Tamara Weinstein, Ph.D. Email & Phone Number

Santa Clara, Ca, Us

San Jose, Ca, Us

• Led end-to-end global research that drove user-centric solutions for Cisco cloud products, including a new AI-powered data integration and customer support portal and new SaaS e-commerce portal.• Led the product’s first-ever large-scale mixed-methods survey using MaxDiff to identify and prioritize feature needs of Cisco resellers, who generate >90% of Cisco’s $57B annual revenue.• Led the creation and validation of 5 new Cisco vendor personas using qualitative and quantitative survey data, which informed all subsequent product development decisions.• Elevated research team skills by mentoring two junior UXRs, leading 4 career development workshops, and authoring guides to facilitate storytelling, PRD-driven research roadmapping, and methods selection through the product life cycle.• Selected to present 5 research and educational talks at Cisco-wide internal conferences.

Mountain View, Ca, Us

• Built and led two teams’ research programs from the ground up as the first UX Research hire.• Grew UX Research team from solo researcher to leading a team of four by demonstrating research value to executive leadership.• Led all strategic and tactical research at the Ads organizational level to 1) improve UI usability and consistency across Ads’ 60+ products, reaching ~4.7B users, and 2) simplify and accelerate workflows of Ads’ ~10k Engineers and Designers via internal systems and tools.• Drove product strategy for two product teams by creating rigorous, multi-stage research programs and collaborating with cross-functional stakeholder to define and prioritize OKRs aligning with broader organizational goals.• Drove end-to-end launch of a new accessibility feature in Google Ads that improved the experience of users with differing visual, cognitive, and/or motor abilities.• Spearheaded a cross-Google partnership among Ads, Cloud, and Core organizations to create a mixed-methods framework for quantifying impact of workplace systems and tools on productivity.• Managed six UXRs total: facilitated one role promotion, created first UXR team onboarding, study planning, and reporting templates, instituted biweekly joint meetings with Design and Eng teams.• Mentored UX Researchers and cross-functional partners company-wide on research best practices and empowerment.

Mountain View, Ca, Us

• Built and led 2 products’ research programs from the ground up as the first UX Research hire.• Led all strategic and tactical research at the Ads organizational level to 1) improve UI usability and consistency across Ads’ 60+ products, reaching ~4.7B users, and 2) simplify and accelerate workflows of Ads’ ~10k Engineers and Designers via internal systems and tools.• Translated user needs into product roadmap priorities by instituting 2 new benchmarking programs strategically timed to coincide with yearly product planning.• Efficiently leveraged and scaled scarce UX Research resources by introducing and overseeing new programs and processes, including: a rapid research program that yielded monthly insights and democratized cross-functional team members to conduct usability studies, a vendor research program, and systems for research intake, project status tracking, and repository creation and updates.

Cupertino, California, Us

• Led end-to-end research strategy development and execution for an enterprise instant messaging tool as the product’s first UX Research hire.• Drove a major product pivot to better meet users’ needs from focusing solely on communication to becoming an all-in-one productivity suite.• Incorporated the voice of the user to prioritize and ship new and enhanced features by integrating research into 3-week Agile sprints and collaborating with PM, Eng, and Design stakeholders.(Note: contract via Advantis Global)

Los Gatos, California, Us

UX Researcher, Feb - Jul 2018 Associate UX Researcher, Feb 2017 - Jan 2018• Drove usability enhancements of >40 companies’ desktop and mobile websites and apps in a fast-paced consulting startup environment.• Influenced product direction across diverse industries (e.g. e-commerce, fintech, advertising, telecommunications, subscription services, social media, news media) by designing, executing, and synthesizing >50 generative and evaluative studies that delivered actionable insights.

Davis, California, Us

Summary:• Led 5-year experimental research program that generated insights for >25 behavioral outcome measures and produced >20 conference presentations and 5 academic publications.• Introduced and validated 8 new survey and behavioral data collection methods.• Doubled project funding from $1.8M to $3.6M using year-one insights.• Ensured research rigor and milestone completion by training and supervising 23 personnel on behavioral observation methods, survey design, and statistical analysis.Details:In this role I performed three different subroles:1) Research Manager, 2012 - 2017 | Bales Laboratory• Managed a $3.6M study of social, reproductive, and neurodevelopmental effects of oxytocin hormone treatment in an animal model. Led novel methodology development and data collection for over 25 outcome measures, collaborating with team members to produce preliminary data which were leveraged to double the original grant amount from $1.8M to $3.6M.• Directed operations of a 30-person lab, supervising intern and employee training and scheduling, mentoring student projects, and coordinating timetables for >40 projects.2) Principal Investigator, 2011 - 2012 | Neurobiology of Friendship Project• Wrote 2 successful grant proposals totaling $100,000 to lead studies of the neurobiology of friendship in a monkey model. Formulated and managed project budgets, designed experimental methods, wrote testing protocols, collected data, performed statistical analyses, compiled reports, and presented results.3) Post-Doctoral Researcher, 2010 - 2011 | Capitanio Laboratory• Spearheaded development and validation of 3 new survey and behavioral observation methods to assess personality in monkeys. Generated protocols which cost nothing to implement, required no training, and took under 10 minutes to complete.

Sacramento, Ca, Us

Also employed from August 2007 - May 2008.• Led instruction of Introductory Psychology and Biological Psychology courses at a community college. Topics included psychological research methods, social psychology, learning and memory, personality and emotion, psychological disorders, brain and behavior connections, sensation and perception.• Fostered critical thinking about scientific topics and illuminated connections between psychological research and everyday life through in-class activities and polls, homework and research project assignments, and multimedia presentations.• Developed novel surveys to evaluate the quality of students’ experience in the classroom.

Sacramento, California, Us

• Taught Animal Behavior at a large university, adapting the course curriculum for class sizes ranging from 15 to 120 students.• Illustrated the behavioral and morphological diversity of the animal kingdom by designing and delivering engaging PowerPoint lectures and selecting photo, audio, and video examples of course concepts. Provided comprehensive coverage of topics including variation in animal mating systems, aggression, modes of communication, cooperation and altruism, predator avoidance strategies, personality, and play behavior.

Indianola, Ia, Us

• Created 7 psychology college course curricula, including two multi-day travel courses, which maximized hands-on learning opportunities for small classes. Mentored over 20 student research projects. • Awarded the honor of leading a college-wide faculty workshop on nontraditional educational methods, resulting from creative use of music as a teaching tool.• Teamed up with 5 faculty members to redesign the psychology major curriculum, achieving a more balanced major.• Generated diverse assessments to measure student learning outcomes including multiple choice exams, short essay assignments, full-length research papers, poster presentations, oral presentations, and contributions to discussions of published research papers.

Davis, California, Us

• Wrote 4 winning grant and fellowship proposals to obtain a total of $226,500 in research funds. Granting agencies included the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, UC Davis, and American Society of Primatologists.• Conceived and performed 4 original experiments investigating personality and friendship development in a monkey model.• Communicated research findings by delivering presentations at 16 local, national, and international scientific conferences and by publishing 4 papers as lead author.• Achieved proficiency in the theory, history, and current methods of human emotion research through the National Institutes of Health Training Program in Affective Science.

Davis, California, Us

• Facilitated students' understanding of course topics and assignments through communication inside and outside of the classroom; held office hours; ran review sessions; led laboratory exercises; graded research papers, lab reports, and exams.• Attained mastery of course topics, including Personality Psychology, Introductory Psychology, Animal Cognition, and Developmental Psychobiology, in order to competently answer students' questions.

Davis, California, Us

• Tailored Introductory Psychology course curriculum to large class sizes (100-300 students) to provide foundational knowledge and demonstrate how the scientific method is used to study a wide variety of human behaviors.• Designed and delivered Powerpoint lectures, maintained course website, held office hours, wrote syllabus and exams.• Trained and supervised Teaching Assistant to implement grading rubric for assessments of student performance.

Hershey, Pa, Us

• Assessed cognitive performance of brain-injured hospital patients using I.Q. tests, measures of spatial ability, short- and long-term memory recall tests, card sorting tasks, spoken and written language production and comprehension assessments, and autobiographical interviews.• Provided quantitative and qualitative data on recovery progress to attending physicians and hospital staff.• Successfully established rapports with patients from diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds and suffering from varying degrees of cognitive deficits in order to facilitate cooperation with testing procedures.• Led a case study of herpes encephalitis recovery by tracking improvement in memory functioning. Presented findings to fellow interns, researchers, and clinicians.

Ph.D., M.A., Psychology (Biological Psychology)

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.) Magna Cum Laude, Psychology (Biopsychology)