Patricia Kuhl

Dr. Pat Kuhl gets to the root of how we communicate and learn by uncovering how early exposure to language alters the brain. Her research on early language and brain development, and how young children learn, has implications across multiple areas — critical periods in child development, bilingual education and reading readiness, developmental disabilities involving language, and research on computer understanding of speech.

At the University of Washington, Dr. Kuhl is the Bezos Family Foundation Endowed Chair for Early Childhood Learning, Co-Director of the UW Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, Director of the University of Washington’s National Science Foundation Science of Learning Center, and Professor of Speech and Hearing Sciences. In 1997, she presented at President and Mrs. Clinton’s Conference on “Early Learning and the Brain.” In 2001, she returned to present at President and Mrs. Bush’s White House Summit on “Early Cognitive Development: Ready to Read, Ready to Learn.” In her co-authored book, The Scientist in the Crib: Minds, Brains, and How Children Learn, Dr. Kuhl reviews what is now known about children’s minds and how they learn, as well as how babies recognize, understand and take part in the building of their own brains.