Melanie Killen

Melanie Killen is Distinguished University Professor of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, and Professor of Psychology (Affiliate). Her research is funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and the National Science Foundation (NSF) for her work on children’s and adolescents’ development. She is a member of the National Academy of Education and a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, the American Psychological Association, and the Society for the Study of Psychological Issues.  

Dr. Killen is the author of Children and Social Exclusion: Morality, Prejudice and Group Identity (2011) and has co–edited 6 books, including serving as the Editor of the Handbook on Moral Development (2006; 2014; 2022). She has over 250 publications, including empirical journal articles and book chapters. Her book on morality in everyday life won the outstanding book award from the American Educational Research Association. Dr. Killen served as an expert witness in a school desegregation case, and helped prepare two Supreme Court briefs regarding the impact of school desegregation on children’s social development. She has also served as a consultant for a federal initiative on interventions designed to reduce prejudice and to promote inclusion in U.S. elementary schools, and for Sesame Street, where she conducted an evaluation of their program in the Middle-East.

Dr. Killen serves on the Brain Trust for Educational Initiatives at the National Museum for African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. Her research has been profiled in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Baltimore Examiner, The American Scientist, The Chronicle of Higher Education, American School Board Journal, Teaching Tolerance Magazine, ABCNews.com, Newsweek.com, Parenting, Parent–Wise Magazine, Redbook, Baby Journal, as well as featured on CNN AC360 with Anderson Cooper and Soledad O’Brien for a commissioned show that her team conducted called “Kids on Race: The Hidden Picture,” which won an Emmy Award. Her research is funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.  She is currently conducted a randomized control trial of school-based intervention program, Developing Inclusive Youth, designed to reduce prejudice in childhood.

Dr. Killen’s research areas of expertise include the origins of prejudice and bias, social exclusion in childhood based on gender, race, ethnicity, wealth status, immigrant status, and nationality.  She also studies children's moral reasoning, conceptions of social inequalities and intergroup dynamics.  Currently, she is implementing her school-based program called Developing Inclusive Youth and aims to broaden participation in STEM by promoting inclusive classroom environments.