Joshua R. de Leeuw

Joshua R. de Leeuw is an Associate Professor of Cognitive Science at Vassar College, where he has been since 2016. His work focuses on developing open-source software tools for behavioral experiments, notably creating jsPsych, a widely-used JavaScript library for online experiments. He also leads research in computational modeling, learning processes, and the integration of cognitive science principles into educational technology and gaming.

Education: PhD in Cognitive Science and Psychological & Brain Sciences from Indiana University (2016); BA in Cognitive Science from Vassar College (2008).

Research Interests include:

• Development and application of web-based research tools
• Online experimentation and open science practices
• Deep learning applications in behavioral research
• Robotics and embodied cognition
• Collaborative open-source software ecosystems

Notable Achievements:

• Recipient of NIH funding for the project "Psych-DS: A FAIR data standard for behavioral datasets" (collaboration with MIT)
• Creator of DataPipe, a tool connecting experiments to the Open Science Framework
• Maintainer of the jsPsych project, used globally for behavioral research

Current Projects include:

• Developing deep-learning-based eye-tracking systems for online experiments
• Exploring LLM-based educational tools for structured classroom interactions
• Building video games that integrate cognitive science experiments

Teaching Roles: Courses on cognitive science, computational modeling, deep learning, robotics, and research methods.

Labs/Teams: Active contributor to the Vassar Cognitive Science Department and affiliated with open-source communities like jspsych and ManyClasses.