Pinar Aldan earned her B.A. and M.A. in Psychology from Boğaziçi University in Turkey and her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Yale University. She joined the CADLab in the summer of 2025. Her research looks at how people understand social and economic inequalities, and what shapes their willingness to rethink long-held beliefs. Right now, she’s studying: (1) how people of different ages pay attention to and learn from examples that either support or challenge stereotypes, (2) how parents talk to their kids about everyday inequality, and (3) how people make sense of unequal pay in the workplace.

Outside the lab, Pinar loves to travel, knit, cook, and watch indie horror movies.

If you would like to learn more about Pinar, visit her website here.

Dr. Jordan Legaspi, is a recent graduate of the Cognition Across Development Lab, based at UMass Amherst. He is interested in the global development of cognitive heuristics and social bias, with special consideration to how essentialism and stereotyping affect intra- and inter- personal relations.

Dr. Yuchen Tian (she/her/hers) is a recent graduate of the CAD lab, based at Boston University. She studies how adults and children think about leadership, social status, and socioeconomic inequalities. In asking these questions, Yuchen pays particular attention to how culture (e.g., macro-level: U.S. vs. China; micro-level: contact to certain social groups) shapes differences in people’s social thinking. In her dissertation, Yuchen is investigating the development of 4- to 12-year-old children’s beliefs about social mobility across different social groups and in a cross-cultural context.

Before joining the CAD lab, Yuchen received her Master's degree in Developmental Psychology from Cornell University. You can learn more about Yuchen by clicking here.

Sophia is a PhD student in the CAD Lab, based at Boston University. Before joining the lab she received her BA in Psychology from NYU and worked as a lab manager. She’s interested in children’s awareness of disparities and how they reason about observed differences. She hopes her work will develop strategies to better support children with marginalized identities and help them navigate the inequities they face.

Ashleigh is a rising senior at Boston University, majoring in psychology and minoring in deaf studies. Her time as a mentor and ABA behavioral therapist fostered her love for working with children and plans to pursue a graduate degree in developmental neuropsychology. She hopes to become a neuropsychologist and conduct research on ASD, specifically in children. She is so excited to be working with the CAD Lab and learning more about children’s perspectives of our world!

Sam is a recent graduate of Boston University, where he blends his love for language, literature, and science by majoring in Japanese Language & Literature and minoring in Chemistry. On a pre-medical track, he’s driven by a passion for research and knowledge, with plans to go to medical school. Sam is especially fascinated by how children from diverse backgrounds perceive and navigate the world, and he's eager to explore these insights further in the CAD Lab.

Katerina is a recent graduate of Boston University, who majored in Psychology with a minor in Spanish. She has previously volunteered providing free tutoring to children, which sparked her interest in working with kids. Katerina plans to pursue a career in speech pathology, focusing on supporting children’s communication development. She is excited to be part of the CAD Lab, where she hopes to learn more about children’s perspectives on the world around them and how these experiences shape their development.

Lara is an incoming third-year psychology student at Boston University with a minor in business. She is interested in child development and behavior, particularly how early experiences shape individuals later in life. Her love for working with children and animals has strengthened her curiosity about behavior across different environments. She is excited to join the CAD Lab and hopes the experience will help her learn more about research while exploring whether it is a path she may want to pursue in the future.

Kaitlin is a rising senior at Boston University,majoring in Psychology and minoring in Biology. With her passion for working with children and exploring brain-behavior relationships, she plans to pursue a graduate degree in neuropsychology. She is very excited to work with the CAD Lab to explore how children perceive themselves and others within their social world!

Ema is a U3 student at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She is majoring in Psychology through the Behavioral Science track and minoring in Science for Arts Students. She is interested in studying the child-parent relationship through the lens of developmental psychology and psychopathology. Ema is studying to attend graduate school in psychology to pursue a research career. She is excited to work in the CAD lab, meet all her teammates, and learn more about what it means to be a researcher in a developmental psychology lab!

Julia is a rising third-year university student at Boston University studying Neuroscience and Philosophy with minors in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Deaf Studies. She is fascinated by understanding how social environments shape children’s development and how interventions can be used to promote equity. In the future, she hopes to pursue a career in research. At the CADLab, she is excited to gain lab experience and learn more about developmental effects on cognition!

Emi is a rising junior at Mount Holyoke College majoring in Psychology and minoring in Japanese. She is interested in how different factors can influence the way a child develops, perceives the world, and interacts with others. In the future, she hopes to receive a PhD and pursue a career in child psychology. She is excited to learn more about child development and research this summer in the CAD Lab!

Candice is an incoming second-year psychology student from Emory University, specifically interested in the intersection of child development, public policy, and visual arts. She hopes to better understand how a child’s upbringing across diverse social and demographic contexts shapes their development and worldview. Candice’s love for working with children grew from years of leading pre-ballet and jazz classes at local dance studios, and she looks forward to bringing her passion to the CAD Lab.

Grace is a rising sophomore at BostonUniversity majoring in Psychology and minoring in Anthropology. She is from Chengdu, China (the best city!). Driven by her passion for improving children's wellbeing and experiences, she is interested to learn about how children from different backgrounds perceive the world around them. In the future, she hopes to pursue a PhD in Clinical or Counseling Psychology with a focus on child and adolescent mental health.

Nathalya Pena is a rising senior at Boston University. She is majoring in Biology with a Psychology minor on the Pre-med track. She is interested in being a pediatrician in the future so learning more about children is important for her. She hopes in the CAD lab she will be able to learn more about child development and research as a whole.

Anya is a rising sophomore at Boston University majoring in Psychology on the pre-health track. She is interested in understanding how people develop emotionally and socially, especially during childhood. Anya volunteers with preschool-aged children, and she loves working with kids because of how genuine, curious, and expressive they are. She is excited to learn more about how children think about the world through her work in the lab. In the future, Anya hopes to attend medical school and become a psychiatrist, where she can combine research and clinical work to support young people’s mental health.

Penelope is an incoming senior psychology and art history student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was originally interested in neuroscience, specifically perception and seizures, studying closely under a Pediatric Neurologist, and eventually grew more interested in the social and cultural aspects of perception rather than purely anatomical. This summer at the CAD lab she hopes to better understand research methods within developmental psychology and learn about the formation of world views in children!