Stella Christie is an academic and cognitive scientist currently serving as the Vice Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology in Indonesia. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Northwestern University. In addition to her role in government, she is a professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, where she also serves as Research Chair at the Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence and Director of the Child Cognition Center. Stella is a member of the Governing Board of the Cognitive Science Society and a Science and Education Advisor to the Indonesian Government.

Her research focuses on the relational nature of human intelligence. She hypothesizes that our cognitive abilities are rooted in our capacity to understand and process relationships, from simple concepts like "mother" and "bigger" to more complex tasks such as mathematical operations and map reading. Her work explores three key areas: (1) identifying the basic relations shared by humans and other animals, (2) understanding how relational thinking develops, and (3) examining how we acquire and navigate complex social relationships. Through behavioral studies of young children and great apes, her lab has uncovered significant similarities and differences in relational cognition across species. Ultimately, her research aims to understand how innate relational abilities, language, and comparison processes interact to shape intelligent behavior.