Dr. Alexis Merculief is an incoming Assistant Professor at the Ballmer Institute, starting in fall of 2025. Alexi earned her PhD in Human Development and Family Studies from Oregon State University. Alexis is interested in how features of the built and social environment influence young children's behavioral and cognitive health (specifically, executive function skills). Her research also examines how sources of community and cultural resilience can promote mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, and behavioral health for children from American Indian, Alaska Native (AI/AN), and other underserved populations. Alexis is an Unangax (Aleut) tribal member and previously worked to promote education, health, and cultural connection for AI/AN children through youth program development at an urban AI/AN health organization in the Northwest. Currently, Alexis is completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University's Center on Early Childhood.