Jessica Waltmon

University of Chicago

Developmental Psychology

She/her/hers

Jessica is a first-generation college student and former foster youth who struggled in school starting at a young age. She is passionate about helping students break through the (sometimes) unspoken expectations when applying to graduate school. Jessica is currently a second-year doctoral student and Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Fellow in Developmental Psychology, at The University of Chicago. She is co-advised by Dr. Katherine Kinzler and Dr. Suann Levine. She graduated in 2021 with a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Davis with Highest Honors. For her honors thesis, Jessica examined how general mindsets (Dweck, 1999) and stress mindsets (Crum et al., 2013) relate to college students’ experiences of stress and academic burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic under the supervision of Yuko Munakata. During her time at Davis, she worked as a research assistant in the Social Environment and Stress Lab of Dr. Camelia Hostinar, and the Cognition in Context Lab of Dr. Yuko Munakata. She also completed an NSF funded CSLI summer Internship at Stanford University in 2020 working with Dr. Ellen Markman and a graduate student, in which they examined helicopter parenting practices and beliefs.

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