Research
My primary research interest broadly concerns the cognitive processes that lead to errors in judgment, problem solving, and decision making. Specifically, I am interested in the application (or over-application) of causal reasoning and how that contributes to these errors. In plain English, my interests in this area area are driven by one question: Why do people believe things (that they shouldn't)?
Teaching
When I attended the University of Northern Iowa, the culture of the university revolved, to a large extent, around teaching. For part of my undergraduate career, I was an energy educator for the Center for Energy and Environmental Education at UNI. Part of this job involved teaching kids about solar power using mini solar car kits. We would help the kids put their cars together and take them outside to the sidewalk. The look on a kid's face when the clouds part and the wheels start turning while they're still holding it--that joy and wonder at learning how the world works--stays with me. It's a feeling I try to instill in students whether I'm teaching them about wind turbines or research methods in psychology.
Goals
My primary career goal at this point is to earn my PhD in cognitive psychology here at Pitt. From there, I would like to establish myself as a research professor so that I can teach college students about cognitive psychology and conduct research to further that discipline. These are not unique goals, but I believe they will be very rewarding ones.