Nicole Park
Graduate Student
Entry Year: 2025-2026
Faculty Mentor(s): Isobel Heck
- Office Location
- 475 Meliora Hall
Research Overview
My research interests encompass how people learn and think about the social world across development. Broadly, I study how children think about societal leadership and change, as well as how emotions serve as informational cues for this learning.
Selected Publications
- Park, N.H., Kneeskern, E., & Heck, I. A. (under review). American adolescents’ perceptions of political representation and leadership before and after the 2024 presidential election. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy.
Posters and Presentations
- Park, N.H. & Heck, I.A. (2024, May 15-17). Deciding together or alone?: Children’s expectations of leaders’ decision-making behaviors [Poster presentation]. Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) 2024 Summit, Minneapolis, MN, United States.
- Kneeskern, E.*, Park, N.H.*, Heck, I.A. (2024, March 21-24). What kids choose to readmatters: Exploring protagonist racial diversity and its impacts within children’s self-reported book reading [Poster presentation]. Cognitive Development Society (CDS) 2023 Conference, Pasadena, CA, United States.
- Xie, F., Wang, Z., Park, N.H., & Bailey, C.S. (2023, April 13-16). Storytelling as a tool for SEL: Lessons from Chinese and American early childhood educators, [Paper presentation]. 2023 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, United States.
Honors
- 2025-2027: University of Rochester Provost Fellowship