While at Berkeley, she worked closely with Alison Gopnik, researching computational models of cognition.[2] In 2005, Schulz joined the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). There, alongside Pawan Sinha, she runs the post-baccalaureate Research Scholars Program in Brain and Cognitive Sciences, working to prepare disadvantaged students for graduate school.[3]
Schulz is the principal investigator of the Early Childhood Cognition Lab at MIT, studying learning in early childhood.[4]
Research
Schulz's research focuses on children's cognition, specifically how children begin to form their world-views from the facets of information they obtain every day. Her work focuses on three main topics within children cognition. One of the topics is how children process the information they've gained in order to better infer, interact, and explain the world around them. Another topic is on the factors that allows children express curiosity and explore their environment, which also allows them to strengthen their cognition. Finally, how the information gained from the previous points will interact with one another to form their social cognition and ultimately build their sense of self and their interactions with others.[4] Her data and observations come from two laboratories, one at the Boston Children's Museum and the other at the Discovery Center in the Museum of Science, Boston. At these laboratories she uses infant-looking time methods and free play paradigms, as well as other methods, to study babies and children. She chooses to observe these subjects in particular, because in order to understand the origins of knowledge and fundamental principles of learning in humans, one must start at the beginning when babies have limited prior knowledge.[5]
As of 2020, she has 95 publications including articles, data, and papers, 20 of which were completed during her time at The Center for Brains, Minds and Machines (CBMM) at MIT.[6] In March 2015 she gave a TED talk called "The surprisingly logical minds of babies", which has since had almost 2 million views.[7]
Personal life
Schulz is the daughter of teacher Margot Schulz and lawyer Isaac Schulz.[8] Her sister, Kathryn Schulz, is a staff writer for The New Yorker.[8] She is married to Sue Kaufman and has four children: Henry Philofsky, MJ Kaufman, Rachel Novick, and Adele Kaufman-Schulz.[2]
↑"Laura E. Schulz PhD – Curriculum Vitae"(PDF). Massachusetts Institute of Technology Early Childhood Cognition Lab. January 26, 2018. Archived from the original(PDF) on February 19, 2018. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
12Laura E. Schulz: Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology. (2014). American Psychologist, 69(8), 749–751.
↑Kavli Frontiers of Science Alumni. "Laura Schulz". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on August 21, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
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