Ann S. Masten

About the author:

I study risk and resilience in development with a focus on the processes leading to positive adaptation and outcomes in children and families whose lives are threatened by adversity.

What I want to achieve:

The goal of my work is to inform science, practice, and policy that aim to understand and promote positive adaptation and resilience as well as to reduce risk, disparities, and vulnerabilities in children and youth.

My previous positions:

Before I retired in May of 2025, I was a professor at the Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota Twin Cities from 1986 – 2025, where I was the first woman to serve as director (chair) for two terms (1999 – 2005). Over the years, I also have served as President of the Society for Research in Child Development and President of Division 7 (Developmental) of the American Psychological Association. I co-chaired a new Forum on Investing in Young Children Globally for the U.S. National Academies while also serving on their Board on Children, Youth, and Families (2010 – 2016). I was a U.S. Delegate to the International Congress of Psychology in Yokohama, Japan in 2016 and the Psychology Day speaker at the United Nations in 2017. 

Awards & accomplishments:

The second edition of my book, Ordinary Magic: Resilience in Development, was published in 2025 by Guilford Press. I also have published more than 300 scholarly works widely cited in multiple fields, primarily on the themes related to positive development in the context of adversity. Thousands of participants from more than 180 countries have taken my free online course (MOOC) on “Resilience in Children Exposed to Trauma, Disaster and War.” My autobiography is included in the 2025 volume, Pillars of Developmental Psychology.  

I have been honored by a number of awards, including the 2025 Gold Medal for Impact in Psychology from the American Psychological Foundation, the 2024 Grawemeyer Prize in Psychology for the idea of resilience as “ordinary magic,” lifetime achievement awards from the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Society for Research in Child Development, and honorary doctorates from Erasmus University in the Netherlands and Colgate University in the USA. I am a Fellow of APA and the Association for Psychological Science and I was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021.