Experience
Ph.D. Researcher & Analyst
University of California, Santa Barbara
- Designed and implemented multiple behavioral and neuroimaging experiments applying psychological theories to investigate social cognition and participants’ lived experiences
- Led a neuroimaging study examining stereotype exposure and reward processing in Hispanic and Latino populations; updated protocols and conducted fMRI sessions
- Directed and analyzed a large-scale social media sentiment study analyzing 12M+ tweets from LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ users surrounding U.S. Supreme Court rulings on same-sex marriage
- Applied NLP tools (e.g., BERT) and custom Python scripts to extract sentiment trends; conducted factorial and multivariate analyses to identify significant emotional differences across groups
- Utilized statistical techniques including A/B testing, ANOVA, multiple regression, structural equation modeling, latent class analysis, and text mining to derive actionable insights from large datasets
- Produced 3 research manuscripts, delivered 5 invited talks, and presented findings at 6 academic conferences to interdisciplinary audiences
- Hired, trained, and mentored research teams of up to 10 assistants to support data collection, analysis, and lab operations across multiple concurrent projects
Lab Instructor
University of California, Santa Barbara
- Trained students in scientific research design, data collection, data analysis, and scientific writing
- Taught statistics, A/B testing, correlation analysis, analysis of variance, regression analysis, and survey design
Graduate Researcher & Programmer
New York University
- Designed and executed a computational study to evaluate potential racial bias in facial recognition systems, applying expertise in experimental design and statistical analysis
- Evaluated and fine-tuned convolutional neural networks (ResNet) using diverse public datasets, identifying performance disparities across demographic groups
- Developed a Siamese network to measure facial similarity, improving accuracy in face comparison tasks
- Created 200+ controlled morphed face stimuli using WebMorph to systematically test algorithm performance
- Automated image preprocessing with Python scripts, reducing facial area isolation time for 200+ images from hours to under 2 minutes
- Presented findings on algorithmic bias at NYU’s 24th Annual Master’s Psychology Research Conference, earning first place for clear communication of technical results to a broad audience
- Secured funding through a competitive Graduate Student Research Award by crafting a compelling research proposal aligned with societal and technological impact
Post Bacc Researcher & Data Analyst
Nanjing University
- Designed, programmed, and conducted behavioral and eye-tracking studies to examine how visual cues influence perception, applying advanced experimental design skills
- Collaborated on EEG experiments to investigate how integration of primary and secondary reward cues affects executive function, contributing to multimodal research methods
- Developed experiments in E-Prime and Experiment Builder, ensuring high data quality and participant engagement
- Translated and culturally adapted five psychological questionnaires from English to Chinese for cross-cultural validity
- Built and maintained the lab’s minimalist-style website using open-source platforms (GitHub Pages & Hugo), improving accessibility and usability for research participants and collaborators
Undergrad Research Assistant
Rutgers University
- Collected and managed participant data for multiple studies on perception, identity, and attitude change, ensuring data accuracy and research integrity
- Coordinated in-person experimental sessions, including role-based interactions to maintain study realism and participant engagement
- Monitored attendance and documented unexpected events to support reliable analysis and study reproducibility
