Laura Wagner

Dr. Laura Wagner is a Professor in the Psychology Department at The Ohio State University, specializing in Developmental Psychology with a focus on language acquisition. She directs the Language Sciences Research Lab at COSI, integrating research, teaching, and public outreach. Her work examines how children learn language meaning, including temporal semantics, aspect, and sociolinguistic cues like dialect and register.

• PhD in Psychology, University of Pennsylvania (1998)
• MA in Psychology, University of Pennsylvania (1997)
• BA in Psychology, Wellesley College (1992)

Her research interests emphasize child language development, particularly how children infer meaning from syntax and social context. She has pioneered studies on dialect perception across ages and the role of register comprehension in social communication. Dr. Wagner’s outreach efforts at COSI aim to demystify language science for the public through interactive exhibits and educational programs.

Her recent work investigates the effectiveness of informal science education, including a focus on how museum-based learning impacts public engagement with language science. She has authored over 50 publications, including seminal papers on aspectual bootstrapping and children’s understanding of linguistic register.

• 2024 Linguistics Society of America Award for Linguistics, Language, and the Public
• 2023 AAAS Fellow
• 2021 Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching

Dr. Wagner’s lab at COSI bridges academia and public engagement, training students in interdisciplinary research while advancing science communication. She also leads initiatives to improve language science literacy through workshops and collaborative projects with educators.