Jamie Jirout, Phd (CV)
​principal investigator

Jamie Jirout leads the Research in Education and Learning Lab at UVA. She is originally from Florida, and attended the University of Miami where she majored in psychology and began studying cognitive development with Dr. Daryl Greenfield. She earned her Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University under the mentorship of Dr. David Klahr. While at CMU, she developed a measure of young children's curiosity based on uncertainty preference, which she continues to use in her research today. She was trained in the Program for Interdisciplinary Education Research, and was affiliated with the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center. Jamie then joined the Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center as a postdoc working with Dr. Nora Newcombe at Temple University. While there, she worked at the Temple Infant and Child Lab to study the development of spatial reasoning skills, and how spatial learning takes place through playful activities. She continues research in these areas now as a faculty member at the University of Virginia. Jamie enjoys living in Charlottesville, VA with her family, including her three young children who provide inspiration and feedback on new research protocols and are expert research participants.

Current students and lab members

​Affiliated Faculty: Ginny Vitiello, PhD, Sharon Zumbrunn, PhD, Erik Ruzek, PhD 
​Peppy Winchel, M.A., M.PH., Research Specialist 
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 Sierra Eissen, PhD
Recently graduated PhD student in Psychology and two-year VEST fellow, co-advised by Angelline Lillard and Jamie Jirout. Sierra's dissertation investigated spatial learning using physical and digital devices. 

Shoronda Matthews (email) 
Current PhD student in Education and VEST affiliate. Shoronda's research explores how to teach science through digital learning using narrative text.  

Rachel Siefring, Current MEd student
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Other current RAs: Holly Battist, Khin Kyaw, Michelle Miller, Tara Srivastava 

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Alumni

Josh Medrano, , M.Ed. (Current PhD student at the University of Maryland) 
Emily Maxfield, M.Ed. 
Karime Cameron, M.Ed. 
Tessa Boutwell, M.Ed. 
Tiffany Leones, M.Ed. 
Mckenzie Canard, M.Ed.  

Past lab coordinators: 
Jinhee Lee  
Mary Grace Britton 
​Savannah Sunvold 

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) alumni: 
Miles Arrington (Current PhD student at Penn State) 
Jamila Salim 
Juhi Nath (Current M.SW. student at Boston University) 
Iris Sanchez

Other undergraduate lab alumni: 
Meg Ritchie, Caroline Crossman, Jasmeen Dhillon 
YSI (Youth and Social Innovations): Kelsi Jensen, Jay Huff
USOAR: Kaleigh Warburton, Gracie Tillman, Maxime Pierre-Louis