Director of the Numeracy Development and Learning Lab

Office: 4L45

Contact: s.bugden@uwinnipeg.ca

Dr. Bugden (she/her) joined the Department of Psychology in July 2021. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Western Ontario and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the Developing Minds Lab at the University of Pennsylvania. She is thrilled to work with students on questions focusing on child development and learning. Her goal is to leverage tools from cognitive science and neuroscience to understand individual differences in the development of early numeracy skills that can translate to education.  

When she’s not engaging in teaching and research, she enjoys photography, painting, and exploring the outdoors with her Australian shepherd, Scout.  

Lab Manager/Research Assistant

Alyssa (she/her) graduated from the University of Winnipeg in June 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology. Under the supervision of Dr. Stephanie Bugden and Dr. Jim Clark, she completed her honours thesis looking into how children's ordinal knowledge plays a role in their math ability. She is interested in many areas of psychology, but mainly developmental and educational psychology, currently working with children on improving numeric abilities. Outside of work she enjoys dance, yoga, spending time with friends, family, and her dog, and making candles. 

Research Assistant

Raveena (she/her) is pursuing her Honours degree at the University of Winnipeg, planning to graduate in April 2023. Her interests in psychology vary from evolutionary and cognitive, to the psychology of relationships. She is currently conducting research on how children learn basic magnitude representations of quantity, and how it translates to math achievement. Furthermore, her research assesses the generalizability of the relationship between basic magnitude representations and math achievement on a global scale. Outside of psychology, she has a passion for religious studies, going for walks, spending time with her cat, listening to music, dancing, and learning a new language (Korean).  

Honours Thesis Student

Noah (he/him) is working towards completing an honours degree in Psychology with a minor in Indigenous Studies at the University of Winnipeg. He is primarily focused on Child Development, and Cognitive Psychology studies. His Honours’ thesis looks to improve children’s competency of numbers by incorporating ordinal training games into children’s learning of numbers, supervised by Dr. Stephanie Bugden and Dr. Sheri-Lynn Skwarchuk. After graduation, Noah’s goal is to obtain a post-graduate degree in School Psychology. Aside from Psychology, his interests include Philosophy, Politics, and Environmentalism. In his free time, he enjoys woodworking, outdoor activities, video/board games, and walks with his dog Almond. 

USRA/ISSP Student

Cassidy (she/her) is an honours neuroscience student at the University of Winnipeg. Cassidy is very involved on campus. She is the president of the .cAISES (American Indigenous Science and Engineering Society) chapter, she is an executive member of the ISA (Indigenous Students Association), and an executive member of the UWUKRSA (Ukrainian Students Association). In her free time, she enjoys volunteering at the Rainbow Resource Center, spending time outdoors, and traveling. Cassidy was chosen to participate in the SROP research program at the University of Toronto. She also participated in the P2GS and ISSP programs at the University of Winnipeg. She was also given an NSERC research grant to conduct research within the Numeracy lab. 

Honours Thesis Student

Alina (she/her) is an Honours Thesis student in Neuroscience at the University of Winnipeg, planning to graduate in February 2024. She is currently working on a thesis project with Dr. Bruce Bolster and Dr. Stephanie Bugden involving studying perception-taking tasks related to spatial navigation skills in young adults, with a possibility of expanding this research to people with varying neuropathologies. She is also a part-time medical office assistant at a dermatology clinic. Her primary research interest topics include neuroplasticity, spatial cognition, acquired brain injuries, memory disorders and neuromodulation. In her free time, she enjoys crocheting or knitting clothes, hiking in the forest, making pottery, snowboarding, and kayaking. Her pug Boris is always accompanying Alina in all her adventures.    

Honours Thesis Student

Madelyn (she/her/hers) is an honours psychology student at the University of Winnipeg with plans to graduate in spring of 2024. Her thesis is yet to be decided, however, some research she has been apart of includes the Center for the Understanding of Moral Understanding during the summer of 2021, and examining numeracy and literacy skills in preschool children in October 2022. Her main research interests include child development, cognitive psychology, and clinical psychology. She is hoping to pursue a masters degree in one of these areas. When shes not studying or working, she really enjoys rollerblading in the spring and summer months and travelling as much as possible. She is hoping to backpack through Southeast Asia for a few months when she finishes her first degree. She also really enjoys gardening and grew strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, tomatoes, and lavender among other things on her balcony for the first time this past summer and has over 30 plants in her apartment. She also has a passion for reading and just finished the book People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Hendry, which was a fun, light read.