I am a Ph.D. student in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, where I work in the Early Childhood Cognition Lab (ECCL) advised by Laura Schulz. My research investigates how children detect and represent abstract relationships and structure in visual data.

To study these questions, I design and run online behavioral experiments—often built using tools such as jsPsych and Children Helping Science—to examine how children learn from patterns and regularities in their environment. I am also committed to open science practices, including sharing data, materials, and preregistrations whenever possible.

I am deeply committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in science. Feel free to reach out if you’d like to chat :)

You can email me at nhcoates [at] mit.edu.