listening to our community’s needs and working to ensure we continue to create a supportive space for our diverse student members and early career researchers.