I’m an assistant research professor and co-director of Northeastern University’s Ghost Lab studying the learning, human performance, and skill-gain through gaming, both educational and entertaining.
I initially pursued a degree in film in order to tell stories, but turned my attention to interactive storytelling, encouraged by my own love for video games, and slowly shifted from a creator, to a researcher, to a researcher with an interest in the knowledge and skills that people use to complete games and how these are acquired and carried beyond play. These shifting interests ultimately culminated in my dissertation work on self-regulated learning in complex gameplay (completed in 2023 under the guidance of Dr. Magy Seif El-Nasr at UCSC).
I spent two years as a PostDoc under the supervision of Dr. Casper Harteveld at Northeastern University and these days you still can find me in at Northeastern University, now an assistant research professor, working on various research topics at the intersection of games, expertise, learning, and the user experience of AI. If you’re looking to collaborate please reach out!
When I’m not working or playing video games, you can find me at the nearest barn, enjoying some casual horseback riding and quality time with the animals. Or, if there’s some fresh snow on the ground, you might find me out on the slopes with my snowboard. I play more League of Legends than I probably should, my favorite game is Nier, and my party trick is being able to explain 70% of the Kingdom Hearts story-line (but I can’t make it make sense)!