Research & Experience

Academic background, research interests, and professional history

Research Focus

My research focuses on understanding how people interact with products, systems, and environments. I investigate user behavior, preferences, and needs to inform effective design and development.

Key Research Areas

User Experience & Usability

Evaluating how people interact with interfaces and products to identify pain points and opportunities for improvement.

Human Factors

Analyzing how cognitive and physical capabilities influence user interactions to optimize design for human use.

Applied Research

Translating research insights into practical recommendations that drive product development and innovation.

Regulatory Compliance

Developing human factors deliverables that meet FDA requirements and usability engineering standards for medical devices and combination products.

Research Methods

I employ a comprehensive set of research methodologies:

  • Moderated Research: In-person and remote user testing, interviews, and contextual inquiry
  • Unmoderated Research: Remote testing platforms, surveys, and automated data collection
  • Behavioral Analysis: Observing and measuring user interactions and task performance
  • Eye Tracking: Tracking visual attention patterns to understand user focus and information processing
  • Usability Evaluation: Identifying design issues through expert reviews and user testing

Professional Background

Education

Ph.D., Cognitive Psychology, University of Delaware
Jul 2019 - Dec 2024
Psychological & Brain Sciences

M.Sc., Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Amsterdam
2015 - 2017
Specialization: Cognitive Neuroscience
Activities: Editorial board for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences monthly newsletter

Academic Exchange Program, Carleton University
2013 - 2014
Psychology & Neuroscience

B.A., Psychology, St. Xavier’s College
2010 - 2013
Activities: Organizer for college literature festival, Editor for Psychology department magazine

Professional Experience

Human Factors Consultant, Core Human Factors, A Rimkus Company
Oct 2024 - Present, Bala-Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, United States

  • Conduct formative and summative UX research to evaluate the usability, safety, and effectiveness of medical devices and combination products, ensuring alignment with FDA human factors guidance and usability engineering standards.
  • Identify and mitigate use-related risks through comprehensive task analysis, risk assessments and simulated-use studies, translating findings into actionable design recommendations that enhance user performance.
  • Contribute to regulatory submissions by developing key human factors deliverables, synthesizing UX research findings into compliant documentation, and collaborating with cross-functional teams including design, engineering, and regulatory affairs.

Graduate Researcher, University of Delaware
Jul 2019 - Oct 2024, Newark, Delaware, United States

  • Managed 5 research projects examining vision-haptics interactions from hypothesis to final presentation
  • Designed experiments and questionnaires, testing 500+ participants including special populations
  • Analyzed data using ANOVA, simulations and permutation tests (MATLAB, R, SPSS)
  • Mentored 20+ undergraduate students and collaborated with researchers
  • Presented at international conferences and delivered invited talks
  • Supervised databases with 1000+ participants as subject pool coordinator
  • Served as graduate student representative and Chair of Psychology Mentorship Network

Human Factors Intern, Wisk
May 2023 - Aug 2023, Mountain View, California, United States

  • Conducted 3 complete human factors evaluations in 12 weeks measuring mental workload with UI prototypes
  • Collected eyetracking and performance data from 50+ participants
  • Performed task analyses and usability assessments to improve UI design
  • Ran workload simulations and recommended safety/efficiency improvements
  • Collaborated with cross-functional teams (product managers, engineers, test pilots, UX teams)

Lab Manager, The University of Texas at Dallas
Sep 2017 - May 2019, Dallas, Texas, United States

  • Coordinated multi-site research involving behavioral experiments, eyetracking, TMS and fMRI
  • Developed analysis code in MATLAB and Shell
  • Assisted with grant proposals and managed human subjects testing protocols
  • Handled lab resources, inventories and participant compensation

Visiting Researcher, University of Michigan
Sep 2016 - Sep 2017, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

  • Collected/analyzed data from 200+ participants on vision-audition interaction research
  • Published first-author paper and presented at two prestigious conferences

Graduate Research Assistant, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Jan 2016 - Jul 2016, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Skills

Research Methods

  • Behavioral and neuropsychological testing
  • Neuroimaging
  • Eyetracking
  • Experimental design

Quantitative Methods

  • Regression analysis
  • Statistical modeling
  • Simulations
  • Psychophysics
  • ANOVA and permutation tests

Technical Skills

  • Programming languages (MATLAB, R, Shell)
  • Statistical software (SPSS)
  • Task analysis
  • Usability assessment

Professional Skills

  • Project management
  • Scientific communication
  • Participant recruitment and testing
  • Cross-functional team collaboration
  • Mentoring