Research Team

 

The CDL consists of a team of trained students earning course credit and/or pursuing their theses.

Faculty


Simone Nguyen, Ph.D.

Thank you for visiting our website! I'm the director of the CDL and a professor in Developmental Psychology at UNCW. I created the CDL in 2003 after receiving my Ph.D. and M.A. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and my B.A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. My general area of expertise is in the field of cognitive development with a special emphasis on conceptual development in childhood. In particular, my research focuses on categorization and inductive reasoning. Categorization is an important way in which we mentally represent and organize the world into meaningful units. Categories are ubiquitous in our lives; we form categories for a number of things such as people, food, animals, plants, etc. Once we identify the category membership of an item, we're able to access a rich body of knowledge that can be used to reason about that item and to make inductive inferences or generalizations about other items in the same category. For example, thinking of someone as a woman, a professor, a surfer, and so on, helps us to understand the complex behavior of a single person and provides insights regarding how to interact with this person and others in the same categories on different occasions. If you have any questions about this research, please do not hesitate to contact me at nguyens at uncw.edu.

Graduate Students


Tonya Conley, B.S.

I recently graduated from Clemson University with my Bachelors of Science in Psychology. I am now in my second year of graduate school at UNCW and am the lab coordinator for the CDL. I am extremely excited to begin my thesis and to conduct research that will be beneficial to others.

Undergraduate Students


Jenna Huff

I am a senior majoring in Psychology at UNCW. I am excited to have the opportunity to perform research in the CDL. It is my second year in the lab. I have always enjoyed working with children, inside and outside of the lab. Outside of the lab, I work with children through therapeutic horseback riding programs.

 

Nina Thigpen

I’m a sophomore at UNCW. I love working with kids to help them learn and grow as productive members of our society. I’ve worked as a preschool teacher and have interned with disabled children of all ages. Last year, I joined the UNCW Honor’s Program, and served as Vice President for a new club on campus. In my free time enjoy playing piano, flute and ukulele. I love being a psychology major, and I’m looking forward to a great year!

 

Alumni

  • Scott Ferris
  • Lani Girgis
  • Bethany Wentworth
  • Taylor Gwyn
  • Ashley Morton
  • Jamie Chaffman
  • Tess Young
  • Ashley Noble
  • Julie Robinson
  • Mary Beth McCullough
  • Noelle Dupont
  • Alyssa Fritz
  • Bethany Kratoska
  • Kristen Wilfong
  • Krista Williams
  • Kristina Callan
  • Paige Gambill
  • Heather Mosier
  • Heather Rath
  • Kristy Brooks
  • Mychelle Denney
  • Amy Gaither
  • Niki Moehring
  • Kevin Frederick
  • Liz Nitzkin
  • Kim Canfield