Amanda joined UC Davis in 2009 as an assistant professor in the human development and family studies program in the Department of Human Ecology. Following her undergraduate education at Skidmore College in New York, she worked for several years at a non-profit public policy research organization in New York City. 

She received her Ph.D. in developmental psychology at Yale University where she focused on early childhood program evaluation, child maltreatment and developmental psychopathology. She completed a postdoc at the National Institute for Mental Health, training on using neuroimaging to study brain development and in pediatric mental health. 

At UC Davis, she was named a William T. Grant Scholar in support of her work on the interplay between children’s social relationships, brain function and well-being. She was elected a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science in 2019, recognizing her distinguished contributions to the field in research, teaching and service. 

A UC Davis Chancellor’s Fellow, she served as chair of the Human Development Graduate Program for two terms and as associate director and co-director of the Center for Mind and Brain where she leads her federally funded research program.