About Me

I am the head of the Metascience, Translation, and Workforce Development section in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) at the U.S. National Science Foundation. I oversee a science funding portfolio including metascience, science and technology studies, research ethics, and other SBE sciences, and as a member of the SBE leadership team, contribute to the advancement of SBE's scientific programs and other activities. I have served NSF through a permanent appointment since 2022. 

My professional expertise sits at the intersection of government and public affairs, science policy, and evidence-based policymaking. Before arriving at NSF, I was director of government relations at the Association for Psychological Science, where I worked to advocate on behalf of the social, behavioral and economic sciences and increase awareness of the ways that these sciences advance health, prosperity, and welfare. 

Trained as a cognitive psychologist, I research individual and collective memories and the confidence we have in those memories. I am also interested in metascience, robust and reliable research, and research innovation. My work has been published in journals including Science, Psychological Science, and Memory and covered in The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, and The Atlantic. 

I am an undergraduate alumnus of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA, and I received my PhD. and MA in psychological science from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. I also credit my education at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, in Alexandria, VA, for catalyzing my interests in scientific research and its application.