I completed my master’s degree in psychology with an emphasis on cognitive sciences under the supervision of Sarah Brosnan, Ph.D., at Georgia State University. My master’s thesis looked at how capuchin monkeys experience change blindness, though I also worked on risk preference, inequity, and behavioral observation studies.

Currently, I am the Ape Cognition Research Assistant at the Lincoln Park Zoo’s Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes. Here, I work closely with Lydia Hopper, Ph.D., running an array of touchscreen tasks with chimpanzees and gorillas to better understand great ape cognition as well as providing cognitive enrichment for the apes and research demonstrations for the public.

Previously, I worked on a comparative learning and memory study with young children and orangutans at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and spent a year studying western lowland gorilla behavior and demographics at the Mbeli Bai forest clearing in Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in the Republic of Congo. Throughout these experiences, my research interests have focused on the intersection of great ape behavior, cognition, welfare, and conservation.