Kerry Jordan

Emma Eccles Jones College of Education & Human Services

Psychology

The development of early mathematical cognition is a critical issue for education. Dr. Kerry Jordan is researching ways to improve early math knowledge in collaboration with many undergraduate and graduate students at USU. Dr. Jordan obtained her Ph.D. in Psychology from Duke University and her B.A. in Psychology and Biology from Harvard University. She joined USU as an Assistant Professor in the Experimental and Applied Psychological Science program of the Psychology Department in 2007. Students in Dr. Jordan’s lab have made multiple new discoveries in the field of cognitive development. Students use a variety of behavioral research methodologies such as measuring looking time in infants to understand preverbal numerical concepts, playing games on a touchscreen computer with children to understand preschool number representation, and determining how nonhuman animals may use quantitative cognition in ecological decision- making. Dr. Jordan’s recent work has particularly centered on investigating whether multisensory mathematical information may facilitate children’s early numerical learning. Dr. Jordan involves students at all stages of this research process—from experiment conceptualization to publication—as such experiences from mentors in psychology and neuroscience during her own undergraduate and graduate years were critical to her decision to pursue a career as faculty at a research university.