Renée Baillargeon
Department of Psychology
University of Illinois
603 East Daniel Street
Champaign, IL 61801
Phone: (217) 333-5557
Fax: (217) 244- 5876
email: rbaillar@illinois.edu

BIRTHPLACE:

I was born in Québec, Canada, the third child of French-Canadian parents.

EDUCATION:

1975, B.A. in Psychology, McGill University, Montréal, Canada
1981, Ph.D. in Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
(primary advisor, Dr. Rochel Gelman; secondary advisor, Dr. Elizabeth Spelke)
1981-1982, Postdoctoral Fellow, MIT Center for Cognitive Science, Cambridge, MA (advisor: Dr. Susan Carey)

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

1982-1983, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Texas - Austin
1983-1989, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois
1989-1994, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois
1994-1999, Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois
2000-present, Alumni Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

The research my collaborators and I are conducting examines cognitive development in infancy and focuses primarily on causal reasoning. We explore how infants make sense of the events they observe, and what explanatory frameworks and learning mechanisms enable them to do so.

Our research focuses on causal reasoning in three domains:

* Our research on physical reasoning explores the development of infants’ expectations about the displacements and interactions of objects and other physical entities.

* Our research on psychological reasoning examines the development of infants’ and toddlers’ expectations about the actions and interactions of agents.

* Our research on biological reasoning asks whether infants view animals simply as self-propelled agents or whether they attribute to them additional, potentially biological, properties.

In addition to this primary focus on causal reasoning, we are also interested in a broad rage of related issues including object perception, categorization, object individuation, number, moral reasoning, and executive function skills.

AWARDS AND HONORS:

As a student:

1973-1974, University Fellowship, McGill University;
1975, Graduated with First Class Honors, McGill University;
1976-1978, Postgraduate Fellowship, National Research Council of Canada;
1978-1979, Dean's Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania;
1978-1980, Postgraduate Fellowship, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada;
1980-1981, Postgraduate Fellowship, Québec Department of Education;
1981-1982, Postdoctoral Fellowship, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

As a researcher:

1986-1987, Beckman Fellowship, Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois; 1989, University Scholar, University of Illinois;
1989, Boyd R. McCandless Young Scientist Award, American Psychological Association, Division 7;
1990, Center Fellowship, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford;
1991-1992, Guggenheim Fellowship;
1991-1992, Beckman Associate, Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois;
1993, Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science;
2000-, Alumni Distinguished Professorship, University of Illinois;
2007, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences;
2008, Distinguished Scientist Lecturer, American Psychological Association.

Baillargeon (1987, Developmental Psychology): Number 15 on the list of “20 Most Revolutionary Studies in Child Psychology (published since 1950)”, based on a survey of members of the Society for Research in Child Development published in 2002 by Wallace Dixon, Jr.

As a teacher:

1986-1987, Psi Chi Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign;
1989-1990, Psychology Graduate Students Organization Instructional Award, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign;
1996-1997, Psi Chi Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign;
2005-2006, Psi Chi Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign.

University of Illinois List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students, since 1999 (**denotes an outstanding rating): Spring 1999, **Spring 2000, **Spring 2001, **Fall 2002, Spring 2003, Fall 2003, **Fall 2004, Spring 2007, **Spring 2008.

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