Education:

B.A., Summa Cum Laude, Biology & Psychology, Miami University, 2016

Background:

My undergraduate studies were highly interdisciplinary, including formal training in social psychology, biological anthropology, and evolutionary ecology. Through these diverse experiences, I also developed a deep fascination for three topics that now broadly characterize my research: the evolution of primate sociality, the evolution of individual variation in behavior, and the statistical modeling of integrated behavioral phenotypes. My current empirical work synthesizes these interests through a focus upon the proximate and ultimate bases of social bonding, cooperation, and personality in highly gregarious primate species. I utilize a combination of observational and non-invasive experimental methods in conjunction with multivariate, multilevel modeling frameworks to investigate these phenomena.

My previous research has addressed personality structure and dyadic affiliation in captive bonobos (Pan paniscus), statistical and methodological practice in primate personality research, and the social cognitive mechanisms underlying persuasive communication in adult humans. I am currently investigating prosociality, personality, and cooperation in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) as a visiting researcher at the Cognitive Biology department of the University of Vienna. I am also involved in ongoing projects related to network models of behavior-state feedback processes, human face perception, as well as the ontogeny of behavioral variation in common ravens (Corvus corax).