I am a practiced expert both in critical soft people skills, and hard analytical research skills. I'm a person who has analyzed data for the Hubble Space Telescope, and is also an individual and couples therapist. Someone who has gained the trust of hundreds of clients sharing intimate details of their lives. Someone who takes their technical craft very seriously, but is also someone you can talk to on a human level.I'm interested in User Experience Research because it allows me to continue the process of discovery about how people work, and through this work to help people accomplish their goals.I have always eschewed research that I felt was mundane, seeking to work on projects that would instead significantly increase our understanding of social behavior. This is demonstrated by me publishing as first author in Psychological Review as a grad student in social psychology-- the first in at least 40 years to do so. Some of my published research also confronted head-on one of the most cited theories of all-time in social psychology, and demonstrated beyond any doubt that it was not tenable-- changing our understanding of how we judge people based on limited information.I believe my background in the harder sciences has helped my analytical skills as I transitioned to studying human behavior. Studying astrophysics forces one to think rigorously about problems in a way that is not as emphasized in social sciences. This helps discern what must be true instead of what one wants to be true.Being a couples and individual therapist has honed my skills as a good listener, goal setter, trusted collaborator, and conflict mediator. It has helped me become a person with more empathy, seeking to understand rather than judge others.My university teaching experience has given me ample opportunity to communicate complex results in digestible ways for non-experts.I look forward to being part of a collaborative team seeking to make real-world impact in significantly improving the user experience for products and services that play an integral part of people's daily lives.You can contact me at:brian@tuscaloosacouplesclinic.com