I use a combination of neuroimaging, behavioral experiments, and econometric surveys to understand why we make the environmental choices we do. Presently, my work focuses on how we value the environment, what motivates environmental philanthropy, and consumer decision-making involving energy efficiency and eco-labeling. I am currently a Research Associate at Stanford's Graduate School of Education, Project Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and a lecturer in Stanford's E-IPER program. I teach courses on Environmental Decision-Making and Risk Perception (EnvRes 240), Psychology of Science Communication (EnvRes 245), Environmental Governance (EnvRes 250), as well as the Capstone Seminar (EnvRes 290) taken by MBA and Law students pursuing a joint environmental MS degree.
I was drawn to nature from an early age, publishing Wolf Trails, a fiction novel about the lives of wolves, during high school. A physical disability kept me from ecology fieldwork in undergrad, and my interest in biology turned toward neuroscience, working on ways to mitigate stroke damage under Dr. Heng Zhao and Dr. Robert Sapolsky. After several years in the biotech industry, I felt I was growing further afield from what drew me to biology in the first place, and struck upon the idea to combine my interests in neuroscience and the environment by studying the neuroeconomics of environmental decisions.
I founded the Environmental Decision-Making and Neuroscience Lab in 2010 with the help of neuroeconomist Dr. Brian Knutson. I hold a Ph.D. in Environment and Resources and a B.S. in Biology from Stanford University, and am a past Senior Fellow at the Effective Philanthropy Learning Initiative and Fellow at the Stanford Center for Ethics in Society, the Haas Center for Public Service, and the Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society.
I was drawn to nature from an early age, publishing Wolf Trails, a fiction novel about the lives of wolves, during high school. A physical disability kept me from ecology fieldwork in undergrad, and my interest in biology turned toward neuroscience, working on ways to mitigate stroke damage under Dr. Heng Zhao and Dr. Robert Sapolsky. After several years in the biotech industry, I felt I was growing further afield from what drew me to biology in the first place, and struck upon the idea to combine my interests in neuroscience and the environment by studying the neuroeconomics of environmental decisions.
I founded the Environmental Decision-Making and Neuroscience Lab in 2010 with the help of neuroeconomist Dr. Brian Knutson. I hold a Ph.D. in Environment and Resources and a B.S. in Biology from Stanford University, and am a past Senior Fellow at the Effective Philanthropy Learning Initiative and Fellow at the Stanford Center for Ethics in Society, the Haas Center for Public Service, and the Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society.