Kristen Lyons

Kristen Lyons, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Her expertise includes developmental psychology, self-regulation, metacognition, mindfulness training in youth, and college student development – particularly among first-generation students and student parents. 

Lyons has more than a decade of experience in academic research and applied psychology. Since 2021, she has served as the FamilyU Faculty Fellow, where she supports parenting students at MSU Denver through advocacy, research, and program development. She regularly presents at national and regional conferences, and her work has been published in journals such as Developmental Science and Child Development. Her research has been supported by the Jacobs Foundation and the Mind & Life Institute. 

Before joining MSU Denver in 2012, Lyons completed postdoctoral training at the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development. 

She earned her Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of California, Davis, and her B.S. in psychology from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.