Dr. Leonard is accepting PhD students through the developmental track in Yale’s psychology PhD program to start in Fall 2025.

This position is ideal for those interested in gaining more research experience before pursuing a Ph.D. in psychology, cognitive science, or education. The lab manager will work closely with the PI, participate in all aspects of the research process, and have the potential to co-author posters and manuscripts and attend conferences. Women, LGBTQ, and underrepresented minority applicants are strongly encouraged. We expect everyone in the lab to contribute to a welcoming and supportive environment. Competitive salary and benefits are offered, commensurate with experience. 

Responsibilities include establishing and maintaining research partnerships with local schools, community centers, and museums; recruiting participants; coordinating online and in-person research; collecting behavioral data from parents and children across a variety of settings (schools, museums, online) and hours (some evenings and weekends); managing and analyzing data; working with the Yale University IRB; overseeing undergraduate research assistants; cultivating a positive lab culture; and performing administrative duties. 

Requirements include a bachelor’s degree or equivalent in psychology or a closely related field, experience working with children and/or families from diverse backgrounds, and excellent interpersonal, organizational, managerial, and communication skills. Competitive candidates will have a demonstrated interest in cognitive development, previous research experience, outstanding communication skills (in person and over email, Slack, phone), and high attention to detail. The candidate should be self-motivated and able to solve problems independently, while also being able to collaborate well with others. General computer skills are required (e.g., Microsoft and Google suite), and experience with software for designing experiments and performing statistical analyses is a preferred (e.g. R, Python, Qualtrics). Having a car for transportation to data collection sites near New Haven is desired. 

Applicants should send a one-page cover letter (describing research experiences, relevant skills and interests, and long-term goals) and CV or resume to the current lab manager, Natalie Masetti at natalie.masetti@yale.edu (please write “Lab Manager Application” in the subject line). Applicants will be reviewed as they are received until February 3rd, 2025. Yale University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. 

If you are interested in a postdoc position, please email Dr. Leonard directly at julia.leonard@yale.edu.

The Leonard Learning Lab is not currently accepting Research Assistant applications.

The Leonard Learning Lab is accepting applications for research assistants to start in Summer 2025. 

Our lab's RAs are directly involved in running studies that further our understanding of children’s persistence, motivation, and learning.

Responsibilities: Summer research assistants are responsible for conducting studies with infants, children, and teenagers online and in school/museum settings, interacting with parents and guardians, supporting research and stimuli design, doing data management and simple analysis, and actively participating in lab meetings. Each RA is paired with a mentor in the lab: either a graduate student, postdoc, or the lab manager. Expected time commitment is 40 hours per week, including 2-3 weekend shifts per month.

Requirements: Summer Research Assistants MUST be available full-time to work in person at Yale, though remote positions may be available for candidates residing in Philadelphia, PA over the summer. We do not have part-time or other remote/hybrid positions available. 

Qualifications: 1) Familiarity with and interest in developmental psychology; 2) Experience working with children and families; 3) Basic proficiency with computer applications; 4) Candidates should be collaborative, organized, responsible, and proactive. Basic proficiency with R or other programming languages is a plus.

To apply: please email (please write “Summer Research Assistant” in the subject line) lab manager Natalie Masetti (natalie.masetti@yale.edu) a resume/CV and a cover letter (1 paragraph stating why you want to work in the lab and any relevant experiences you want to highlight) by January 27, 2025.

If you are accepted, the lab will support your application for various funding opportunities at Yale, including the Richter Fellowship, Public Service Research Grant, the Dean’s Research Fellowship in the Humanities and Social Sciences, the Edward Bouchet Undergraduate Fellowship, and the Science, Technology, and Research Scholars Program (STARS). Students who are eligible may also use their Summer Experience Award for summer funding. 

The Leonard Learning Lab is not currently accepting senior thesis students. Please check back next year.

Our lab is able to supervise thesis students from the Psychology and Cognitive Science majors. In order to be considered as a potential thesis student for our lab, you must meet the following requirements:

1. You must complete at least 1 semester as a research assistant, unless you receive express permission from the PI.

2. You are generally expected to write your thesis on one of the lab’s already existing projects/datasets. For example, you might write about a project that you have been an RA on previously; or, you might explore data from an older project in a novel way. For instance, Marissa Healy (thesis student 2022-23) did her thesis on Reut Shachnai’s project looking at over-engaged parenting. Although the study primarily focused on parents’ physical actions, Marissa developed a novel research question about parents’ verbal interventions during the study, like providing direct instruction or positive feedback. She coded all of the audio data from the study and worked with Reut to analyze them in R. This is a great example of how you can create an original research question within an already established project, while providing critical help to your research mentor!

3. In some cases, we will supervise a thesis looking at an original question stemming from another project in the lab. In this case, you must secure your own funding (such as the Mellon Grant, or a CIPE fellowship for summer work) to support this work. It is most feasible to do this in cases where you can run a survey online (like on Prolific or MTurk), code your own remote study (like on Lookit), or run a study with Yale undergraduates (SONA).

4. You must set up a meeting with your lab mentor and Julia to discuss your interest in completing a thesis.

5. After the initial meeting with your lab mentor and Julia and before the lab agrees to supervise your thesis, you must write a formal thesis proposal. The proposal will help us (and you) evaluate whether your project is tractable for a one-year thesis timeline. In this proposal, you must provide a compelling overview of your thesis topic (around 5 pages double-spaced, including 2-3 pages of relevant literature and 2-3 pages of proposed methods and hypotheses), plus a 1-2 page timeline for completing your thesis. Generally, this proposal should be submitted by the end of your junior year.

The Leonard Learning Lab is accepting applications for research assistants to start in Summer 2025. 

Our lab's RAs are directly involved in running studies that further our understanding of children’s persistence, motivation, and learning.

Responsibilities: Summer research assistants are responsible for conducting studies with infants, children, and teenagers online and in school/museum settings, interacting with parents and guardians, supporting research and stimuli design, doing data management and simple analysis, and actively participating in lab meetings. Each RA is paired with a mentor in the lab: either a graduate student, postdoc, or the lab manager. Expected time commitment is 40 hours per week, including 2-3 weekend shifts per month.

Requirements: Summer Research Assistants MUST be available full-time to work in person at Yale, though remote positions may be available for candidates residing in Philadelphia, PA over the summer. We do not have part-time or other remote/hybrid positions available. 

Qualifications: 1) Familiarity with and interest in developmental psychology; 2) Experience working with children and families; 3) Basic proficiency with computer applications; 4) Candidates should be collaborative, organized, responsible, and proactive. Basic proficiency with R or other programming languages is a plus.

To apply: please email (please write “Summer Research Assistant” in the subject line) lab manager Natalie Masetti (natalie.masetti@yale.edu) a resume/CV and a cover letter (1 paragraph stating why you want to work in the lab and any relevant experiences you want to highlight) by February 1, 2025.

Please also check out other opportunities to get involved with research at Yale, such as the Yale Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship.

The lab does not currently have any opportunities for high school students to get involved in research. Please check out these other opportunities at Yale for high schoolers in New Haven.

As a lab that studies how children learn and persist, we appreciate your interest in our research and depend on support and input from families like yours.

If you would like your child to be part of our research, we run studies for kids of different ages online, at museums, and schools. Check out this page for more info!

If you would like to learn more about our research, read more about it here and check out media coverage of our work here.

In line with departmental guidelines outlined by the Yale Psychology Committee for Racial Equity and Justice, our lab does not accept volunteers.  All students who wish to work in our lab, both in the academic year and during the summer, must formally apply through the processes outlined above and secure funding (or other compensation) for their work in the lab.