About

Background

I am currently a postdoctoral researcher in the behavior genetics lab of Dr. James J. Lee. I received my Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 2021 in the personality, individual differences and behavior genetics program area of psychology. After earning my B.A. in biology from Thomas Edison State University in 2012, I spent a few years working as a scientific illustrator and publishing a book on the creation/evolution controversy. I returned to academia in 2015 to obtain a fast-track post-baccalaureate education in cognitive psychology at the University of North Carolina Asheville under advisor Tracy L. Brown. In 2016, I entered into the University of Minnesota’s Ph.D. program in psychology to work with behavior genetics titans James J. Lee and Matt McGue. I earned my M.A. in psychology in 2019 and defended my Ph.D. dissertation in January 2021 (“Tracing causes and consequences of human intelligence through genetic and cognitive data”).

My research focuses on exploring the genetic and cognitive causes of human intelligence in addition to its associated outcomes. My current projects include an experimental study of the association between Big Five Aspect dimensions of personality and reaction time, an adoption study of IQ with a cohort of now-adult families, and several GWAS-related studies of various phenotypes. In addition to teaching and research at the UMN, I continue to work part time as a professional scientific illustrator and writer who specializes in research-based representations of prehistoric animals. I've recently completed my second book, Drawing and Painting Dinosaurs with Crowood Press, released in the UK in October 2021 and in May 2022 in the US. My scientific illustration work can be found in the art section of my website.

My full CV can be downloaded here.

Education

• Ph.D. (Psychology), University of Minnesota Twin Cities, January 2021
• M.A. (Psychology), University of Minnesota Twin Cities, September 2019
• B.A. (Biology), Thomas Edison State University, December 2012

Courses Taught

• Introduction to Individual Differences (PSY 3135)

Research Interests

• Intelligence, educational attainment, and related phenotypes
• Twin and family studies of behavior
• Genome-wide association studies of behavioral phenotypes
• Behavioral evolution
• Response time and its correlates

Causes and consequences of human intelligence ^{(what does this mean?)}