The Learning Variability Network Exchange (LEVANTE) brings together researchers from around the world aiming to capture the richness and diversity of child development and learning.
Only by conducting open-access, cutting-edge research can we enhance our knowledge on learning and developmental variability.
Delve into the science of learning variability, explore cutting-edge research, and discover practical insights to enhance learning for all.
Home » About » Steering Committee
The LEVANTE Steering Committee is integrated by widely recognised researchers who are leaders in their respective fields. They represent a varied range of disciplines, different regions/cultural backgrounds, and genders. Their main responsibility is to determine and approve the overall LEVANTE framework, and to monitor its progress. Furthermore, their duties include strategizing, designing, and implementing the program, supervising measure selection and the sampling plan, specifying scientific criteria to assess applications, as well as approving proposed priorities for research partner proposals.
Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University
Kenneth A. Dodge is the William McDougall Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. Elected to the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2023), he is a leading researcher on aggression and violence prevention in children. He is the founding director of the Center for Child and Family Policy, and he is also the creator of Family Connects International. His work, including the evidence-based Family Connects Program, focuses on early intervention to prevent violence’s costly consequences for children and their communities. In addition, he also gained wide recognition for his work with the Parenting Across Cultures (PAC) initiative.
School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine
Candice L. Odgers is a Director of Research and Faculty Development in the School of Social Ecology and Professor of Psychological Science and Informatics at the University of California, Irvine. She is a quantitative and developmental psychologist with particular expertise in adolescent mental health, intensive longitudinal data analysis, and experience sampling methodologies. Her research focuses on how early, daily, and online experiences influence children’s health and development.
New York University | NYU Steinhardt
Hirokazu Yoshikawa is the Courtney Sale Ross Professor of Globalization and Education at NYU Steinhardt and a University Professor at NYU where he co-directs the Global TIES for Children Center. His research emphasizes mentorship and policy impact and spans immigration, early childhood, youth development, and poverty reduction policies’ effects on human development globally. His recent projects include RCT and mixed-methods evaluations of early childhood education and development programs for refugee, displaced, and host communities in South Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, as well as the first experimental evaluation of unconditional cash transfers for families with young children in the U.S.
Unit of Applied Neurobiology (UNA, CEMIC-CONICET)
Sebastián J. Lipina, Ph.D., is a researcher at the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Argentina, and director of the Unit of Applied Neurobiology (UNA, CEMIC-CONICET). He is a Fellow of the Center for Neuroscience and Society (CNS) at the University of Pennsylvania, USA, and member of the CEMIC IRB. He was a consultant of PAHO, UNICEF and UNDP. His research focuses on analyzing poverty’s impact on self-regulation development, designing interventions to enhance children’s cognitive performance through exercises in various settings, and implementing evidence-based interventions into policy.
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford
Maggie Snowling, of the University of Oxford, served as St John’s President until 2022. She is Professor Emerita in the Department of Experimental Psychology. Additionally, she is recognized as a Fellow of the British Academy and the Academy of Medical Sciences and a Member of Academia Europaea. Her research focuses on children’s language and learning, particularly examining the causes of reading difficulties and evaluating interventions for reading and language. Her research on dyslexia resulted in her CBE appointment in 2016 for services to science.
Department of Psychology, Temple University
Nora S. Newcombe is the Laura H. Carnell Professor of Psychology at Temple University. Elected member of the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of her achievements (2024), her research focuses on spatial cognition and development, as well as the development of autobiographical and episodic memory. Dr. Newcombe is the author of numerous chapters, articles, and books, including Making Space with Janellen Huttenlocher (published by the MIT Press, 2000).
School of Education and Human Development, University of Virginia
Robert Pianta is the Batten Bicentennial Professor of Early Childhood Education and Psychology at the University of Virginia. He leads the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, and his research focuses on teacher-student relationships’ impact on learning and development, leading to widely used measurement tools and interventions. He is the past editor of the Journal of School Psychology and associate editor for AERA Open. Additionally, he consults internationally for federal agencies, foundations, universities, and governments. He was named a Fellow of the American Education Research Association, and he received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Minnesota in 2016.
Teachers College, Columbia University
Robert Siegler is the Schiff Foundations Professor of Psychology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University and specializes in the development of mathematical thinking. With over 300 publications and 14 books translated into multiple languages, his research applies theoretical understanding to improve children’s math learning. His studies investigate how number representations change with age, effective mathematical experiences that result in improvements, problem-solving strategies, and factors influencing mathematical proficiency.
School of Education and Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
Sandra Graham is a UCLA Distinguished Professor in the Human Development and Psychology division in the Department of Education and holds the Education and Diversity Presidential Chair at the University of California. She is Principal Investigator on National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) grants. Her research promotes inclusive educational environments, focusing on academic motivation and social development in racial and ethnically diverse children within school contexts, as well as the effects of cultural background, sociocultural status, and gender.
Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota
Stephanie Carlson is a cognitive development researcher in the Carlson and Zelazo Lab (the Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab) at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on developmental processes in executive function in children, spanning infancy to adolescence, emphasizing the preschool stage. In particular, she explores how play, parenting, and education cultivate executive function skills, especially regarding learning in STEM fields.