April Ruiz’s talk, “How we learn from each other: A cross-species exploration,” will explore how non-human primates use social cues to navigate the world around them, and what this might tell us about our own human cognition.

April Ruiz earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in Cognitive Science from Yale University and the Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of St. Andrews.Her undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral research centered on social cognition in non-human animals, and she is co-author of several articles and book chapters on that topic. Ruiz served as a lecturer in Cognitive Science at Yale University, where she taught introductory lecture courses as well as specialized seminars. Recently, she taught a course called The Mind of a Dog, which explored how domestication has impacted canine cognition, and how human cognition influences how we interpret the behavior of our beloved pets.

April Ruiz currently serves as Associate Dean at Williams College and oversees the First Generation Student Program.