EDUCATION
Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2012
M.S., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008
B.A., University of Notre Dame, 2005
BIO
I am an experimental psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist who will be joining the psychology faculty at UNL in 2023. After completing my graduate training I spent a decade at the University of Illinois both as a post doc and then independent research scientist. I use complementary behavioral tools and neuroimaging techniques to answer questions about the organization and structure of the human brain. My current research is dedicated at understanding the structure and function of the hippocampal memory network and how this system is altered under various typical and pathological conditions. My current research program has two related focuses: One basic and the other applied. My basic science focus seeks to investigate the organization of human memory and to identify the ways in which that organization biases behavior. This work has been foundational in driving my applied research focus which seeks to both develop sensitive behavioral measures of human learning and memory and to apply sensitive neuroimaging tools to promote early detection of atypical memory concerns as well as track changes in both memory outcomes and the integrity of its supporting brain structures as we age. I currently apply this approach of combining creative behavioral paradigms with multiple, complementary neuroimaging techniques to patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, as well as healthy aging and mild cognitive impairment.
Outside of science, I enjoy hiking, cheese, spending time with my family and our growing menagerie, and (since moving to Nebraska) recreational farming.