I am a Ph.D. student in the Cognitive Sciences program at Georgia State University and am working under Dr. Sarah Brosnan. I am currently interested in primate social cognition and behavior, especially the evolution of property and ownership. In particular, I am interested in how possession influences the perceived value of resources and whether these effects vary across social and ecological conditions.

Before coming to Georgia State University, I earned my B.S. in Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution from the University of California, Los Angeles. As an undergraduate, I collected preliminary data to examine the effects of ecotourism noise on the foraging behavior of wild brown and white-fronted capuchin monkeys. After graduating, I worked with the bonobos at the Ape Cognition and Conservation Initiative. There, I provided daily animal care and assisted with ongoing research projects, including food preferences, theory of mind, and symbolic representation.