I’m a PhD student in Cognition & Perception at NYU and recent graduate from NYU’s MA program in Experimental Humanities & Social Engagement. My research interests include computational psychology, aesthetics, and emotion. My current project, advised by Dr. Denis Pelli and Dr. Pablo Ripollés, investigates the role emotion plays in the experience of beauty. I graduated from UC Berkeley in 2018 with a BA in Applied Math and a Spanish minor. 

The scope of my studies and industry work has been wide. As an undergrad, I took courses across art history, philosophy, neuroscience, physics, and computer science. I spent a year as a research assistant in Dr. Tania Lombrozo’s Concepts and Cognition Lab and in Dr. Alison Gopnik's Cognitive Development and Learning Lab, and I spent another year as research assistant to art historian Dr. Sugata Ray. I stumbled upon the field of empirical aesthetics in my final months at UC Berkeley, and in 2018-21 I explored literature in the field and developed a non-traditional art history essay that can be found under Projects. At NYU my coursework and projects span psychology, data science, philosophy, and art therapy.

I am concurrently working for Tonic, a gallery for curated fine art on the blockchain. I manage the company's physical derivatives and support its UX, product, and analytics initiatives. Before starting grad school, I was a merchant for an art and design e-comm company called Minted. Minted crowdsources artwork from a global community of independent artists through challenges, and merchants curate winning collections using consumer voting data. My most rewarding experiences in the role were along two strands: tracing trends in the artwork Minted’s customer base was drawn to and engaging directly with artists. In my time at Minted I helped run 10 art challenges that received over 36,000 submissions, and in carefully reviewing all of these submissions I learned artists’ names and work, watched them try new things, and often watched their revenue grow.

As I delve more deeply into aesthetics research, my focus will be on the psychology of both stimulus perceiver (generally viewer, listener, and/or reader) and creator. I hope my findings will be useful in art education, art therapy, and in the field of psychology broadly.

In my spare time I enjoy visiting and volunteering in art museums, tutoring students of all ages, training in classical ballet, and reading Pitchfork music reviews.