Rate My Professor Elizabeth Gunderson

Elizabeth Gunderson is a Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington, a position she has held since 2023. She directs the Cognition and Learning Laboratory, which investigates the development of children's cognitive skills and motivation, primarily in the domain of mathematics. Her research focuses on developmental processes and environmental factors that lead to individual differences in numerical and spatial skills, math anxieties, stereotypes, and motivation, including the roles of parents and teachers in supporting children’s skills and motivation. Gunderson earned her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Chicago in 2012, where she also completed a postdoctoral fellowship, and her B.A. in Computer Science and Psychology from Yale University in 2005, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Previously, she served as Associate Professor from 2019 to 2023 and Assistant Professor from 2013 to 2019 in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Temple University.

Gunderson has received major awards including the Boyd McCandless Award from APA Division 7 in 2020, the International Mind, Brain, and Education Society Early Career Award in 2018, the APS Rising Star Award in 2015, and the APA Achievement Award for Early Career Psychologists in 2014. She has been principal investigator on significant grants such as the NSF CAREER Award (2015-2021), multiple NSF ECR grants totaling millions of dollars, and the James S. McDonnell Foundation Scholar Award (2018-2026). Key publications include “Female teachers’ math anxiety affects girls’ math achievement” (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2010), “Parent praise to 1-to 3-year-olds predicts children's motivational frameworks 5 years later” (Child Development, 2013), “The role of parents and teachers in the development of gender-related math attitudes” (Sex Roles, 2012), and book chapters such as “Early prediction of learning outcomes in mathematics” (Cambridge Handbook of Dyslexia and Dyscalculia, 2022). She serves as Associate Editor for Developmental Psychology (2022-present) and Journal of Cognition and Development (2021-present), has delivered invited colloquia at institutions like Stanford University and the University of Chicago, and holds leadership roles on department committees at Indiana University.