Laura Sikes is the Lead Learning Experience Designer at USC’s Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education (CANDLE), based at the Rossier School of Education. She leads the design of practitioner-facing tools and professional learning that bring the center’s research on adolescent development, neuroscience, and transcendent thinking into classrooms, schools, and systems.

Laura began her career as an elementary teacher in Harlem, then earning her graduate degree in Mind, Brain, and Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. For over a decade, she has worked with schools, districts, and states across the country through her time at Turnaround for Children and ASU’s Center for Whole-Child Education, where she collaborated with partners to put the science of learning and development into practice, creating more supportive and equitable learning experiences for students.