Dr. Van Reet is an assistant professor of psychology at Providence College, specializing in how our minds develop throughout childhood and into adulthood. She started Kid Think in the fall of 2008 to give her studies a home at PC and to give students interested in learning more about development a place to train. Growing up, she read every Nancy Drew book she could get her hands on. These days, if she was a children's character, she would be Owl from Winnie-the-Pooh.
Cristina Taylor, 14. Cristina is a junior and psychology major with a double minor in Spanish and Public and Community Service. She also joined Kid Think in the summer of 2012. Her favorite color is blue, and growing up she liked to play “house”. Her favorite characters were The Sneetches from Dr. Seuss’s children’s books.
Research Assistants
Gabriella Galaezzi '15. Gabriella is a psychology major and a member of the Neuroscience Certificate program. She joined Kid Think in spring of 2013.
Kathryn Graf '14. Kathryn is a psychology major and joined Kid Think in the spring of 2103.
Kelsey Hardiman, '13. Kelsey is a senior and a biology major. She joined Kid Think in the fall of 2012. Kelsey is interested in child development and hopes to pursue a career in pediatric medicine. Growing up, she loved gymnastics, Barbies, and Winnie the Pooh. Also, her favorite color is purple.
Katie McNulty, '14. Katie is a former biology major who recently discovered psychology and joined the lab in the summer of 2012. Her favorite color is green. Growing up she loved her Raggedy Ann doll. Her favorite childhood character was Tweety Bird.
Caitlin Penchoff, '14. Caitlin is a junior and a psychology major. She joined Kid Think in the fall of 2012. Her favorite color is blue. Growing up, she loved to play with her American Girl Dolls, and Snow White was her favorite Disney Princess.
And, meet our Friends!
Kid Think Alumni
Katie Boguszewski '11. Katie managed Kid Think during the 2010-2011 academic year. Dr. Van Reet and Katie were co-authors on a poster presentation at the fall 2011 meeting of the Cognitive Development Society concerning the relationship between temperament and pretending in young preschoolers.
Amanda Colletti '09. After several years working as a research assistant in Providence, Amanda is now earning her MS in Marriage and Family Therapy at URI.
Sarah Conway '09. Sarah's senior thesis on children's drawing and attention abilities was presented at a conference the year after she graduated.
Vanessa Fiasconaro '12. Vanessa is continuing her elementary/special education studies by working on a Master's Degree in Education at Hunter College.
Laura Filloramo '10. Laura is currently working on her MA in Marriage and Family Therapy at St. Joseph's College in Connecticut.
Alex Male, '14. Alex is a junior and a Psychology and Health Policy Management double major.
Colleen McInnis '12. Colleen joined Kid Think in the Spring of 2010. After serving as a research assistant and then Lab Manager, she completed her own independent project to examine potential differences between pretending and fantasy. She is now working in on the Mass Math + Science Initiative.
Beth Moriarty '12. Beth managed Kid Think during the Spring of 2012. She is now earning her Master's Degree in School Psychology at Tufts University.
Kelly Sheehan '11. Kelly is continuing her studies of child development! She is earning her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at Northwestern University, working primarily in David Uttal's lab.
Arielle Wezdenko '13. Arielle is a senior psychology major. Arielle joined the Kid Think lab after spending summer of 2011 at the Yale University Infant Lab. After completing her own project investigating the relationship between inhibitory control and prosocial behavior, she hopes to pursue School Psychology in graduate school next year.
Collaborators
Ashley Pinkham, Ph.D.
Ashley is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Michigan. She and Dr. Van Reet are finishing up a project about how 10-year-olds decide whether novel information is credible or not. As a child, she had an imaginary companion named Solo. If Ashley was a children's character, she would be: Eeyore.