Dana Miller-Cotto, Ph.D.
Pronunciation: DAY-nuh mil-er k-OH-t-oh
Picture of Dana Miller-Cotto (March, 2024)
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Welcome! I am an Assistant Professor in the Berkeley School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley. Before coming to Berkeley, I was an Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences at Kent State University in Ohio.
My research looks at how children learn math and what is happening in their minds to help their thinking while they learn. I focus primarily on executive functions, which are the mental skills we use to stay focused, remember information, control impulses, and manage our feelings. I study how these skills aid early math learning, how we can design learning materials that make it easier to support these skills, and how to make sure the tests we use to measure executive function are fair for all children. A common thread in my work is understanding why some groups of students, especially Black and Latine students living in poverty, often face more challenges in early schooling. The bigger goal of my work is to make sure that the experiences, strengths, and cultural backgrounds of minoritized students are respected and built into the way we teach and support them. My work has been published in top journals such as Journal of Educational Psychology, Developmental Review, Learning and Individual Differences, and Developmental Psychology. My work has been supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), Brady Education Foundation, and the Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood. My work has been featured in the Washington Post and EdSurge. |
I am a proud product of the New York City public school system, shaped by the support of dedicated educators and mentors. From there, I earned my degree from the City University of New York (CUNY)—the largest public urban university system in the U.S. and a transformative engine of social mobility—followed by graduate training at Temple University, Philadelphia’s only public university. My own journey reflects why I believe so deeply in the power and promise of public education.
I will NOT be reviewing applications for PhD students for the Fall 2025 admissions cycle. However, I will be reviewing applications for Master's students hoping to begin in the Fall of 2026. For the sake of equity, I do not meet with prospective students before the official application deadline.
If you are an undergraduate student who hopes to gain research experiences with me (either through UC Berkeley or otherwise), please send me an email ([email protected]) indicating your interest.
If you are an undergraduate student who hopes to gain research experiences with me (either through UC Berkeley or otherwise), please send me an email ([email protected]) indicating your interest.
"I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops".
- Stephen Jay Gould, Historian of Science