Daniel S. Messinger, Ph.D.
Professor
Associate Director, Child Division
DIRECTOR, SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL DATA SCIENCE, INSTITUTE FOR DATA SCIENCE AND COMPUTING
Director, Early Play and Development Lab
Research Director, Linda Ray Intervention Center
Education
| 1985 | B.A. Independent (Psychology), Haverford College, Haverford, PA |
| 1988 | Human Development, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL |
| 1994 | Ph.D. Developmental Psychology, University of Utah |
Professional Experience
| 1998 - 2003 | Assistant Professor, Departments of Psychology & Pediatrics, University of Miami |
| 2003 - 2009 | Associate Professor, Departments of Psychology & Pediatrics, University of Miami |
| 2009 - 2010 | Associate Professor of Psychology, Pediatrics, and Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Miami |
| 2011 - 2014 | Professor of Psychology, Pediatrics, and Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Miami |
| 2014 - | Professor of Psychology (Developmental Area Head), Pediatrics, Music Engineering, and Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Miami |
Honors & Acknowledgements
Provost’s Research Award, Univ. of Miami
Director, Social Systems Informatics, Center for Computational Science, Univ. of Miami
Executive Committee, NIH/Autism Speaks Baby Siblings Research Consortium 2010 – 2014 Cooper Fellow, University of Miami
Dr. Messinger investigates the temporal dynamics of communication to understand how infants and children’s social, emotional, and language development. He uses machine learning to paint an objective picture of children’s interaction and employs computational models to make sense of the resulting big behavioral data.
Dr. Messinger works with children affected by autism spectrum disorder (ASD), hearing loss, and poverty. By understanding interaction, he seeks to fosters pathways to healthy development. Specific projects include the emergence of secure attachment, objective measures of autistic behavior, and language networks in inclusive classrooms.
Selected Publications
Fasano, R. M., Perry, L. K., Zhang, Y., Vitale, L., Wang, J., Song, C., & Messinger, D. S. (2021). A granular perspective on inclusion: Objectively measured interactions of preschoolers with and without autism. Autism Research.
Martin, K. B., Haltigan, J. D., Ekas, N., Prince, E. B., & Messinger, D. S. Attachment security differs by later autism spectrum disorder: A prospective study. Developmental Science, n/a(n/a), e12953. doi:10.1111/desc.12953
Messinger, D. S., E. B. Prince, M. Zheng, K. Martin, S. G. Mitsven, S. Huang, T. Stölzel, C. Rivero-Fernandez, N. Johnson, U. Rudolph, L. K. Perry, B. Laursen & C. Song (2019) Continuous measurement of dynamic classroom social interactions. International Journal of Behavioral Development. 0165025418820708.
Perry, L. K., Prince, E. B., Valtierra, A. M., Rivero-Fernandez, C., Ullery, M. A., Katz, L. F., Laursen, B., Messinger, D. S. (2018). A year in words: The dynamics and consequences of language experiences in an intervention classroom. PLoS ONE, 13(7), e0199893. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0199893
Martin, K. B., Hammal, Z., Ren, G., Cohn, J., Cassell, J., Ogihara, M., Ph.D. Britton, J.C., Gutierrez, A., Messinger, D. S. (2018). Objective measurement of head movement differences in children with and without autism spectrum disorder. Molecular Autism 9:14, 10.1186/s13229-018-0198-4.
Social, language and emotional development. | Modeling interaction using objectively measured, big behavioral data. | Foci: autism, attachment, preschool classrooms.
