Biography
Grants, Awards, Honors
- 2025-2026 Opportunity Grant entitled “Inspiring Leadership from the Inside Out: Leveraging High-Impact Learning Practices of Emotional Competency, Trust, and Confidence for Penn State Higher Education Success” (funding provided by the Penn State Office of Faculty Affairs and Office of Research)
- 2025 Spring Opportunity Grant entitled "From Personal to Relational to Professional - Embracing Emotional Competency and Adaptability to Elevate Transformational Outcomes" (funding provided by the Penn State Office of Faculty Affairs)
- Invited Speaker: Penn State University Finance and Business Managerial Retreat (Bryce Jordan Center, April 2025)
- 2024 - 2025 Administrative Fellow (mentor Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff, Michael Wade Smith)
- 2024 Excellence in Advising Award Nomination
- 2023 Distinguished Faculty Service Award, Abington College Faculty Senate
- 2020 Affordable Course Content Faculty Fellowship (PSYCH 244), Abington College
- 2020 Faculty Proposal Awards (HDFS 429 and PSYCH 473), Academic Environment Committee, Abington Faculty Senate
- 2020 Teaching Enhancement Microgrant, Institutional Effectiveness & Faculty Development, Abington College
- 2019 Microgrant for General Education (Common Theme Guest Speaker); Microgrant for General Education (PSYCH 100 course development), Office of General Education, Penn State University
- 2019 Affordable Course Content Faculty Fellowship (PSYCH 100), Abington College
Selected Involvement in campus and university organizations
- Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) Penn State University Faculty Affiliate
- Faculty Selection Committee for the Schreyer Honors College (2022 - Present)
- Penn State Emerging Academic Leaders (PSEAL) Program (2023-2024)
- Faculty Senate Chair-Elect (2021-2022); Chair (2022-2023); Past Chair (2023-2024)
- Instructional Advisory Board, OAER Working Group of the University Strategic Plan Transforming Education Steering Committee, Board Member (2020-Present)
- Abington Common Theme Co-Chair (2018-2019)
- Academic Environment Committee Co-Chair (2016-2018)
- Academic Environment Committee, Proposal and Awards Subcommittee Chair (2015-2018)
- Faculty Senator, Social Sciences (2016 - 2020)
- Faculty Advisor, Psychology Club
- Faculty Advisor, Asian Student Association
Professional Organizations
- American Psychological Association
- Christian Association of Psychological Studies
- International Society for Developmental Psychobiology
- International Society of Infant Studies
- Sigma Xi, Scientific Research Society
- Society for Research in Child Development
Research Interests
My teaching philosophy involves incorporating effective strategies of relevancy so that students go from understanding the material to “living” it. To meet this experience, I am committed to encouraging students to engage in learning and build confidence in their abilities both in and out of the classroom environment. I am also passionate about collaboration and community involvement.
My research background is in learning and memory with specific focus on how early experiences impact later knowledge acquisition and lead to successful behavioral modification strategies. Through studies, we can come to understand how our early emotional learning is connected to cognitive development and comparative biopsychology/neuroscience to inform our future growth. I also have an ongoing passion for providing tools of effective leadership and transformative change whether for professional or personal growth.
Publications
Cognitive Psychology - August, 2021
Psychology: Inside and Out - August, 2021
Effortlessly strengthening infant memory: Associative potentiation of new learning - February, 2013
Collaborators: Carolyn Rovee-Collier, Co-Author; Katherine Mitchell, Student Author
Time windows in retention over the first year-and-a-half of life: Spacing effects. - June, 2010
The time window construct in early memory development - May, 2009
Collaborator: Carolyn Rovee-Collier, Co-Author
Memory reactivation in the second year of life - January, 2006
Collaborator: Carolyn Rovee-Collier, Co-Author
Effects of priming duration on retention over the first year-and-a-half of life - June, 2005
Collaborators: Carolyn Rovee-Collier, Co-Author; Debra Hill, Co-Author; Jill Grodkiewicz, Co-Author; Amy Joh, Co-Author
Education
Professional Development Certificate, Essentials in Strategic Leadership, Penn State University
Certificate in Applied Behavioral Analysis, Psychology, Rutgers University
Ph D, Psychology, Rutgers University
BS, Psychology, Northeastern University