Biography

Ariel Kalil is a Professor in the Harris School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago. At Chicago Harris, she directs the Center for Human Potential and Public Policy and co-directs the Behavioral Insights and Parenting Lab. She also holds an appointment as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Stavanger, Norway, in the Department of Business Administration. She is a developmental psychologist who studies economic conditions, parenting, and child development. Her current research examines the historical evolution of income-based gaps in parenting behavior and children’s cognitive and non-cognitive skills. At the Behavioral Insights and Parenting Lab, she is leading a variety of field experiments designed to strengthen parental engagement and child development in low-income families using tools drawn from behavioral economics and neuroscience.

Kalil received her PhD in developmental psychology from the University of Michigan. Before joining the Harris School faculty in 1999, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan's National Poverty Center. Kalil has received the William T. Grant Foundation Faculty Scholars Award, the Changing Faces of America's Children Young Scholars Award from the Foundation for Child Development, the National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship, and in 2003 she was the first-ever recipient of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Award for Early Research Contributions.

• Kalil, A., Ziol-Guest, K., Ryan, R., & Markowitz, A. (2016, August). Changes in income-based gaps in parent activities with young children from 1988-2012. AERA Open 2 (3) 2332858416653732; DOI: 10.1177/2332858416653732

Anthony Barrows is a Managing Director at the non-profit applied behavioral science firm ideas42 where he focuses on domestic poverty, local government, post-secondary education, and civic engagement. Anthony previously worked over ten years in child welfare, spanning positions in direct service, supervision, training, advocacy, project management and system improvement. He is also a practicing artist and has led art classes and arts-oriented youth development programming. Anthony holds a BA in Philosophy and Art from UMass Boston, an MFA in Printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute, and an MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government where he was a Gleitsman Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership.

Lisa Gennetian is a Research Professor at New York University. She earned her Ph.D. in Economics from Cornell University. Her research portfolio spans poverty and policy research, income security and stability, early care and education, and children’s development, with a lens toward causal mechanisms. Her work with Dr. Eldar Shafir “The Persistence of Poverty in the Context of Economic Instability: A Behavioral Perspective,” describes a behavioral framework for poverty policy. In 2015 she launched the beELL initiative; applying insights from behavioral economics to support parent engagement in, and enhance the impacts of, early childhood interventions. She is co-PI on a randomized control study of a monthly unconditional cash transfer to low income mothers of infants, co-PI at the National Center for Research on Hispanic Families and Children directing the poverty focus area; and, has served as an Associate Editor of Child Development since 2012.

David S. Yeager is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on motivation and adolescent development, and on the use of behavioral science to make improvements toward pressing social issues. He received his Ph. D. from Stanford University in 2011. Prior to conducting research, he was a middle school teacher. He is currently the co-chair of the Mindset Scholars Network, an interdisciplinary network devoted to improving the science of learning mindsets and expanding educational opportunity. He holds appointments at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the University of Texas Population Research Center, the Dana Center, and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS). His research has received more than 15 awards in social, developmental, and educational psychology.

2-101 - Behavioral Science and Public Policy

Session Type: Invited SRCD Salon

Sub Unit

• Invited Program on Behavioral Science & Public Policy

Moderator

• Ariel Kalil, Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago

Panelists

• Anthony Barrows, ideas42

• Lisa Gennetian, National Bureau of Economic Research

• David S. Yeager, University of Texas at Austin