Developmentalists are people that ask questions
about the change in humans and the specificity
and individual differences in humans.
I love my work for a couple of reasons.
I get to learn.
I'm curious.
I get to understand what are the optimal environments
for kids.
I get to, maybe, come up with a different
narrative about low-income families: one that
is not deficit-oriented, one that emphasizes the
strengths as well as challenges, but puts it
in a bigger perspective.
I get to talk to amazing families who tell
me their stories.
I get to work with amazing students, amazing
colleagues, and there's a joy in coming up
with a study or a finding that you think might
help the conditions of children in the U.S.
I love working with undergraduate and graduate
students, and really seeing them get involved,
and watching where they go.
Teaching students, both about the research,
but also about giving back to the community
and service are really enjoyable.
Development is a fascinating field that has
relevance to everything about society.
So it's not only the science, but it's how
that science can be applied in a classroom.
How can that science be applied in a pediatric
setting?
How can that science be applied for policies?
We've become more interdisciplinary.
It's not just psychology, which was the forerunner,
but also sociology, anthropology, medicine,
public health.
Lots of fields have come into play, and we
spend a lot more time trying to, not only
develop our methods and our measures, but
also our interpretations of those data based
on that kind of worldview perspective.
So all of this work is about how do we create
a society that is better for all of us?
And so, it's a beautiful way of bringing science
and taking away our biases and our preconceptions,
and it keeps you looking and learning, all
the time.
