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Alexa McDorman

@alexamcd.bsky.social

they/them | family foster care grad NSF Grad Research Fellow @UMD studying human development

6 Posts154 Follower 357 Folgt

Rachel Romeo @rachelromeo.bsky.social · 3d ago

I'm so honored to be recognized by @imbes.bsky.social! I've always been impressed by the MBE field's commitment to translating research to practice (& vice versa!) and I'm excited to share some of my work on this at IMBES next month. And I'm thrilled to share the honor with @ericdwilkey.bsky.social!

International Mind, Brain, and Education Society (IMBES)@imbes.bsky.social · 3d ago

The 2026 IMBES Early Career Award goes to...both Rachel Romeo and Eric Wilkey! This award recognizes early career scholars who have made significant, original research contributions to the field of Mind, Brain, and Education. Congratulations, Rachel & Eric!

Award image for Rachel. Navy background with gold frame. Inside is a photo of Paul. Gold text reads "2026 IMBES Early Career Award Rachel Romeo"

Ellie Taylor-Robinette @elliektaylor.bsky.social · 4w ago

The #IMBES2026 program is live! As Executive Assistant to the Board of IMBES, I have had the pleasure of working closely with @grammer.bsky.social and team to coordinate what is sure to be an outstanding IMBES! We hope to see you there 👋

International Mind, Brain, and Education Society (IMBES)@imbes.bsky.social · 4w ago

The #IMBES2026 conference program is live! 🎉 Take a look at the incredible lineup of keynotes, symposia, paper sessions, and posters—and start planning your schedule. If you've been meaning to register, this is your sign. We'd love to see you in San Diego this September! 🌴

Ellie Taylor-Robinette @elliektaylor.bsky.social · last mo.

I am so grateful I had the opportunity to chair my first symposium at @infantstudies.bsky.social last week and present my first talk "Hatchlings – Community-Library Partnerships to Reduce Childhood Literacy Inequities: A Qualitative Investigation" #ICIS2026

Ellie standing in front of her title slide "Hatchlings - Community Library Partnerships to Reduce Childhood Literacy Inequities: A Qualitative Investigation"

Darius, Rachel, Ellie, Rose, and Stephen standing in front of the symposium title slide "Community-Engaged Research Focused on Infant and Perinatal Populations"

DocLB2 @doclb2.bsky.social · last mo.

🌸🌸🌸

Oni Blackstock, MD MHS@oniblackstock.bsky.social · last mo.

"This program gives Black single moms $1,000 a month for a year. The results are undeniable. The Magnolia Mother’s Trust is the first to target low-income families led by Black mothers in Jackson, Mississippi" www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Leher Singh @lehersingh.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Excited to be editing a Developmental Science special issue on Culture, Context, and Brain Development with Heather Bortfeld, Laura Katus, and Bruce Rawlings. Seeking papers from diverse contexts using novel approaches! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal... Please share!

Developmental Science Call for Papers Culture, context, and brain development

Developmental Science is an international journal publishing contemporary scientific developmental psychology and developmental cognitive neuroscience research.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Ellen Roche @ellroche.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I just got a sneak peek of this symposium and it is SO fantastic and inspiring! So sad to miss @infantstudies.bsky.social but if you’re there do not miss @elliektaylor.bsky.social @rachelromeo.bsky.social @dtandon.bsky.social and Rose Perry’s talks! #icis2026

Ellie Taylor-Robinette@elliektaylor.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I'm thrilled to be the chair of @infantstudies.bsky.social symposium 8.4: Community-Engaged Research Focused on Infant and Perinatal Populations next week with rockstar lineup @rachelromeo.bsky.social, Rose Perry, and @dtandon.bsky.social. Join us Thursday, 7/9 at 4:45pm to learn more! #ICIS2026

International Mind, Brain, and Education Society (IMBES)@imbes.bsky.social · 3mo ago

We are grateful to announce that Dr. Dana Miller-Cotto will be presenting a keynote address entitled "The Context of Cognition: Educational Environments and Children's Thinking" at our upcoming meeting this September. #IMBES2026

Society for Research in Child Development @srcdorg.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Submit to the new special section in Child Development: Centering Majority World Developmental Science. Help shape a more globally representative developmental science. Learn more & submit: https://bit.ly/4948xLU #ChildDevelopment #GlobalResearch #DevelopmentalScience

Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽@needhibhalla.bsky.social · 4mo ago

“terminations targeting…research for BIPOC and SGM communities have disproportionately targeted the careers of BIPOC, SGM, and female researchers and researchers from disadvantaged backgrounds. Ensuring the health of all Americans will require systematic re-investment in these topics and scientists”

Jenna Norton@jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 4mo ago

“Nearly half (48.6%) of investigators with equity-related terminations were BIPOC and 60.0% of investigators with gender-related terminations were SGM… 20.5% of investigators with institutional terminations (for purported antisemitism) were Jewish.” www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Association for Psychological Science @psychscience.bsky.social · 5mo ago

“What is required instead is an intentional reorientation of departmental culture—one that moves beyond aspirational commitments to equity and toward practices that actively align ideals, policies, and norms,” says @lehersingh.bsky.social, professor and chair of #psychology at UMBC. #AcademicSky

The Unwritten Rules of Cultural Belonging in Academic Departments

Leher Singh discusses how power, privilege, and positionality thread themselves through the cultural ecology of academic life.

psychologicalscience.org

Ellie Taylor-Robinette @elliektaylor.bsky.social · 5mo ago

IMBES has joined BlueSky! Follow the new account for updates and cool science 🧠

International Mind, Brain, and Education Society (IMBES)@imbes.bsky.social · 5mo ago

The International Mind, Brain, and Education Society (IMBES) is pleased to be on BlueSky. Our mission is to facilitate cross-cultural collaboration in biology, education, and the cognitive and developmental sciences. 🧠

Ellen Roche @ellroche.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Come join the wonderful @umdleadlab.bsky.social as our new lab manager this summer! Our lab is inclusive, creative, fun, and we’re engaged in all kinds of cool early developmental neuro (fMRI and fNIRS) research focused on language, executive function. and socioemotional development.

Rachel Romeo@rachelromeo.bsky.social · 6mo ago

I am hiring a new lab manager for the @umdleadlab.bsky.social to start this summer! Job ad and link to apply here. Please re-post and share with your seniors, and/or anyone else who would be a good fit! docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Dr. Joscelin Rocha-Hidalgo 🇧🇴🏳️‍🌈@joscelinrocha.com · 6mo ago

ManyBabies8: Screen Use 📱 MB8 aims to document early screen use across diverse cultural contexts & examine links to language & socio-emotional development in children under 3. We’re inviting you to join! Interested? 🔗 Fill out our short survey: forms.gle/7ASVadD7LT4j... More: manybabies.org/MB8/

MB8

Screen Use

manybabies.org

Eric Hehman @erichehman.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Postdoc position! Myself and @jordanaxt.bsky.social are seeking applications for a shared post-doctoral researcher at McGill, beginning Fall 2026. Topic area broadly centered on intergroup dynamics, prejudice, discrimination Full description here: hehmanlab.org/ad 1/2

hehmanlab.org

The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Neuroscientist @clionamurray.com knows the power of community. Murray explains how @blackinneuro.bsky.social expanded from its humble beginnings as a Slack channel to connect Black neuroscientists across the diaspora. By @alainaglevine.bsky.social #neuroskyence

Amy Diehl, Ph.D.@amydiehl.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Study of 8M biomed & life science articles finds those led by women spent 7 to 15 days longer in review than those led by men. Over a career, women's papers could spend 350 to 750 additional days in review. Delays could slow promotion, esp to full professor. www.the-scientist.com/women-s-rese...

Peer Review Timelines Show Gender Gap, Large Study Reports

A study of millions of life science papers revealed that manuscripts with women in key authorship roles spent longer between submission and acceptance.

the-scientist.com

Ellen Roche @ellroche.bsky.social · 7mo ago

👀 New paper out in Infancy! Mutual Sensitivity Between Caregivers Predicts Infant Affective State... @dougpiper.bsky.social & I co-led this analysis with Gabrielle Strouse, @proflaurenmyers.bsky.social @drzosh.bsky.social @geotro.bsky.social and Rachel Barr onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Mutual Sensitivity Between Caregivers Predicts Infant Affective State During Video Chat published in Infancy

Abstract

Infancy is an extraordinary period of human development, in which babies turn sensory and environmental information into meaning in the cradle of their caregivers’ affective and attentional cues. Babies express what they are thinking and feeling through smiles and gazes long before they develop expressive language. Most developmental research focuses on mother-infant dyads within a controlled lab environment, despite the complexity of young children’s caregiving ecosystems, which range far beyond the mother-child dyad and include caregivers at a distance via technology like video chat. This study uses a novel state space approach to examine relations between the sensitivity of two caregivers — what we call “mutual sensitivity” — and infants’ real-time affective and attentional states during video chat sessions.

How to read a state space (Hollenstein, 2013): This figure depicts a single infant’s affective states over three video chat sessions. Each grid square represents a unique affective state characterized by both valence (1-7, negative to positive) and arousal (1-7), high to low. For example, we can see that during the first video chat session, this infant briefly spent time in a high arousal, low valence state (distress).

Background
Caregiver sensitivity - a caregiver’s responsive, warm, temporally contingent engagement with an infant - has been robustly linked to children’s development across cognitive and affective domains.

Prior studies have shown that global caregiver sensitivity predicts both infant affective valence and infant engagement in JVA during in-person interactions (Braungart-Rieker et al., 2001; Mason et al., 2019) and during video chat (Roche et al., 2022; Myers et al., 2024).

In this study we used the Biringen et al., 2000 scale (1-9) and coded all behavioral variables every 30 seconds.

Ellen Roche @ellroche.bsky.social · 7mo ago

👀 Fantastic new review of disparate literature on stress & development across cog, emo and phys domains. "Early Life Stress Effects on Children's Biology, Behavior, & Health: Evidence, Mediators, Moderators, & Solutions" @nicolebushphd.bsky.social @alliesullivan.bsky.social & Amanda Noroña-Zhou

Abstract: This review synthesizes and critiques research on early life adversity and stress effects on multidomain health outcomes in child samples to fill a gap in the literature that has largely focused on adults. Prioritizing evidence from meta-analytic and systematic reviews as well as findings from (quasi-)experimental or large prospective longitudinal studies, we integrate interdisciplinary findings to characterize patterns of evidence for stress associations with child outcomes, including mental, physical, and positive health; academic, social, and justice system–related domains; and intermediary phenotypes that may predict disease, including biomarkers. We note cohesive evidence for sensitive periods of susceptibility to stress exposure and describe key mediators and moderators of stress effects, especially family-level factors. Then we highlight interventions targeting malleable factors that hold promise for ameliorating the effects of stress on children. Leveraging a developmental lens, we conclude with field-wide limitations and propose future directions for stress and health research that centers child development.

Infographic of moderators linking childhood stress to cognitive, emotional and physical development

Snapshot of evidence base for protective effects of policy interventions, eg Early Head Start

Alexandra (Allie) Sullivan, PhD@alliesullivan.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Very proud to share this Annual Review synthesizing 75+ years of research across 150+ studies on how stress, starting as early as the prenatal period, shapes children’s health across systems. This is the first review to center interdisciplinary pediatric outcomes. www.ucsf.edu/news/2026/01...

Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 8mo ago

The district court injunction that prevented NIH from capping indirects at 15% was upheld today on appeal! www.reuters.com/world/trump-...

Trump administration cannot slash NIH research funding, court rules

District Judge Angel Kelley last year blocked the cuts, and on Monday the appeals court agreed.

reuters.com

Science News @scinews.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Income inequality and the erosion of democracy in the twenty-first century www.pnas.org/doi/epub/10....

Alexa McDorman @alexamcd.bsky.social · 8mo ago

♥️

Rachel Romeo@rachelromeo.bsky.social · 10mo ago

The @umdleadlab.bsky.social and the world lost a bright star this week. Victoria was such a kind, dedicated, and passionate person. She was one of my first students, helping me set up my lab from scratch, and I am honored to have worked with her. There aren't words for how much we will miss her. ❤️

The American Academy of Pediatrics @ameracadpeds.bsky.social · 9mo ago

“This irresponsible and purposely misleading guidance will lead to more hepatitis B infections in infants and children.” Read our full statement by AAP President Dr. Susan J. Kressly: www.aap.org/en/news-room...

Sofiya Hupalo @sofiyahupalo.bsky.social · 9mo ago

NIH grant applicants: October and November grant application submission *deadlines* will be rescheduled (🤯). Specific dates TBD. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

NOT-OD-26-005: Interim Guidance on Reopening of NIH Extramural Activities

NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Interim Guidance on Reopening of NIH Extramural Activities NOT-OD-26-005. NIH

grants.nih.gov

Cats of Yore @catsofyore.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Marcel’s camping skills have not improved. 😔

Photo of an adorable black white kitten trying to hide under a tiny toy tent but failing quite spectacularly.

Daniel Kim, MD, DrPH @socialepi.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Socioeconomic roots of academic faculty Tenure-track faculty are up to 25 times more likely to have a parent with a Ph.D. Moreover, this rate nearly doubles at prestigious universities and is stable across the past 50 years. #AcademicSky

Socioeconomic roots of academic faculty - Nature Human Behaviour

Studying socioeconomic backgrounds and intergenerational transmission in the US academia, Morgan et al. find that faculty have a parent with a Ph.D. degree a striking 25 times more often than the gene...

nature.com

Oregon 🕎🎲@oregonthedm.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Arianna Gard @arigard.bsky.social · 10mo ago

🚨 New Paper Alert🚨 focused on #representation and #generaliability in #neuroscience. A real labor of love. Was rejected from [… checks list 🤔] SIX journals and originally presented in 2020 at FLUX to find a home at AMPPS #persistence

Dr. Elizabeth Santos @lizmillermacroevo.bsky.social · 11mo ago

2nd year grad students are no longer eligible to apply. Currently enrolled grad students must be in their first year, whether in a MS, BS-MS, or Ph.D.

Dan Garisto@dangaristo.bsky.social · 11mo ago

New: After a long wait, the GRFP solicitation is live! Deadlines have been extended to early November, so applicants have a bit over a month to submit. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Society for Research in Child Development @srcdorg.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Engage in policy work in bold new ways with SRCD. SRCD is building the nation’s go-to hub for trusted, evidence-based insight on child development, and we want you to be a part of it. https://www.srcd.org/child-policy-hub

Flux Society @fluxsociety.bsky.social · 12mo ago

🎓 FLUX is proud to spotlight Gavkhar Abdurokhmonova. Her research focuses on understanding how children's early language experiences shape their brain, cognitive, and socio-emotional development. Read about her journey, motivations, and advice for other young scientists: 👉 buff.ly/19APuWX