Current Members
Dr. Hilary Miller-Goldwater
Hilary Miller-Goldwater is the Principal Investigator of the Learning and Cognition Lab. She started as an Assistant Professor in Psychology at Lawrence in Fall 2024. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 2018 and was a postdoctoral Fellow at Emory University before joining the faculty at Lawrence. She is a cognitive developmental psychologist who specializes in studying STEM learning throughout development.
Kylie Kutschera
Kylie Kutschera is the lab manager and is a junior psychology major on the pre-medicine track. She aspires to go into a career in pediatrics and has experience working with neurotypical children, as well as with kids with Autism. Her main goal is to make a difference in the lives of others in any way that she can. She is excited to research children’s learning and cognition processes, as part of the initial step in making these processes and teaching regarding them more effective.
Emmett Bowman-Grubbs
Emmett Bowman-Grubbs is a senior at Lawrence University majoring in Psychology and Political Science. Within the field of Psychology, he is most drawn to working with children, specifically those with neurodevelopmental disorders. At this point, he is deciding whether or not he wants to go to graduate school for Psychology or pursue a JD and attempt to help people as a lawyer.
Giang Pham
Giang Pham is a junior at Lawrence University majoring in Psychology with a focus on Cognitive Science and Data Science. As an international student from Vietnam, she is interested in the intersection between Cognitive Science and Organizational Psychology, leveraging behavioral science and cognitive science to understand more about the cognitive process of how people make social judgments and decisions. She is also deeply passionate about leveraging data and artificial intelligence to better understand individuals’ minds and offer a personalized approach.
Maddie Santiago
Maddie Santiago is a senior at Lawrence University. She is currently majoring in Psychology with a minor in Health and Society. Her interests include researching the connection between mental health and the legal system, and her future plans involve earning a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with a forensic emphasis. She hopes to learn more about how cognitive processes change across child development and gain greater psychological experiences of working with youth.
Alison Nguyen
Alison Nguyen is currently a sophomore at Lawrence University. She intends to major in Psychology and minor in German. Her passion lies in exploring the complexities of anxiety disorders, aiming to contribute to research that can improve diagnosis, treatment, and support for those affected by these conditions. She is also fascinated by cognitive psychology, particularly in understanding how cognitive processes such as memory, perception, and decision-making influence behavior. She is eager to delve into research that examines these cognitive functions and their implications for mental health and everyday life.
Alumni
Sophia Schultz
Sophia Schultz was the lab manager for the Learning and Cognition Lab in the 2024-2025 school year. She graduated from Lawrence University in Spring 2025, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Neuroscience. She has previously held research roles in the Developmental Biopsychology Lab with Dr. Kristina Pagel-Martinez and the Kindness Project with Dr. Beth Haines, both at Lawrence. Currently, she is also the Neurodiversity Support Intern at the Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. Sophia aims to pursue a Ph.D. in school psychology to support the learning, mental health, and well-being of autistic youth across individual, group, and system levels.
Kwame Ankamah
Kwame Adjei Ankamah graduated in 2025 from Lawrence University, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Neuroscience. His interests include neurodegenerative diseases, STEM learning, and medicine. After Lawrence, his career goal is to gain an MD and MPH, and open state-of-the-art hospital clinics back home in Accra, Ghana. When he is not working on studies for the Learning and Cognition Lab, he will normally binge-watch television shows, play basketball, or watch either tennis, basketball, or European football.
Chloe Vande Hey
Chloe Vande Hey is a senior at Lawrence University, majoring in psychology and minoring in cognitive science, education studies, and dance. She currently works at Wisconsin Early Autism Project (WEAP) and she has an internship with the Kindness Project. Her interests revolve around understanding, studying, and working with neurodiverse children. In the future, she hopes to become a behavior analyst or a counselor and help neurodivergent children on a larger scale.