I earned my PhD in Psychology / Cognitive Sciences from Georgia State University, studying decision-making biases in capuchin monkeys, rhesus macaques, and humans in the the Comparative Economics and Behavioral Studies Lab (CEBUS Lab). My research focused on how animals and humans make adaptive decisions in uncertain environments. In particular, I've been interested in understanding decision-making biases and seemingly irrational behavior in the context of an organism's physical and social environment.

Through a broad network of collaborations, I also explored a wider range of topics in cognitive psychology, with a particular focus on primate cognition (for example, the ManyPrimates project), but also including problem-solving in zoo-housed reptiles; cross-cultural developmental field research in Manipur, India; information neglect in judicial and policy decisions; and more.

Previously, I earned a BS in Psychology for an experimental study on the understanding of discrete probabilities in chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, and gorillas, which I carried out at the Wolfgang Köhler Primate Research Center in Leipzig, Germany. After a year of filed work at the Inkawu Vervet Project in South Africa, which focused on different aspects of vervet monkey behaviour, including social learning and inter-group encounters, I worked with Dr. Frans de Waal at the Living Links Center for the Advanced Study of Ape and Human Evolution. While there, I managed three groups of chimpanzees and conducted behavioural tests of their social cognition as well as observational studies.