The College of New Jersey Home Page
Background
I grew
up in the Washington, D.C. area and developed an interest in psychology while at
Grinnell College (B.A.,
2001). After Grinnell, I attended
The University of Texas at Austin where I
received an M.A., and then a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology (2007). I remained at The University of Texas as a Lecturer and
Post-doctoral Fellow until I started as an Assistant Professor in the
Psychology Department at The
College of New Jersey in the fall of 2009.
Research
I am the Director of the Motivation, Individual Differences, and Stereotypes in Cognition (MISC) Lab. Please click here for lab information.
My research is focused on understanding the influence of individual and motivational differences on cognitive processing. I examine how different individual difference variables, such as self-construal, fear of isolation, mortality salience, and regulatory focus, interact with task environments. For example, in one line of research, I study how induced or chronic negative stereotypes interact with the task reward structure (e.g., gaining points) to produce performance decrements consistent with stereotype threat. I further investigate methods for improving the performance of individuals with negative stereotypes in a domain. For a list of publications and pdfs, please click here. For my C.V., please click here.
Teaching
This semester I am teaching an FSP (Psychological Constraints: Unconcious influences on thought and behavior) and Laboratory Learning (PSY390/492). I also teach Research Seminar (PSY299), Cognitive Psychology (PSY214), Design and Statistical Analysis (PSY203) and Gender Gap in Science Career Choices (PSY351/WGS351), and sponsor senior thesis projects.
Family
Please click here for recent pictures of my life outside of TCNJ.