Rate My Professor Kathryn Mills

Kathryn Mills is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Oregon, joining the Developmental area faculty in 2018. She also holds an Associate Professor II position (0.1 FTE) at the University of Oslo since 2019. Mills earned her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from University College London in 2015 and her B.A. in Psychology summa cum laude from Portland State University in 2011. Affiliated with the Institute of Neuroscience, she directs the Developing Brains in Context Lab, where her research examines adolescent brain development and how the prolonged course of brain maturation enables individuals to navigate complex social environments. Utilizing behavioral research, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods, and longitudinal modeling, her interests encompass social cognition, mentalizing, structural and functional brain imaging, mental health in adolescence, social networks, environmental psychology, environmental education, and the impacts of climate change on youth.

Mills has garnered significant recognition for her contributions, including the Flux Young Investigator Award (2021), Association for Psychological Science Rising Star Award (2020), University of Oregon Excellence in Remote Teaching Award (2020), Marjorie Taylor Art of Teaching Award (2021), and British Neuroscience Association Postgraduate Prize for the best doctoral thesis (2015). Her scholarly output, with over 12,000 citations on Google Scholar, includes key publications such as "Inter-individual variability in structural brain development from late childhood to young adulthood" (NeuroImage, 2021), "Is adolescence a sensitive period for sociocultural processing?" (2014), "Development of the cerebral cortex across adolescence: a multisample study of inter-related longitudinal changes in cortical volume, surface area, and thickness" (2017), "A practical guide for researchers and reviewers using the ABCD Study and other large longitudinal datasets" (Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 2022), and "Trait Mindfulness Supports Self-perceived Scholastic Competence in Adolescent Girls" (Collabra: Psychology, 2023). She serves in editorial roles as Consulting Editor for the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (2021–), Editorial Board Member for Infant and Child Development (2021–), and Associate Editor for Collabra: Psychology (2018–). Additionally, Mills participates in university governance on the Graduate Council, Academic Council, and Senate Executive Committee, and contributes to professional service through NSF panel reviews and conference organizing committees such as Flux Congress.