In what capacity and when were you at Brown?
Graduate student, 2009-2016.
What do you do now? Provide a brief description of what you do for a living and what drives you professionally.
I work as an NRC postdoc at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. My home research group here, called the Navy Center for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence, focuses on cognitive science and cognitive robotics. As a behaviorally oriented experimental psychologist, I study how people fill in the gaps in their understanding of everyday phenomena: why a cat might end up with six toes, or why cups have handles. In my ongoing work, I've also had the opportunity to build bridges between topics in social psychology, such as stereotypes and social norms, and the conceptually and computationally precise tools developed by cognitive scientists.
How did your experience at Brown (in the lab, in the classroom, and in the Brown community) prepare you for what you do today?
The deep connections I developed around research -with fellow graduate students, lab staff, undergraduate students, and faculty-made my experience at Brown a rich and rewarding one, and many of these individuals continue to provide inspiration and support as I break into novel territory.