Professor, University of Pittsburgh Department of Psychology
Research Scientist, Learning Research & Development Center
- PhD, Clark University; Post-doctoral training, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Education & Training
- 08/26/24: Diana Leyva was awarded for the top 10 most cited papers in Child Development in 2022-2023 for "A strengths-based, culturally responsive family intervention improves Latino kindergarteners."
- 01/30/24: Diana Leyva, with Co-PIs Sharon Ross and Patricia Documet, received a two-year, $178K grant from the Brady Education Foundation for "Recipe for Success (RFS): Improving Literacy and Diet in Latino Preschoolers Through Peer Support."
- 08/29/22: Diana Leyva was recently awarded William Penn Foundation grant to work in Philadelphia during 2022-2023. Leyva will pilot “Literacy Eats” an intervention that promotes children’s literacy through cooking classes with adult caregivers.
- 11/16/21: How Getting Kids to Make Grocery Lists and Set the Table Can Improve Their Vocabulary and Willingness to Learn. Diana Leyva, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and LRDC Research Scientist, was featured in The Conversation.
Awards
Research Interests
I study authentic familial practices that support preschool children’s early language, literacy and math development in ethnically diverse communities and use that information to design, implement, and evaluate intervention programs for families in these communities. My research has identified two rarely studied familial practices that promote school readiness and are meaningful and culturally relevant for families from diverse ethnic backgrounds: food routines (e.g., grocery shopping, cooking, mealtimes) and oral narratives (e.g., reminiscing).
Diana Leyva's Google Scholar profile
