Education

I am a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois. I received a B.A. in psychology and cognitive science from Carleton College and a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Cornell University. I spent five years on the faculty in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University, first as an assistant professor and then as the John Loeb Associate Professor. I moved to the University of Illinois in 2002.

Research funding and honors

Over the past 20 years, in addition to support from the universities where I have worked, my research has been funded by the Jacob Javits Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Office of Naval Research, and General Motors. In 2003, I received the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology from the American Psychological Assocation. In 2004, Christopher Chabris and I jointly received the Ig Nobel Prize in Psychology for showing that it is possible to hide a "gorilla" in plain sight (the "Prize" awards research that first makes you laugh and then makes you think).

Teaching

During my career, I have taught a range of courses at the graduate and undergraduate level. I currently teach courses on research best practices, research skills, and speaking/writing for general audiences. I have also taught introductory psychology and visual cognition classes.



As a product of a liberal arts college with exceptional undergraduate teachers, I am particular humbled by the awards I have received for teaching and mentoring, and I find teaching to be a great source of inspiration in my thinking and research. Some of my best-known studies have come from undergraduate laboratory classes I have taught over the years. As a graduate student at Cornell, I received the Annual Teaching Award for the best teaching by a psychology department graduate student. At Harvard, I received campus-wide awards for both undergraduate and graduate mentoring (the John Marquand Award and the Excellence in Mentoring Award). At the University of Illinois, I received the Graduate Student Organization Award and the Hohenboken Teaching Award.

Speaking

In addition to my academic conference presentations and colloquia for psychology departments, I often give presentations at science cafes and other public outreach events. I also speak to non-academic groups, businesses, and societies. For my non-academic speaking engagements, I am represented by Tom Neilssen of the BrightSightSpeakers. You can view examples of my public speaking on the speaking page of this website.

Other websites

Learn more about my academic and non-academic interests.