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I currently work remotely as a researcher in the University of Chicago's STAGE (Scientists, Engineers, Artists Generating Exploration) Lab--an interdisciplinary lab housed within UChicago's Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) dedicated to producing theatre about, inspired by, and utilizing science and technology. I am a collaborator on two of their current theatre projects: Entanglement, a play about quantum physics (supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation), and The River Project, a play about declining water quality in India (supported by the Provost’s Global Faculty Award and in conjunction with the UChicago Center in Delhi). I also lead the 'Future of Theatre' research initiative for the task force on the future of science communications for the PME’s theme on Arts, Sciences and Technology.
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During the 2021-2022 school year, I was the first ever honors student researcher under the mentorship of Dr. Daryl Cameron in the Empathy and Moral Psychology Lab at Penn State. I conducted independent research through this lab, completing an interdisciplinary Senior Thesis for the Schreyer Honors College between the Musical Theatre and Psychology departments centered around assessing the spectator experience in theatre. This empirical observation was carried out through the analysis of spectator responses to the performance of an original two-actor, one-act play, Lonely Together, that I wrote, directed, and produced as part of the 2021-2022 Penn State School of Theatre production season. The research, which is now in the process of being published in a scientific journal, was recognized at the University level, earning overall second place in the Penn State 2022 Undergraduate Research Exhibition. Click below for a production video, a feature article, or a presentation of my findings!
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I was so honored to be asked to contribute to Volume 2 of Prompt: a Journal of Theatre Theory, Practice, and Teaching, published in Fall 2021. Volume 2, “Revitalizing the Scenic Model” explores how material influences theatre praxis by pairing photos of scenic designers’ discarded scenic models with playwrights who, in turn, created short theatrical works that take place in the worlds the scenic models invited them to stage. The overall goal of this journal--to create a generative space where theatre artists, educators, and scholars converge to exchange ideas that prompt new thoughts and practices--is extremely exciting to me, and I'm so glad to be involved.
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In March 2021, I began working as a research assistant in the Intentional Inclusivity Lab in Penn State's Smeal College of Business. I assisted with a series of studies relating to the perception and effectiveness of various leadership behaviors exhibited by different genders. In this position, I got to combine my artistic and scientific skills, creating a series of recordings in which I embodied a variety of leadership behaviors to serve as experimental stimuli. Merging my passions for acting and psychology in this way was very fulfilling!
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In October 2020, I got to present at the National Organization of Arts in Health (NOAH) Annual Conference on the Penn State Arts for Health Initiative of which I was the Director. This initiative was founded at the outset of Covid from a collective passion among Penn State students and faculty around the power of arts in our personal and collective health. Due to the pandemic, our efforts were centered around digital work, mostly an Instagram through which we shared what creatives in the Pennsylvania community were doing to support their well-being, while spreading the joy in art. Gaining national recognition for this initiative and sharing our model and efforts with arts in health professionals was thrilling!
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From 2016-2018, I conducted independent research in conjunction with the Eye's Mind Research Team under the mentorship of Professor Adam Zeman, the Chair of Cognitive and Behavioural Neurology at the University of Exeter. I studied Aphantasia: a newly acknowledged condition characterized by the inability to form mental images in one’s mind’s eye. I conducted an epidemiological study of the condition--the first of its kind to function on a large scale, providing important information about the nature of Aphantasia and its effects. The manuscript documenting my findings (linked below) garnered local, state-wide, and national recognition through the Regeneron STS Science Research program, and has provided a base of information off of which scientists exploring mental imagery via the fields of psychology and neuroscience can further build.
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