Umay Suanda

Umay Suanda is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Connecticut. She earned her Ph.D. from Emory University in 2012 and directs the Communication and Development Lab. Her research examines cognitive and language development mechanisms in infants and young children, with emphasis on statistical learning, word acquisition, and social interaction dynamics.

Research Interests: Dr. Suanda investigates how infants and toddlers navigate complex learning environments to acquire language skills. Her work explores:

• The role of statistical patterns in word-referent mapping
• Environmental input characteristics during early language development
• Social interaction dynamics supporting cognitive growth
• Attention mechanisms facilitating word learning
• Cross-situational learning strategies in ambiguous contexts

Teaching: She instructs undergraduate courses including General Psychology I (PSYC 1100) and Current Directions in Developmental Psychology (PSYC 3470), along with the graduate seminar Cognitive Development (PSYC 5420).

Publication Trends: Her research publications (2014-2023) consistently focus on experimental and observational studies of early language acquisition. Key themes include attention mechanisms in vocabulary development, statistical learning in ambiguous contexts, and ecological analyses of parent-child interactions. Methodologies range from longitudinal designs to human simulation paradigms.

Laboratory: Leads the Communication and Development Lab investigating how infants and young children develop communication skills through statistical learning and social interaction.