The National Science Foundation (NSF) named Dr. Kristina R. Olson, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington as the 2018 Alan T. Waterman Award recipient. Dr. Olson is recognized for her innovative and creative research that bring together the methodology of two distinct disciplines: social cognition and cognitive development to study the origins and development of biases in young people. She innovatively applies a basic science approach to questions that had been predominantly studied from a clinical perspective. This has had a transformative impact.
Among her many notable discoveries, she found that children believe people have what they deserve -- they see groups with fewer resources as deserving fewer resources. Moreover, Olson's research also found the mere existence of inequalities can cause children to develop prejudices and biased behaviors. In 2013, she organized and began leading a 20-year longitudinal research study of early childhood gender development. The study currently follows more than 1,000 children aged 3-12 from 45 U.S. states. The project will enable researchers to track social and behavioral influences on health, and evaluate the importance of childhood identity and the support children receive to lifelong health and well-being.
Dr. Olson is the recipient of several awards, including: the Association for Psychological Science's Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformational Early Career Contributions (2016), Fellow, Association for Psychological Science (2016), Davida Teller Distinguished Faculty Mentor Award (2015), SAGE Young Scholars Award (2014), the International Social Cognition Network's Early Career Award (2014), Fellow, Society for Experimental Social Psychology (2009), and NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (2005).
Dr. Olson received the BA degree in Psychology and African-American Studies from Washington University - St. Louis in 2003, and the PhD degree in Social Psychology from Harvard University in 2008. She began her faculty career at Yale University as an assistant professor (2008 - 2015), before joining the University of Washington's Psychology Department.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
