Contact
Phone: 703-526-6825
Email:
Website: www.ellapmerriwether.com

Academic Credentials
B.A., John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY
M.A., Graduate Center, CUNY
Ph.D., Graduate Center, CUNY

Biography

Dr. Ella P. Merriwether studied Forensic Psychology and Gender Studies at John Jay College of
Criminal Justice, CUNY. Being a proud CUNY alumna, she continued her education at the
Graduate Center, CUNY. Under the advisement of Dr. Kelly McWilliams, she completed her MA
and PhD in Psychology with a concentration in Psychology and Law. After graduating, she
joined the faculty of the Forensic and Legal Psychology Program at Marymount University.
Dr. Ella prides herself on being a thoughtful instructor, mentor, and researcher. She believes it is
her duty to make her work applicable, accessible, and actionable.
Dr. Ella is interested in cognitive development, with a specific focus on how children’s immature
cognitive processes limit their abilities as witnesses in the legal setting. Dr. Ella’s existing
research has focused on how children’s temporal and numerical reasoning and event memory
impact their ability to provide accurate and robust memory reports. Her dissertation, funded by
the National Science Foundation (NSF), examined the role event boundaries play in
preschoolers’ recall of forensically-relevant information. Dr. Ella’s research has been published
in Psychology, Public Policy and Law, Child Maltreatment, and Child Abuse Review and she
regularly presents her research at national and international conferences (i.e., American
Psychology-Law Society; American Speach-Language-Hearing Association; Society of Applied
Research in Memory and Cognition).

While she loves research, Dr. Ella is equally passionate about equitable teaching and
mentoring. She completed an Advanced Certificate in Interactive Technology and Pedagogy and
created the Open Psych Project. Her goal is to help instructors save time on lesson planning,
boost engagement and student-centered learning goals, and inspire their own pedagogical
creativity.

Since starting her career at Marymount University, she has worked with Dr. Megan Mahowald to
develop Camp Santos: Rec N’ Read, a dynamic bilingual (English/Spanish) literacy summer
camp for elementary school children, including those with disabilities or who struggle to learn to
read and write, designed to boost confidence and skills in reading, writing, and self-efficacy.
When not at work, Dr. Ella enjoys consuming all variety of media. You can often find her at her
local movie theater, library, or museum. She is also an avid Dungeons & Dragons player, which
serves as a great way to keep in touch with long-distance friends.

Other Information

Teaching Area
– Legal and Investigative Psychology
– Psychology, Public Policy, and the Law
– Child Victimization

Research Interests
– Child forensic interviewing/testimony
– Children’s event memory
– Child-adult communication
– Child literacy development

Publications

Publications in Peer-Reviewed Journals
* Denotes collaboration with student
*Cameron, M., Merriwether, E.P., Stolzenberg, S.N., Evans, A.D., & McWilliams, K. (2025).
Attorneys’ questions about time in criminal cases of alleged child sexual abuse. Child
Maltreatment, 30(2), 266-277. https://doi.org/10.1177/10775595241271426
Wylie, B., Merriwether, E.P., Olaguez, A.P., *Lieber, M., Klemfuss, J.Z., Lyon, T.D., &
McWilliams, K. (2024). Adults’ interpretation of invitations using the word ‘time’. Child
Abuse Review, 33(3), e2860. https://doi.org/10.1002/car.2869
Merriwether, E.P., Fessinger, M., Stolzenberg, S., Evans, A., & McWilliams, K. (2023). A
preference for the proximate occurrence: Adults’ temporal judgments and interpretations
of children’s temporal judgments. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 29(2), 224-238.
https://doi.org/10.1037/law0000367

Peer-Reviewed Presentations at Professional Meetings
* Denotes collaboration with student
Merriwether, E.P., *Cameron, M., & McWilliams, K. (June, 2025). Impact of event boundaries
and intentionality on children’s memory reports. Paper presented to the biannual meeting
of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, Kildare, Ireland.
Merriwether, E.P., *Cameron, M., & McWilliams, K. (March, 2025). Impact of intentionality on
children’s memory reports. Paper presented to the annual meeting of the American
Psychology-Law Society, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Merriwether, E.P., *Lieber, M., Wylie, B., Olaguez, A.P., Klemfuss, J.Z., Lyon, T.D., &
McWilliams, K. (March, 2023). Adults’ interpretations of attorneys’ pseudotemporal
questions and children’s responses. Paper presented to the annual meeting of the
American Psychology-Law Society, Philadelphia, PA.
Merriwether, E.P., *Cohen, R., *Anderson, T. Lyon, T.D., Williams, S., & McWilliams, K. (March,
2022). Examining children’s explanations for their relative temporal judgments. Paper
presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Denver, CO.
Merriwether, E., Fessinger, M., Stolzenberg, S., Evans, A., & McWilliams, K. (March, 2020).
Adults’ temporal judgments and interpretations of children’s temporal judgments. Paper
presented at the meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, New Orleans,
Louisiana.
Jones, K.R., Crozier, W.E., Merriwether, E., & Strange, D. (March, 2020). Source-monitoring
errors for ambiguous recorded police-civilian encounter. In Saulnier, A. (Chair), 080.
Effects of body-worn cameras: Building evidence-based policing. Paper presented at the
annual meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Crozier, W., Jones, K., Merriwether, E., & Strange, D. (June, 2019). Without seeing: Source
monitoring difficulties for ambiguous body-worn camera footage. Paper presented at the
meeting of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, Cape Cod, MA.
Crozier, W., Cardenas, S., Merriwether, E., & Strange, D. (June, 2019). Beyond believability:
Observers’ credibility and memory quality ratings for mock crime alibis. Paper presented
at the meeting of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, Cape Cod,
MA.
Fessinger, M., McWilliams, K., Williams, S., Merriwether, E., Lyon, T. (June, 2019). Maltreated
children’s biases when making relative temporal judgments. Paper presented at the
meeting of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, Cape Cod, MA.
Crozier, W., Jones, K., Merriwether, E., & Strange, D. (March, 2019). Fill in the blanks: Memory
for ambiguous body-worn camera footage. Paper presented at the meeting of the
American Psychology-Law Society, Portland, OR.

Peer-Reviewed Posters at Professional Meetings
* Denotes collaboration with student
*Cameron, M., Merriwether, E.P., Stolzenberg, S.N., Evans, A.D., & McWilliams, K. (March,
2023). Attorney’s questions about time in criminal cases of alleged child sexual abuse.
Poster presented to the annual meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society,
Philadelphia, PA.
Aronson, E., Fessinger, M.B., Merriwether, E., McAuliff, B.D., & McWilliams, K. (March, 2021).
How do jurors react when child witnesses say “I don’t know”? The broader effects of the
don’t know instruction. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American
Psychology-Law Society, virtual. […]

Read More…