Emily Fyfe is the director of the LEAD Lab at Indiana University. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Her research is in cognitive development with a focus on the development of mathematics knowledge and problem solving. Her primary goal is to understand how children think and learn about math, both independently and with instructional guidance. For more information check out her CV or contact her directly at efyfe@indiana.edu.
Principal Investigator
Postdoctoral Fellows
Giulia Borriello is a postdoctoral research associate in the LEAD Lab. She is interested in understanding individual differences in cognitive abilities and factors that contribute to their development, including effects of early life experiences and child and family characteristics. Giulia is particularly focused on investigating how transactions between heritable and environmental factors influence mathematics knowledge and spatial skills.
Amanda Grenell is a postdoctoral fellow in the LEAD lab. Her research focuses on the relation between individual differences in cognitive skills, such as executive function, and science and math learning in early childhood. She is particularly interested in determining how cognition may influence the effectiveness of specific instructional approaches and materials to optimize learning.
Graduate Students
Megan Merrick is a first-year graduate student. She graduated cum laude from UC Berkely in 2018, where she primarily explored the intersection of developmental science and education. Before graduate school, she spent two years as a development psychology research coordinator at Stanford University. She is fascinated by how featured of a learning environment affect educational outcomes, with a primary focus on how differing sources of feedback affect performance and motivation in mathematics.
Tongyao Zhang is a 1st year graduate student in LEAD lab. She graduated from Beijing Normal University in 2020 with a B.S. in Psychology. Tongyao is interested in children's learning process of mathematics and scientific knowledge (e.g., patterning skills), and how different factors collaborate in relevant educational processes.
Lab Manager
Collin Byers is the LEAD Lab manager. He graduated from Indiana University in 2019 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Educational Studies. He has a particular interest in cognitive, educational, and social psychology.
Contact: coabyers@iu.edu
Research Assistants
Alex Bondi is a junior majoring in human biology with a psychology minor. She is interested in childhood development and how life experiences mold personalities.
Ellie Hine is a junior majoring psychology and minoring in biology. She is also pursuing a certificate in clinical psychology. She is interested in learning about empirically supported treatments and the research on why they work. Ellie wants to attend grad school to perform these treatments and help people of all ages struggling with mental health.
Elsie Gasaway is a senior majoring in psychology. She is interested in childhood mental illness and eliminating the stigma that surrounds it.
Joules Emerson is an undergraduate junior studying developmental psychology. They're interested in childhood psychology and neurodivergency.
Kendall Vance is a junior double majoring in Neuroscience and Psychology. She is interested in working with children and plans on attending medical school.
Olivia Weed is a senior double majoring in psychology and criminal justice. She is interested in working with juveniles in the criminal justice system who have mental illnesses.
Wenwen Du is a senior majoring in criminal justice and psychology. She’s interested in clinical psychology as it relates to drug use.
Lab Alumni
Former Graduate Students
Lindsey Nelson is currently a Montessori guide in an elementary classroom at the Montessori Discovery School in Norwich, CT. She expects to earn her Montessori teaching diploma from the Montessori Training Center Northeast in August 2021. Lindsey has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Development from Connecticut College and a Master of Arts degree in Developmental Psychology from Indiana University. During her tenure in the LEAD Lab, Lindsey enjoyed studying elementary-aged children's metacognitive abilities related to their mathematics knowledge.
Former Post-Baccalaureates
Nicholas Vest graduated from Indiana University in 2016 with a B.S. in Psychology and a certificate in Neuroscience. Following his undergraduate studies, Nicholas pursued his research interests as the lab manager of the Learning, Education, and Development Lab at Indiana University. He is now a second-year graduate student in the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Advisor: Martha Alibali). His research investigates numerical cognition with a focus on the development of abstract mathematical concepts. He seeks to understand how these concepts form through examining gesture, action, and language. Currently, Nicholas is studying whether number lines help children think about zero as the point between positive and negative integers. Outside of research, Nick enjoys creating new playlists on Spotify and walking his dog along Lake Mendota in Madison, WI.
Former Research Assistants
Sabrina Ali (2021)
Summer Smith (2021)
Christian Hickman (2020 – 2021)
Bailey Gardner (2020 – 2021)
Kyler Moore (2020 – 2020)
Nathalie Plum (2019 – 2020)
Tori Vance (2019 – 2020)
Zoe Fifer (2019 – 2020)
Elizabeth Terry (2019 – 2020)
Audrey Fried (2019)
Greg Bond (2019)
Rose Salisbury (2019)
Elise Berclaz (2019)
Taylor Guba (2018 – 2021)
Alexandria Hartburg (2018 – 2019)
Kimberly Torpoco (2018)
Shelby Tow (2018 – 2019)
Alyssa Unger (2017 – 2017)
Alicia Macchione (2017 – 2019)
Bret Schreckenghaust (2017 –2018)
Amanda Nafe (2017 – 2018)
Mariah Kelly (2017 – 2017)
Mara Flynn (2017 – 2019)
Prabhjot Chahal (2017-2018)