Dr. William Hayes is the director of the DReaM Lab and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Binghamton University. A transplant from the southeastern United States, he received a B.S. in psychology from North Greenville University, a M.A. in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of South Carolina, where he studied under the mentorship of Dr. Douglas Wedell. Before coming to Binghamton in August 2023, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Jennifer Trueblood's Computational Decision Making Lab at Indiana University.
Outside of the lab, Dr. Hayes enjoys listening to music and playing the piano, shamelessly watching hours of college football on Saturdays (born and raised in SC), traveling, and drinking strong coffee.
Melanie Touchard is a second-year PhD student in the Cognitive & Brain Sciences program at Binghamton University. She received a B.A. in Psychology Honors with a minor in Data Analytics from Seton Hall University. Melanie is interested in the role of cognitive processes in human decision-making, specifically how choices are made based on context. Currently, she is exploring the relationship between relative value bias and memory using eye tracking.
Melanie enjoys traveling to local restaurants to discover new food, thrifting through all the latest fashion trends, and hitting the courts for a friendly tennis or pickleball match!
Elaine is a rising senior majoring in psychology with a pre-medicine concentration and a minor in studio arts. She joined the DReaM lab because she is interested in how the decisions people make can be scientifically measured and analyzed in a laboratory setting, as well as how AI can influence those decisions. Outside of the lab, she works as a peer advisor for the psychology department. A fun fact about her is that she is a big fan of Snoopy from the Peanuts comics. In the future, she hopes to go to medical school and pursue a career as a psychiatrist.
Andrew is a rising senior pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Integrative Neuroscience with a minor in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology at Binghamton University. He joined the DReaM Lab to gain critical research skills in the realm of decision making, which is a topic in psychology that he is fascinated with. A fun fact about him is that he is the coach of the club swimming team here at Binghamton University. In the future, Andrew hopes to obtain a PhD in Neuropsychology and work in both a clinical and academic setting.
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Trevor Rosenthal
Joelle Sacks
Nadiah Layne
Rishi Heggawadi
Madeline Duran
Michael Kim