Meet the Speakers
Event
Developmental Adaptation to Rapidly Changing Contexts: Envisioning the Next Decade of Interdisciplinary Research in Technology and Child Development Webinar
Presenters
Dr. Patricia Greenfield
Dr. Patricia Marks Greenfield is an esteemed American psychologist and a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. With a research career spanning more than five decades, she is recognized for her profound contributions to the fields of culture and human development. Dr. Greenfield's work delves into the intricate relationship between social change, culture, and human development, focusing particularly on communication technologies as a primary driver of social change in the United States since the 1990s.
Dr. Greenfield earned her A.B. from the Harvard Department of Social Relations, followed by a Ph.D. in Social Psychology/Personality Research from the same department. Her extensive research includes longitudinal studies on child development in a Maya community in Chiapas, Mexico, which led to her influential theory of social change, cultural evolution, and human development. This work has inspired further studies across the U.S., Israel, China, and Mexico.
In collaboration with Professor Kaveri Subrahmanyam, Dr. Greenfield co-founded the Children’s Digital Media Center @ Los Angeles, a joint initiative between UCLA and California State University, LA. The center is at the forefront of research on the cultural and developmental implications of digital media, covering platforms such as MySpace, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and parenting forums, with studies extending to the U.S., Japan, and Turkey.
Dr. Greenfield's research also addresses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as a catalyst for social change, examining shifts in mortality salience, cultural values, family relationships, and parenting through large-scale surveys and online behavior analysis.
Her distinguished career includes numerous accolades, such as the American Psychological Association Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contribution to Developmental Psychology and the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Award for Distinguished Contributions to Cultural and Contextual Factors in Child Development. She has also received the Outstanding Contributions to Cultural Psychology Award and the Ernst E. Boesch Prize for her impact on cultural psychological research.
Dr. Greenfield is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has held prestigious fellowships at institutions such as the Stanford Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Her publications, including the acclaimed "Mind and Media," explore the effects of digital media on child development.
Dr. Greenfield will share her latest research on children's adaptation to social change, particularly the omnipresent cellphone, highlighting both the challenges these changes present for child development.
Dr. Mizuko Ito
Dr. Mizuko (Mimi) Ito is a renowned cultural anthropologist and learning scientist who has dedicated three decades to studying young people’s engagement with digital technology in the United States and Japan. She serves as the Director of the Connected Learning Lab and holds the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Chair in Digital Media and Learning at the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Ito holds two Ph.Ds. from Stanford University in Education and Anthropology and an undergraduate degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard University.
Dr. Ito's work emphasizes leveraging student interests and digital media to foster engaging, relevant, inclusive, and socially connected learning. Her research spans the growth of mobile media and otaku culture in Japan, youth social media, networks, and games in the US, and the global adoption of Japanese children’s media like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh. More recently, Dr. Ito has focused on how educators, technologists, and parents can harness young people’s diverse interests and identities to support learning, wellbeing, and civic engagement.
For over a decade, Dr. Ito directed research for the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning Initiative and pioneered the “connected learning” framework, collaborating with an international network of scholars, educators, and designers. This framework champions a youth-centered, equity-oriented approach to learning and development in a digitally connected era. Dr. Ito established the Connected Learning Lab at UC Irvine and the Connected Learning Alliance to continue advancing research, innovation, and social impact in technology and learning.
Dr. Ito has received numerous grants from prestigious organizations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the Spencer Foundation. She is the recipient of the Jan Hawkins Award for Early Career Contributions to Humanistic Research and Scholarship in Learning Technologies from the American Educational Research Association. Her publications include "Algorithmic Rights and Protections for Children" (forthcoming June 2023), "Social Media and Youth Wellbeing" (2020), and "Affinity Online: How Connection and Shared Interest Fuel Learning" (2018).
Dr. Ito will share her expertise on digital learning, emphasizing its inclusivity and social connectivity, and discuss the risks and protections for children in the digital age.
Dr. Patti Ordoñez
Dr. Patricia (Patti) Ordóñez is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. She has dedicated the past decade to academia in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where she served as an Assistant Professor and then as an Associate Professor until 2022. Her research focuses on applying visual analytics, data mining, machine learning, visualization, and human-computer interaction to medicine and assistive technologies. With a deep commitment to improving healthcare, one of her significant goals is to aid medical providers in crafting better diagnosis and treatment plans by leveraging data from previous patients with similar conditions. To advance this objective, Dr. Ordóñez founded the Symposium of Health Informatics for Latin America and the Caribbean, promoting international collaboration in this critical field.
Dr. Ordóñez holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Hispanic and Italian Studies from The Johns Hopkins University. Before earning her Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), she worked as a math and Spanish K-12 teacher and a technical trainer. This diverse background fuels her passion for making computer science accessible and inclusive. She is dedicated to diversifying the field and actively mentors students at various educational levels, from K-12 to graduate school. Dr. Ordóñez develops assistive technologies for programming and communication, ensuring that computing is accessible to all.
Her groundbreaking work in Biomedical Data Science involves applying machine learning and data mining techniques to large clinical data repositories, aiming to transform medical practice. She has been recognized as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and credits numerous supportive communities and programs, such as UMBC's PROMISE program, the CRA-W, and the Anita Borg Institute, for her academic success. Dr. Ordóñez possesses extensive expertise in data science and human-computer interaction in medicine. She is also deeply committed to fostering a more inclusive culture in computer science.
At the webinar, Dr. Ordóñez will share her work and perspectives on the role of technology in healthcare for families and children, as well as her experience in teaching technology to children from diverse backgrounds.
Moderators
Pilyoung Kim
Pilyoung Kim is a professor of psychology and the director of the Family and Child Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Denver. She received her bachelor's degree in Psychology, double majoring with English Language and Literature, at Korea University, South Korea. She earned her master’s degree in Mind, Brain, and Education at Harvard University, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Cornell University. She received postdoctoral training at the National Institute of Mental Health. She has authored over 80 publications and secured ten extramural research grants from institutions including the National Institute of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation, and the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation through a NARSAD Independent Investigator Grant. She has been awarded the Victoria S. Levin Award for Early Career Success in the field by the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD). Following her faculty appointment in 2012, she has been invited to deliver over 60 academic talks at prestigious national (e.g., Columbia University, Cornell University) and international (e.g., UK – University College London, Canada – University of British Columbia) institutions, academic conferences (e.g., Society for Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience Society), and agencies (e.g., National Institute of Drug Abuse, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). She was the keynote speaker at the 7th International Meeting on the Neuroscience of Parenting in 2022. Her research has received international coverage by major media outlets, including the UK's BBC, the New York Times, and NHK Japan. Her NIH-funded research program focuses on delineating the roles of prenatal poverty in: (1) the neural regulation of parenting among new birthing parents, and (2) brain development among their newborns. In 2019, she established the Brain, AI, and Child (BAIC) research center to facilitate interdisciplinary research across developmental psychology and computer science, focusing on the impact of AI on child development.
Samantha Brown
Samantha Brown is an Assistant Professor and director of the Parent-Child Relationships & Well-Being Lab in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Colorado State University. She holds a Ph.D. in Social Work and an M.A. in Forensic Psychology from the University of Denver, and a B.A. in Psychology and Criminal Justice from the College of Saint Rose. Additionally, she is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Colorado, with clinical expertise in infant and early childhood mental health, intimate partner violence and substance use counseling, and child welfare casework.
As the Director of the Parent-Child Relationships & Well-Being Lab, her research focuses on the risk and protective pathways through which early life stress and adversity shape child and family outcomes. Dr. Brown’s work aims to translate this knowledge into health-promotive interventions tailored to marginalized children and families. Her recent research delves into three primary areas: the impact of relationships and resilience factors during pregnancy on maternal and infant health; the biological and behavioral correlates, such as stress physiology and sleep, linked to childhood maltreatment; and the parent-infant relational and regulatory processes that buffer infants from the consequences of early life stress. Dr. Brown collaborates with community members across Colorado to develop mindfulness and relational interventions for families involved with human service systems.
Dr. Brown’s research is supported by federal grants, including those from the National Institutes of Health Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Health Resources and Services Administration Maternal and Child Health Bureau, and others.