adani abutto

I’m currently a researcher and Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University, where I’m advised by the wonderful Prof. Hyo Gweon! I also collaborate closely with the Bonawitz Computational Cognitive Development Lab at Harvard University.

In my work, I care about (1) conducting basic research to build out our understanding of how our minds and brains operate, learn, and develop from early childhood onward, and (2), leveraging that understanding *outside* of research to produce a tangible positive impact on children's development and lives. You can read more about my research here, and one of my (co-)efforts to build bridges between science & the world outside of science here!

I'm Swiss-Kenyan and was born and raised in the bilingual town of Biel which sits right between the German- and French-speaking parts of Switzerland. I spent most of my childhood years playing video games. After high school, I worked in asylum law with the Swiss government, did some teaching in special ed, and helped infants, toddlers, and kids have a fun(-ish?) time in preschool. I then went on to study and do research at ZHAW, ETH Zurich, HU Berlin, LMU Munich, TUM, and Harvard!

I like to read and write, wander around and photograph my surroundings, and dabble in small web design projects (like this website!) I also enjoy baking, home decor/interior design, and winter sports (skiing & ice skating), and I try my best to log the many shows and movies I enjoy(ed) watching :)

Thanks for stopping by, and don’t hesitate to reach out!

news

04/04/2025	Our project proposal, Joyful Self-Surprise as an Engine for Learning in Early Childhood, was selected for a $25,000 Seed Grant from the Stanford Accelerator for Learning! Very excited to launch this research together with Junyi Chu, Judy Fan, and Hyowon Gweon :)
02/10/2025	A paper I co-authored was published in Frontiers in Developmental Psychology! We find that the ability to explicitly notice inconsistencies in one's thinking may be an important facilitator of children’s developing understanding of the physical world, above and beyond often-discussed capacities like executive functioning!
12/28/2024	Super excited to join the Cards 4 Kids team at Stanford & Lucile Packard Children's Hospital as a volunteer! :)
11/22/2024	I recorded another podcast episode, this time with Kate Petrova! We talked about computational affective science, grad school, and many more things :) You can check out our conversation here – thank you, Kate!
10/24/2024	I got to chat with the wonderful Julia Chatain on the Stanford Psychology Podcast! We talked about math education, learning technologies, interdisciplinarity, and many more things :) You can check out our conversation here – thank you, Julia!
10/18/2024	Our paper, Estimating the replicability of psychology experiments after an initial failure to replicate, spearheaded by Veronica Boyce, was published in Collabra! You can view the article here!
03/14/2024	For my very first episode on the Stanford Psychology Podcast, I got to chat with the amazing Halie Olson – you can listen to our conversation here! We talk about Halie’s intriguing work in developmental cognitive neuroscience, her journey into science, and more. Thank you, Halie!