Pritha Sengupta

I am a Ph.D. student in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine, specializing in Education Policy and Social Contexts. My work broadly centers on early childhood education and development.

In particular, I focus on the short- and long-run impacts of early childhood interventions and how early skills and environmental contexts shape long-term development. I am interested in the causal mechanisms behind skill acquisition, and I utilize meta-analytic techniques, structural equation modeling, and econometric causal inference methods in my work.

Prior to joining UC Irvine, I was a lab manager at the Shusterman Cognitive Development Lab at Wesleyan University, where I explored how play-based interventions promote early numeracy skills. I hold an M.A. in Developmental Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a B.A. in Psychology (with minors in Anthropology and English Literature) from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, India.

Outside of research, you can find me at my weekly trivia night, working through the NYT crossword, gardening, or participating in labor organizing!