Quant and qual research focused on understanding user behavior in a three-sided (buyers, sellers, developers/agencies) marketplace. Topics included eCommerce, fraud, AI, reporting, & web development. Led a company-wide CSAT initiative spanning 20 products across the Square ecosystem. Deliverables included an executive deck directly shared with Block’s top leadership, dashboard for stakeholders, and share outs with over 200 product leaders. Ran 5+ studies per quarter. Supported teams with both agile/ongoing research during product launches and generative research to inform strategic product vision. Increased stakeholder empathy for users. Rebuilt and reorganized a 3-year backlog of NPS data for increased analytical flexibility, data processing, and quality control. Connected NPS data with churn outcomes to better understand user retention and proactively identify high-churn risk users. Effort led to us better retaining users worth nearly $20M a year. My research has directly influenced engineering roadmaps, product development, marketing campaigns, strategy by upper management during annual planning, and has been promoted and shared by our CEO.

Doctoral funding provided by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship ProgramSelective fellowship awarded to 2,000 PhDs each year from all scientific disciplines.

Led and developed a multi-lab research program exploring the intersection of cognitive psychology, behavior change, and neuroscience. Conducted and collaborated on over 50 experiments using online samples, undergraduate students, animal models, and surgical techniques (e.g., optogenetics).Published 15 peer-reviewed articles (12 first-authored), gave 19 conference presentations (12 first-authored), and had research covered by 100+ media outlets including The Washington Post, National Geographic, and New Scientist. Communicated complex findings to various stakeholders and audiences including advisors, colleagues, students, mentees, and general public. Teaching assistant for 6 courses (average overall rating = 8.7/9).

Provided quantitative (surveys) and qualitative (user interviews) insight to senior stakeholders for NASA’s exoplanet watch citizen science platform as part of UCLA graduate course on UX research and design.Created site maps, conducted cognitive walk-throughs, card-sorting tasks, and usability tests with users.

Led research analysis team (4 researchers) for the Netflix show 100 Humans.Worked directly alongside various stakeholders (e.g., director, producers, writers) to design quantitative and qualitative studies, conduct large-scale experiments on 100 humans from diverse backgrounds, analyze data, and communicate findings to a lay audience.Taught said stakeholders as well as series’ hosts the basic elements of experimental design (group randomization, control groups, T-tests and ANOVA, variable operationalization). Managed team of research assistants and coordinated with production assistants on generating research material, organizing and storing surveys, and data entry.

David Sloan Wilson's Lab: Conducted ethnographic research on human worship behavior and qualitative research on a life-satisfaction survey. Ralph R. Miller's Lab: Generated research hypotheses, collected data, analyzed data, and published findings on human memory and cognition. Published honor's thesis in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition.