Education and Career Overview

David earned his BA in Psychology from San Diego State University, where he supported his studies working in public elementary classrooms. He went on to earn his MA and Ph.D. in Life Span Developmental Psychology from West Virginia University, where he continued his work in Pre-K-12 settings in addition to his scholarly work and teaching duties. He was involved in research on conceptual development in very early childhood, attachment, cognitive aging as well as other areas.

David began his formal academic career at Lower Brule Community College, a tribal college serving the Lower Brule and Fort Thompson communities, where he contributed to its early development. He became LBCC's first chair of the Human Services Department, further developing the college's systems and curricula while teaching a variety of courses.

He then moved to the University of Maine at Farmington, a university serving primarily first-generation students. His teaching and focus on student development earned rapid recognition, including multiple consecutive teaching awards and a nomination for Carnegie Professor of the Year. He also founded the Society for Research in Child Development's Teaching Institute.

His research activities included coordinating the collection of neuropsychological data in Maine for the Children's Amalgam Trials, the first large RCT evaluating the potential effects of amalgam fillings on intellectual development. His growing work on ecological perspectives on pedagogy led to an invitation to serve as Visiting Scholar with Kurt Fischer in the Mind, Brain and Education program at Harvard's Graduate School of Education. Together, they co-founded both the International Mind, Brain and Education Society and the award-winning journal Mind, Brain and Education, where David served as inaugural managing editor for over a decade. He served as chair of the psychology department and was ultimately named Trustee Professor of the University of Maine System in recognition of his scholarship and impact.

At James Madison University, David continued his commitment to both scholarship and teaching excellence. A strong proponent of liberal education, he served on the leadership team for JMU's General Education program and created a resource room where students could learn how to learn better. His contributions to psychology earned him Fellow status with the Association for Psychological Science and he received recognition for his teaching multiple times by the American Psychological Association. He also received the Transforming Education through Neuroscience Award and was selected by The Princeton Review for The Best 300 Professors in the United States. Ironically (see picture on home page), RateMyProfessor ranked him as the Hottest Professor for three consecutive years, a distinction he retired from "because there are other slightly less attractive people in the world who deserve the recognition more."

Throughout his time at JMU, David's scholarship continued addressing core issues bridging research and practice in education. His work was recognized by organizations such as UNESCO's International Bureau of Education and brought him to international policymaking contexts, where he helped improve education across diverse settings. He was named a Madison Research Fellow at JMU and served as a Visiting Scholar at the University of California, San Diego's Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center. Across more than 200 invited talks and workshops, his efforts helped build infrastructure and foster dialogue across disciplines to benefit both science and educational practice.

David retired with the title of Professor Emeritus at James Madison University.