OUR RESEARCH TEAM
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Lab Director
Lab Director
Dr. Geetha Ramani
Dr. Geetha Ramani
Lab Director | gramani@umd.edu
Dr. Ramani is a Professor in the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology. Before coming to University of Maryland in 2008, Dr. Ramani received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh and worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Ramani teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in cognitive development. Her research centers around social influences on cognitive development, namely mathematics and problem solving.
To read select publications please visit Geetha's Research Gate.
Stay up to date with Geetha on Twitter.
Graduate Students
Graduate Students
Sivan Lurie
Sivan Lurie
Sivan is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology and a NSF Graduate Research Fellow. She earned her BPhil in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh. Sivan is interested in understanding how caregivers’ beliefs and behavior shape children's early math experiences.
Maylee Montagut Ascanio
Maylee Montagut Ascanio
Maylee is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology. She earned her B.A. in Psychology at Universidad de Los Andes in Bogota, Colombia. For her post-bacc years, Maylee worked as a researcher in the education field, developing and applying tools to measure the quality of early childhood classrooms and caregiver-child interactions in public daycares and schools in Colombia. She is interested in analyzing the role of gesture-use in parents and children's math communication, and how this interacts with children's working memory.
Lab Manager
Lab Manager
Katie Nguyen
Katie Nguyen
Lab Manager
katien01@umd.edu
Katie has worked in the ECI Lab since June 2025. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience with a minor in Asian American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in May 2023. She is primarily interested in how bilingual children’s narrative skills develop and how this potentially contributes to their ethnic identities. She plans to pursue a PhD in developmental psychology.
Lab Alumni
Lab Alumni
Ninie Asad
Ninie Asad
Ninie worked as the lab manager in the ECI Lab until 2025. She is currently in graduate school pursuing a Ph.D. in Human Development and Quantitative Methodology at University of Maryland, College Park under the mentorship of Dr. Jimena Cosso
Dr. Gillian Grose
Dr. Gillian Grose
Gillian earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and Quantitative Methodology in 2025. She will be a Post-doc Researcher at the Brazelton Touchpoints Center at Boston Children's Hospital.
Dr. Raychel Barkin
Dr. Raychel Barkin
Raychel earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and Quantitative Methodology in 2023. She is currently a research psychologist at the Selection and Assignment Research Unit (SARU) of the U.S. Army Research Institute.
Sydney Telaak
Sydney Telaak
Sydney worked as lab coordinator in the ECI lab until 2023. She is currently in graduate school pursuing a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Temple University.
Ateret Frank Brauner
Ateret Frank Brauner
Ateret worked as lab coordinator in the ECI lab until 2022. She is currently in graduate school pursuing a Psy.D. in School-Clinical Child Psychology at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University.
Dr. Mary DePascale
Dr. Mary DePascale
Mary earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and Quantitative Methodology in 2022. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Albany.
Fatou Gaye
Fatou Gaye
Fatou worked as lab coordinator in the ECI lab until 2020. She is currently in graduate school pursuing a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Florida State University.
Dr. Nicole Scalise
Dr. Nicole Scalise
Nicole earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and Quantitative Methodology in 2019 then completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. Nicole is currently an Assistant Professor at Washington State University in the Department of Human Development.
Dr. Nadia Tavassolie
Dr. Nadia Tavassolie
Nadia worked as lab coordinator in the ECI lab until 2019. In 2024, Dr. Tavassolie earned her PhD in Psychology at Temple University where she worked on developing products and designing interventions aimed at improving young children's math and spatial skills.
Dr. Emily Daubert
Dr. Emily Daubert
Emily earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and Quantitative Methodology in 2018, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Rutgers University-Newark. She is currently an instructor at Saddleback College.
Dr. Alaina Wodzinski
Dr. Alaina Wodzinski
Alaina worked as lab coordinator in the ECI lab until 2018. She obtained a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Montclair State University in 2023
Dr. Erica Zippert
Dr. Erica Zippert
Erica earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and Quantitative Methodology in 2016. She is currently an Education Researcher, Consultant, and Trainer
Dr. Sarah Eason
Dr. Sarah Eason
Sarah earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and Quantitative Methodology in 2015, then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Human Development and Family Studies Department at Purdue University.
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