Dr. Caren Walker, Principal Investigator

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REsearch Interests

My research addresses basic questions about children’s acquisition of abstract knowledge and the mechanisms underlying learning and inference. My focus is on the emergence of scientific thinking—I study children’s reasoning about the causal world in light of uncertainty. I am particularly interested in how features of the learning context can facilitate (or suppress) children’s recognition of abstract structure. My work is interdisciplinary, combining perspectives in psychology, philosophy, education, and computational theory.

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

Assistant Professor of Psychology, UC San Diego, 2015 to present
Affiliated Faculty in Human Developmental Sciences Program, UC San Diego, 2015 to present
Affiliated Faculty in Mathematics & Science Education Program, UC San Diego/San Diego State, 2018 to present
Affiliated Faculty in Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Cognitive Science, UC San Diego, 2021 to present

eDUCATION

Ph.D. in Psychology, UC Berkeley, 2015
M.A. in Psychology, Boston College, 2010
M.A. in the Social Sciences (History & Philosophy of Science), University of Chicago, 2007
B.A. in Psychology & B.A. in Philosophy, Boston University, 2003

PUBLICATIONS

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fellowships and awards

NSF CAREER award, 2021-2026
Jacob Foundations Research Fellowship, 2021-2023
Chancellor’s Interdisciplinary Collaboratories Fellowship, 2021-2022
Hellman Fellowship, 2018-2019
Outstanding Professor Award (UCSD Panhellenic Society), 2018
Faculty Career Development Award, 2018-2019
Association for Psychological Science Rising Star, 2017
Frontiers of Innovation Scholars Program, 2016-2017
Office for Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Sponsorship, 2016
Elizabeth Munsterberg Koppitz Child Psychology Graduate Student Fellowship, 2014-2015
National Living Laboratory Research Stipend, 2014-2015
Varieties of Understanding Graduate Fellowship, Templeton Foundation, 2013-2014
Outstanding Undergraduate Mentoring Award, University of California, Berkeley, 2013
Society for Philosophy & Psychology Poster Prize, 2013
Lisa M. Capps Graduate Fellowship, 2012
McDonnell Foundation Causal Learning Initiative Graduate Student Researcher, 2010-2011