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 Coordinator/ Research Assistant

Alina (she/her) is a lab coordinator and a senior research assistant at the Numeracy, Development and Learning Lab. She graduated with BSc Honours in Neuroscience in June of 2024. She started her research journey working on a thesis with Dr. Bruce Bolster and Dr. Stephanie Bugden examining cognitive associations between the perception-taking spatial skills and mathematical abilities in young adults. In the past year, Alina has been involved in an ERP project exploring the association of early literacy and numeracy skills in young children before the beginning of formal schooling.  Alina’s research interests involve the neural underpinnings of learning and memory, neurodegenerative diseases, and traumatic brain injuries. In her spare time, Alina enjoys backwoods camping, kayaking, snowboarding, and anything to do with the outdoors.

Honours Thesis Student/ USRA Student/Research Assistant

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. 

Volunteer Research Assistant/ Teaching Assistant

Olivia (she/her) is currently working on getting her Honours degree in psychology at the University of Winnipeg. She is interested in how children reason about order and how it relates to their performance in order production and verification tasks, as well as how children think about phenomena that are counterintuitive, like magnets. Olivia is hoping to do her thesis in 2025 under the supervision of Dr. Stephanie Bugden and Dr. Brandon Goulding. In her free time, Olivia enjoys crocheting, going to live shows, and hanging out with animals! 

Volunteer Research Assistant

Katie (she/her/hers) is an Honours student in Psychology at the University of Winnipeg, planning on graduating in spring 2026. She is passionate about understanding and positively impacting the lives of young people. Her ultimate career goal is to work in school psychology, where she hopes to make a positive impact by helping students navigate challenges in the classroom and their personal lives. In addition to her studies, she works part-time at a restaurant. Outside of academics and work, Katie enjoys travelling, indoor cycling, and spending time with her friends and her dogs, Daisy and Nitro.

Honours Thesis Student

Erica (she/her) is a thesis student who joined our lab in the Spring of 2024. Despite her recent involvement, she has already joined our lab members in a few school testing sessions and participated in a knowledge mobilization event at KidsFest. Erica’s primary research interests are in educational and developmental psychology, and she aspires to pursue graduate studies in school psychology in the future.  When Erica is not studying, she loves to read (mostly fiction, but always looking for new book recommendations), travel, and listen to music, particularly Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers. 

Honours Thesis Student

Zachary Ferguson-Baird (he/him) is an honours Neuroscience student graduating in the spring of 2025. He has a love of math and for his thesis he is studying how adverse childhood experiences affect the acquisition of numeracy and literacy skills. Zachary is excited to learn and is fascinated by cognitive neuroscience, the genes behind brain development, and math in general. His goal is to pursue Educational Neuroscience at a Graduate School, with an end goal of research and teaching as a professor. Another love of Zachary’s is learning how to host community. Currently he works as an EA at a small community-based school and teaches canoeing. When not studying you could probably find Zachary in the gym, reading, sewing, or playing board games, with his wife and their friends.