About Me

Hello, and welcome to the SPROUT Lab website!

I’m Morgan Thompson, an incoming Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Kent State University (beginning August 2026) and director of the SPROUT Lab. I will be accepting a Ph.D. student for Fall 2026 admission and am excited to connect with prospective students. Please click here for more information.

Currently, I am completing a Research Fellowship in the Department of Human Development and Family Science at Auburn University. I earned my Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Rochester in May 2022.

My research explores how children grow and adapt within their families and broader environments. My work emphasizes risk and resilience processes to understand why some children do well across many different circumstances—like dandelions—while others need very particular conditions to thrive, like orchids. To answer these questions, I study children’s socioemotional and bioregulatory (e.g., sleep, stress physiology) development within the family context and how these processes are shaped by the larger ecological systems in which families live. Guided by theory (e.g., emotional security theory, family systems theory), I work across multiple levels of analysis (e.g., family and child behavior, sleep, physiological regulation, eye-tracking) and use diverse methodologies (e.g., observational, narrative, survey) that incorporate perspectives from caregivers, children, and teachers. Much of my work leverages longitudinal data to capture developmental processes as they unfold over time.

​Outside of academia, I enjoy spending time with my cat, hiking and being in nature, propagating plants, crocheting, and gathering with friends and family!