Adriana Umaña-Taylor

Starting 7/1/2026

Adriana J. Umaña-Taylor, Ph.D. will join the Stanford faculty in Fall 2026 as a Professor of Adolescent Development in the Graduate School of Education.  In her work, Umaña-Taylor seeks to apply developmental science in a manner that reduces disparities in psychological and academic adjustment and, in turn, promotes social justice. Her research is guided by socio-cultural ecological theories of development, developmental prevention science, and risk and resilience frameworks. She has collaborated with school districts and community organizations for over two decades to design and implement longitudinal, school- and community-based studies to better understand the experiences of adolescents and their families. Umaña-Taylor developed the Identity Project, a school-based curriculum that engages adolescents in the developmental process of ethnic-racial identity formation. Her recent studies test the efficacy and effectiveness of the Identity Project; explore strategies to better prepare educators to engage in conversations about race, ethnicity, and identity with students; examine the role of peer relationships in adolescents’ ethnic-racial identity development; and explore the universality of ethnic-racial-cultural identity as a developmental competency among adolescents in Europe and the Global South to support building a more global developmental science. 

Umaña-Taylor has published over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, and her books include Below the Surface: Talking with Teens about Race, Ethnicity, and Identity (with Rivas-Drake; Princeton University Press, 2019); Studying Ethnic Identity: Methodological and Conceptual Approaches across Disciplines (co-edited with Santos; American Psychological Association, 2015); and Studying Ethnic Minority and Economically Disadvantaged Populations: Methodological Challenges and Best Practices (with Knight and Roosa; American Psychological Association, 2009).

Her scholarship has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Education Sciences, the National Institutes of Health, the William T. Grant Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the Foundation for Child Development. She has served as Associate Editor for the Journal of Research on Adolescence, as a member of the Executive Council of the Society for Research on Adolescence, and on the Board of Directors for the National Council on Family Relations. Her contributions to mentorship and student training have been recognized with national awards such as the Outstanding Mentor Award from the Society for Research on Adolescence, the Marie F. Peters Award from the National Council on Family Relations, and the Senior Distinguished Contributions Award from the Society for Research in Child Development. Umaña-Taylor is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Div 7 and Div 45), the Association for Psychological Science, and the National Council on Family Relations.