Curiously
Doctoral

About me

I appreciate simple things, like the crispness of autumn air, the way a sunrise reveals the Chicago cityscape, the scent of my favorite cafes, and the rhythm of my strides on a long run.

And I appreciate complex things, like our cognitive and emotional hardwiring, the diffusion of technological innovations throughout society, and especially hearing others' life perspectives.

How I got here

During my undergraduate experience, I struggled to choose between my passions: academia and entertainment. I loved the structure of my university life but also the creative freedom in my entertainment pursuits. Making what I perceived as the less disruptive life decision, I continued on to graduate school. That's where I found the best of both worlds: Media Psychology.

Media psychology explores our experiences with the news, entertainment, and social media platforms—all of which increasingly demand our attention. And, if attention is today's currency, storytelling is king. Good stories win our attention, and the best can influence our emotional states, perspectives, attitudes, and behaviors. It was this notion that sparked my interest in understanding strategies for more impactful communication.

My research explores the persuasive capital of storytelling; sometimes I study how stories can benefit health, environmental, and societal progress, and other times I study how stories—like those which embed misinformation and disinformation—can impede such progress.