About the team
COG Learning combines expertise in child development and advanced AI technologies with a deep commitment to ensuring all children have rich opportunities for learning, even before entering school. Our team is united by a passion for creating engaging, evidence-based learning solutions that lay the foundation for children's success.
Amy Booth, Ph.D.
Dr. Amy Booth is a Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College and Director of the Little Learners Lab. The idea for REED sprang from her research studying early learning and school readiness.
Margaret Shavlik, Ph.D.
Dr. Margaret Shavlik is a Research Scholar at Vanderbilt with extensive experience in dialogic reading and data analysis. As COG Learning's CEO and President, she has played a pivotal role in shaping its vision and driving its success.
Abigail Petulante, Ph.D.
Dr. Abigail Petulante is an Applied Deep Learning Postdoctoral Fellow at Vanderbilt’s Data Science Institute. She serves as COG Learning's CTO, leveraging her expertise in large transformer models to enhance REED’s AI applications.
Our story
Over the course of several years researching early learning, Amy and Margaret became increasingly frustrated by the stubborn persistence of opportunity gaps that put too many children at a disadvantage as they begin school. Inspired by the potential of AI, they teamed up with Abbie to create a solution that amplifies the accessibility and scalability of traditional early literacy interventions.
What began as a side project in the Vanderbilt University Data Science for Social Good summer program quickly grew into a major initiative rooted in the belief that technological innovation can help provide every child with the strong foundations they need for success in school and beyond.