GRADUATE STUDENTS

Adine Deleon

Doctoral Student

Applied Human Development

adined@bu.edu

Adine DeLeon is a doctoral student in Applied Human Development at Boston University. Her research examines how children reason about social status, wealth, and money, and how these early judgments shape their social interactions. Her broader interests include understanding how children’s everyday experiences, such as conversations with parents and peers, inform their developing views on financial decision-making, responsibility, and opportunity. Before beginning her doctoral studies, she earned an M.A. in Psychology with a focus on child development from Texas State University.

Nina Ye

Doctoral Student

Applied Human Development

ninayeni@bu.edu

Nina Ye is a doctoral candidate in the Applied Human Development program at Boston University. Her research broadly investigates children’s social-cognitive development. Specifically, she examines how children make use of intentions to learn and share information. The questions that guide her research are 1) What constitutes a reliable speaker to children? 2) How do children infer the intentions of others? 3) How do children’s own intentions shape their decision to share information with others?

Jingyi Xu

Doctoral Student

Applied Human Development

xuj611@bu.edu

Jingyi is a doctoral student in the Applied Human Development Program. She was born in China, and later studied and graduated from Boston College with a B.A. in Applied Psychology & Human Development and Economics. Then, she completed her master’s degree in Human Development & Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and worked as a research assistant in the Next Level Lab led by Dr. Grotzer. She is fascinated by the notion of culture and its interplay with cognitive development, and in studying children’s religious development. She is looking forward to working with everyone on the team at the SLL!

Justin Ruiz

Doctoral Students

Applied Human Development

jkruiz@bu.edu

Justin is a doctoral student in the Applied Human Development Program. He is originally from Hawaii and graduated from Amherst College with a B.A. in Psychology and Education Studies. His research interests look at how media, technology, and AI are intertwined with children's learning. He is particularly interested in how children trust and interact with various forms of technology, how they develop critical AI and digital literacy, and interventions that support this learning. In his free time, Justin enjoys dancing and baking!

Christie Park

Doctoral Studies

Applied Human Development

chspark@bu.edu

Christie is a doctoral student in the Applied Human Development program. Her research explores how children think about knowledge and belief. She is particularly interested in how children decide who to learn from and the ways they seek and evaluate information about a speaker’s sources. She also studies children’s judgements of irresponsible believers and their understanding of epistemic responsibility. In her free time, she enjoys watching movies, eating good food, and embroidering.