People

Principal Investigator

Adriana Umaña-Taylor

Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot Professor of Education

Dr. Adriana Umaña-Taylor is Professor of Education in the Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. Her research, guided by developmental and socio-cultural ecological frameworks, focuses on understanding how individual and contextual...

Current Lab Members

Priscilla Beltran

Priscilla Beltran (she/her/hers) is a recent graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she earned her Ed.M. in Education Policy & Analysis. Before her time at HGSE, she received her B.S. in Political Communication from Emerson College...

Mamfatou Baldeh

Mamfatou Baldeh is a doctoral student in the Human Development, Learning, and Teaching concentration at Harvard's Graduate School of Education (HGSE). Her interests include intersectional identity development (e.g., gender, religion, socioeconomic status)...

Keshav Bhatt

Keshav recently completed his Master's in Human Development at Harvard with distinction, receiving the prestigious "Intellectual Contribution Award". Prior to this return to academia, he has a rich 12-year background in advancing psychological well-being...

Sophie Hölscher

Dr. Sophie Hölscher is a visiting research scholar from Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. She holds a Ph.D. in Psychology, with their doctoral research focusing on the role of autonomy and belonging in the school context for adolescents’...

Jamie Johannsen

Jamie Johannsen is Ed.M. graduate of the Learning & Teaching program at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. She is interested in how teachers talk to students about race, ethnicity, and class inequality, and how learning about these issues can inspire...

Natalie King-Shaw

Natalie King-Shaw (she/her/ella) is a Ph.D. student at Harvard in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology (SHBT) and a Doctoral Research Fellow in the Speech and Language (SAiL) Literacy Lab at the MGH Institute for Health Professions. Natalie aims...

Melina Melgoza

Melina Melgoza (she/her/ella) was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, and is a current PhD student and teaching fellow for multiple courses at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Prior to starting the doctoral program, she received her B.A...

Ishani Parekh

Ishani is an Ed.M. graduate from the Education Policy & Analysis program at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Prior to her studies at Harvard, Ishani was a high-school English teacher which grounded her commitment to addressing educational...

Natalie Sarmiento

Natalie Sarmiento is a Ph.D. student and presidential scholar fellowship recipient at the Harvard Graduate School of Education with a concentration in Human Development, Learning, and Teaching. Natalie received their B.A. from Stanford University where...

Megan Satterthwaite-Freiman

Megan Satterthwaite-Freiman is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her research interest include processes and factors that contribute to ethnic-racial identity development (e.g., ethnic-racial socialization, curriculum...

Ariel Tan

Doctoral Student

Guicheng “Ariel” Tan is a Ph.D. student and presidential scholar at Harvard Graduate School of Education. As a researcher, Ariel is interested in the role of cultural integration in people’s social and cognitive development. Her previous work includes...

Helen Zhu

Helen received her master's degree in Human Development and Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2024. She is interested in exploring intersectionality and identity development among Asian international students and how mediums such...