Lab Directors

Dr. Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek

Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek is the Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Faculty Fellow in the Department of Psychology at Temple University where she serves as co-director of the Temple Infant and Child Lab. She is the recipient of the APA’s Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contribution to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society, the APA’s Award for Distinguished Service to Psychological Science, the APS James McKeen Cattell Award for a lifetime of outstanding contributions to applied psychological research and the APA Distinguished Lecturer Award as well as the Temple University Great Teacher and the University Eberman Research Award. Kathy received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research in the areas of early language development and infant cognition has been funded by the NSF, the NICHD, and the IES resulting in 12 books and over 200 publications. She is a Fellow of the APA and the APS and served as the Associate Editor of Child Development. She is also the President Elect of the International Association for Infant Studies. Her book, Einstein Never used Flashcards: How children really learn and why they need to play more and memorize less, (Rodale Books) won the prestigious Books for Better Life Award as the best psychology book in 2003.

Kathy has a strong interest in bridging the gap between research and application. To that end, she served as an investigator on the NICHD Study of Early Child Care, is on the Advisory Board of the Fred Rogers Center, Jumpstart and Disney Junior and is an invited blogger for the Huffington Post. She worked on the language and literacy team for the development of the California Preschool Curriculum, was one of the organizers of the Ultimate Block Party and developers of the Learning Resource Network. Kathy has been a spokesperson on early development for national magazines and newspapers (The NY Times, People, US News & World Report, Newsweek, Parent’s Magazine, Parenting etc.) radio and television (The View, The Today Show. Good Morning America, 20/20, NPR, ABC News, CBS Morning Show, CNN), and has been an advisor for Sesame Workshop, Fisher Price Toys, Highlights, K’NEX, The Cartoon Network, and a host of Children’s Museums across North America.

khirshpa@temple.edu
http://kathyhirshpasek.com

Dr. Nora Newcombe

Nora S. Newcombe is Laura H. Carnell Professor of Psychology and James H. Glackin Distinguished Faculty Fellow at Temple University. She received her Ph.D in 1976 from Harvard University, where she worked with Jerome Kagan. Her research focuses on spatial cognition and development, as well as the development of autobiographical and episodic memory. More recently, she has added an emphasis on understanding the nature, development and malleability of spatial skills that facilitate learning of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). She is currently Principal Investigator of the NSF-funded Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center (SILC) and co-directs both the Temple Infant and Child Laboratory (TICL) on Temple’s Ambler Campus and the Research in Spatial Cognition (RISC) Lab on Temple’s Main Campus.

Nora is the author of numerous chapters, articles, and books, including Making Space, which she co-authored with Janellen Huttenlocher (published by the MIT Press, 2000). Her work has been recognized by numerous awards, including the William James Award for Lifetime Achievement in Basic Research from APS (2014), the George A. Miller Award for an Outstanding Recent Article in General Psychology (awarded twice, in 2004 and 2014), the APA’s G. Stanley Hall Award for Distinguished Contribution to Developmental Psychology (2007), the APA’s Award for Distinguished Service to Psychological Science (2006), the Women in Cognitive Science Mentorship Award (2006), and the Temple University Paula W. Eberman Faculty Research Award (2004). She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2006) and to the Society of Experimental Psychologists (2008). She has served as Editor of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General and Associate Editor of Psychological Bulletin, as well as on many grant panels and advisory boards. She served on the Board of Scientific Affairs of the American Psychological Association (Chair, 2011).

Nora has also worked to bring her research into the public sphere. For example, she has published a number of popular press articles, including two for the American Educator, a publication read by roughly one million teachers across the United States. In popular media, she was recently featured on the CBC documentary Where Am I?, and has spoken about her work on NPR’s The Pulse.

newcombe@temple.edu
http://sites.temple.edu/newcombe/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nora_Newcombe