Gavkhar Abdurokhmonova

PhD student in Human Development and Quantitative Methodology at the College of Education.Language, Experience, and Development (LEAD) lab Advisors: Rachel Romeo

Gavkhar Abdurokhmonova (she/her/hers) is a third-year doctoral student in Human Development and Quantitative Methodology at the University of Maryland, College Park. She received her combined Bachelor’s and Master’s in Psychology from Lomonosov Moscow State University and her Master’s in Mental Health Counseling from Long Island University. Before coming to UMD, she worked as a project coordinator of an NIH grant with Dr. Beatrice Beebe running mother-infant interaction visits at New York State Psychiatric Institute. Gavkhar also worked as a research assistant with Dr. Kimberly Noble (NEED lab) coding mother-child interaction videos for the Baby’s First Years study and with Dr. Kathy Hirsh-Pasek (Temple Infant & Child lab) assisting with various projects on playful learning. Under the mentorship of Dr. Rachel Romeo at the LEAD lab, Gavkhar is interested in examining how early language experiences, and the quality of early caregiver-child interactions specifically, shape children’s neurocognitive skills essential for their academic success. She hopes to use these findings to inform interventions on promoting optimal learning for children from diverse SES backgrounds. In her free time, Gavkhar enjoys going on long walks, reading and chatting with her family in NYC and overseas.