Isabella Stallworthy

Isabella Stallworthy is a researcher with a strong background in developmental science and neuroscience. She completed her PhD in Developmental Science at the University of Minnesota's Institute of Child Development, where she was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF-GRFP).12

Currently, Isabella is a James S. McDonnell Foundation (JSMF) postdoctoral fellow in the Complex Systems Lab at the University of Pennsylvania, working under the mentorship of Dr. Dani S. Bassett.2 Her research focuses on examining how brains, physiology, and behavior coordinate and specialize to support social interaction, cognition, and learning in human development.2

Academic Background

• PhD in Developmental Science from the University of Minnesota's Institute of Child Development (2022)2
• B.A. in Neuroscience from Middlebury College (2015, graduated with honors)1

Research Experience

Before her doctoral studies, Isabella spent two years at the Marcus Autism Center/Emory University as a Donald J. Cohen Pre-Doctoral Fellow in Developmental Social Neuroscience.12 During this time, she examined how social smiling and visual engagement influence infant-caregiver dyadic interactions in typically developing infants and those who develop autism.1

Research Interests

Isabella's research takes a complex dynamic systems approach, focusing on:

• Intra- and inter-personal social-cognitive dynamics
• The influence of early experience and neurodevelopmental risk factors on core developmental outcomes
• Network neuroscience techniques to study social information processing in the developing brain
• Functional flexibility of cortical-subcortical interactions during emotion processing
• Patterns of network plasticity in the social brain over the course of development2

Methodological Approach

Isabella employs various techniques in her research, including:

• Dynamic network neuroscience
• "Two-person" hyper-scanning techniques
• Causally informed techniques
• Measurement invariance methods
• Dynamical systems methods2

Isabella Stallworthy is committed to promoting equity and diversity in her work and strives to conduct research that is translational, with implications for clinical and intervention science surrounding neurodevelopmental disorders.2