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What We Do

The growth of a person from a tiny clump of cells involves changes at many levels of description. Development comprises biological growth, the organizing of neurons within the brain, the increasing complexity of mental representation, the emergence and assembly of novel behaviors, and the important role played by social and cultural goals and contexts. Developmental science seeks to understand this process at all of these levels. Our central focus is on the core mechanisms that underlie this change. What physical, biological, psychological and social processes are responsible for the dramatic changes we call development? This emphasis on developmental process unifies our research whether we are exploring the physiological processes that promote change during prenatal development, examining changes in basic perception, attention, and language abilities, or pushing the boundaries of developmental theory using mathematical models.

 

 

 
Prospective Graduate Students
PhD Program
In addition to the formal Ph.D. curriculum, our students take advantage of an exciting, active developmental community at the University of Iowa. Our PhD program is unparalleled in the quality of its training. In particular we offer:

Size and breadth: With nine top researchers in developmental science (and other affiliated faculty throughout the department and the university), the University of Iowa Developmental Science program is unique in its size. Our research interests cover perception, cognition, language, biology, and social behavior, and we study development from infancy to late childhood and in animal models giving us broad coverage of development. Finally, our faculty represents a range of theoretical viewpoints: dynamical systems approaches, connectionism, ecological views, developmental systems theory and applied psychology are well represented.

Unique course work: Our innovative seminar organizes developmental science by core-mechanism (learning, endogenous activity, caregiver-mediated-learning) rather than by domain to stress core mechanisms across neurological, physical, social, perceptual and cognitive development. In addition our students are encouraged to explore interdisciplinary courses in other departments and areas.

Proven success: Our graduates have a track record of success. Each year our students present at many national conferences each year and author a number of first-authored papers. This success translates into first-rate post-doctoral training opportunities and tenure-track jobs at excellent universities including the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Sussex University in the UK, the University of Alabama, and Loyola
University-Chicago.

An active research community: Researchers in the Developmental Science area have a proven track record of success, garnering $2.2 million in grant funding this year alone, and over 200 publications since 2000. In addition, all faculty in the area are core faculty in the Iowa Center for Developmental and Learning Sciences (ICDLS), an interdisciplinary research center that brings together diverse faculty from the University of Iowa community to study the processes that underlie developmental change in both typical and atypical populations.

Resources: Our students have access to the latest methodological innovations including advanced developmental psychobiology techniques, a variety of infant looking and listening procedures, automated eye-tracking technologies for adults and infants, virtual reality simulations, innovative methods for recording and analyzing real time behavior, and cutting edge computational techniques.

Apply Now

If you are thinking about applying to our Ph.D. program in Developmental Science and want to learn more about the program and the affiliated faculty, please contact our training area coordinator, Larissa Samuelson at:

E-Mail:
Office Phone:
319.335.2211
Postal Mail:
Dept. of Psychology
E11 Seashore Hall
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242

 

Developmental Science Faculty

Mark Blumberg
Developmental psychobiology, especially concerning sleep, thermoregulation, and cardiovascular regulation; ultrasonic "distress"; vocalizations of infant rodents.

Susan Wagner Cook
Gesture, Mental Representation, Cognitive Development, Embodied Cognition, Language Production and Comprehension, Working Memory.

John Freeman
Developmental psychobiology of learning.

Julie Gros - Louis
Development of Prelinguistic communicative behaviors. Social influences on the development of prelinguistic communication Function of prelinguistic vocalizations in social interactions.

Bob McMurray
Development of speech perception and word recognition, perceptual categorization, eye-movement methods, speech and language disorders connectionist and statistical models of perception.

Mike O'Hara
Psychological aspects of women's reproductive health, risk factors and treatment interventions for postpartum depression.

Jodie Plumert
Development of spatial memory and communication; perceptual/motor skills; risk factors for childhood injuries.

Scott R Robinson
Developmental psychobiology; behavior, sensation and learning in the fetus; neural and biomechanical control; development and evolution of action.

Larissa K Samuelson
Language acquisition; Word learning, category formation, dynamic systems theory, neural field and connectionist models of development.

John P Spencer
Development of working memory, attention and inhibitory control; spatial cognition; spatial language; dynamical systems and neural network models of cognition and action.

Affiliated Faculty

James Cremer Computer Science

Warren Darling Integrative Physiology

Joseph Kearney Computer Science

John Knutson Psychology Clinical Area

John Lee Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

Karla McGregor Communication Sciences & Disorders

Amanda Owen Communication Sciences & Disorders

Geb Thomas Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

J. Bruce Tomblin Communication Sciences & Disorders

Patricia Zebrowski Communication Sciences & Disorders

 

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