Why did you decide on UD? I joined UD as Chair of the Department of Psychology last summer. I was most excited by the opportunity to help expand an already strong department. Especially, I was (and am!) impressed by the college leadership and the department faculty. The college and the department share a vision of how that growth will serve UD’s goals in undergraduate education, graduate education and national prominence and how it’s feasible given what’s already in place. I was honored to be asked to help achieve that.
Hometown: No one place — born in St. Louis, grew up in Wisconsin, New Jersey, Illinois, Michigan, Massachusetts
Major areas of research/scholarship: I study brain mechanisms in psychopathology, such as what depression and anxiety share, and what differentiates them, in neural function. I also write about philosophical issues in the relationship between psychology and neuroscience.
One of your biggest (academic) accomplishments: Using a combination of neuroimaging methods, EEG and MRI, we identified a functional disconnection in the brain associated with depression and not with anxiety. This helps us in understanding the nature of depression psychologically and biologically.
Current projects: Various projects — follow-ups to that finding [above], follow-ups to a recent successful demonstration of a new cognitive training program for schizophrenia and studies examining the mutual effects of emotion and cognition.
Greatest inspiration: Scientists throughout history who made a difference; brilliant, hard-working collaborators and students with high standards.
What else should we know about you? Happy to be back on the East Coast; appreciative of the harmony and goodwill and optimism of UD; committed to promoting diversity, very broadly defined, in and beyond the university community; my clinical research is informed by being a long-time, part-time clinician myself, while focusing on my research.