I grew up in NYC (my family lived in the basement of this multi-family house). My father worked as a cook in Chinese takeout restaurants, and my mother worked as a seamstress. As a student in the NYC public school system, a regular patron of NYC public libraries, and a commuter who heavily relied on the NYC public transit system, I developed a deep appreciation of public service.

Fun fact: I started working when I was 14 and minimum wage was $5.15/hour.

Thanks to a very generous financial aid package, I ended up going to Wellesley College in MA (about 200 miles away from home). I found college to be liberating and eye-opening, yet also challenging and isolating. It wasn't until my junior year that I really came to enjoy my college experience. I had inspiring and supportive professors who helped me discover my interests in neuroscience and psychology.

Fun fact: I entered college as an economics major and graduated as a neuroscience major.

After college, I worked as a lab manager in the Morality Lab at Boston College for two years. I enjoyed working with my advisor Liane Young so much that I stayed there for another 5 years to pursue my Ph.D. My dissertation used behavioral and fMRI methods to examine how people engage in theory of mind across cooperative and competitive contexts.

Fun fact: In grad school, I 3D-printed a full-size model of my brain. It currently sits in my office and is occasionally used by Psych Club as a prop during club fairs. How successful is it at helping recruit new members? TBD.

After graduate school, I worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at Princeton University in Diana Tamir's Princeton Social Neuroscience Lab. I conducted our lab's first hyperscanning fMRI study, which investigated neural and behavioral dynamics between people during naturalistic conversations.

Fun fact: Working at Princeton helped fulfill my academic ambitions of conducting cutting-edge research, and more monumentally, helped me close the distance with my long-distance partner of 6 years (we have since gotten married).

I am currently an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Caldwell University.  In addition to teaching 3-5 courses a semester, I co-direct the Honors Program. I love mentoring students and getting students involved in research. I am the faculty advisor for Psych Club and Psi Chi, and I serve on various university-wide committees (e.g., Honors Committee; Research Committee; Budget Committee).

Fun fact: When an international student is the first in their country to enroll in our university, we add the country's flag to our student center's Hall of Flags. The Flag Raising Ceremony is my favorite event on campus.