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"I've always been curious about human behaviour. I took a psychology course as an undergraduate and was hooked! I was also thrilled to learn that psychology not only involved studying human behaviour but it could be used to help people change and improve their lives. I got a PhD in clinical psychology and have thoroughly enjoyed most everything I’ve done as a professional psychologist. During my PhD training, I discovered how one can benefit others through teaching and research. Since coming to S&T and observing women in a minority situation, I
additionally became concerned with what it was like for women in STEM fields. I conducted studies about women in STEM while also including the topic of gender issues in all of my courses. It's all a process for people to understand these issues – they need to talk about them and then consider the role that they might play in their own live.

Without question, I think it's important to put humanities and social sciences within STEM curricula in order to develop a broader context for the topics addressed by these sciences. I'm the first academic clinical psychologist to be hired by this campus. The fact is that human beings are complicated and it takes time for them to become aware of issues and then change! It's a thrill for me, whether in a research talk or through a publication or during a classroom discussion, when I see someone truly understand something about human behaviour. Overall my research has focused on helping people recognize and change maladaptive feelings and behaviours and has included doing research on social anxiety, depression and alcohol abuse. Nearing the end of an almost 40 year academic career in psychology I take great satisfaction in having been able to use the science of psychology to advance the understanding of human behaviour and to help others improve their lives."

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