Vanessa N. Bermudez, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Psychological Science at Loyola Marymount University. She earned her Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Irvine, with a concentration in Human Development in Context. Her research examines the design and evaluation of playful learning environments across school, home, and community settings to support young children’s early math and science learning. Grounded in culturally sustaining pedagogies, she works to align educational experiences with the cultural practices and strengths of children and families.
Dr. Bermudez partners with families and educators, particularly within Latine communities, to co-create engaging, culturally meaningful learning opportunities that foster early skills and strengthen home–school connections. She also equips educators with strategies to draw on families’ funds of knowledge to enrich math and science instruction. Her earlier work explored bilingual language development, parenting practices, numerical cognition, and caregiver quality of care.
Her research has been published in journals such as Contemporary Educational Psychology, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, and Theory Into Practice.