Interview conducted by: Annaliese Clayton
What year did you graduate from UK?
I graduated in 2019 from the Experimental Psychology Graduate Program (2014-2019).
What were you involved in during your time in the UK PSY Department?
I conducted research on the development of medications for substance use disorders using human laboratory methods. At the departmental level, I helped coordinate the brown bag series, served as the Behavioral Neuroscience Representative on the University of Kentucky Department of Psychology Graduate Student Executive Committee, and was a member of the 100th Anniversary Planning Committee.
Did you feel nervous thinking about the future as an undergrad?
Of course! I think feeling nervous about the future while in undergrad is a typical experience and something that everyone feels in varying degrees. Being transparent with others about what you are nervous about and finding actionable steps and goals towards addressing those uncertainties is something that helped me and can be helpful for those feeling that uncertainty.
What advice do you have for undergraduate students who are beginning to think of the future?
Don’t limit yourself to the narrow lanes of what you think your future can look like. The skill sets you learn as a psychology major involving the ability to critically evaluate a problem, design experiments or research to address that problem, and interpret data are all skills that translate across so many future career paths. Be open to new experiences and opportunities.
What opportunities during your time helped you be most successful? These could be research, internships, school resources, professors.
The vibrant research community in the UK Psychology Department and broader university is top notch and provides so many opportunities for collaborations and networking to help you find what your next step might be. Getting involved in research to the extent that is possible, and taking the time to get to know those involved in that research can help set you up for a successful future.
What are you doing now? What are your future goals?
I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. I currently conduct research on behavioral and pharmacological interventions for substance use disorder as well as basic science research on drug-drug interactions and polysubstance use.
What is one lesson you learned as a PSY major that you still carry with you? This does not have to be entirely academic related.
As mentioned above, I think psychology provides one with a strong basis for how to critically think about data and information that is presented to you. That critical eye is something that I think translates so well across so many different venues and future situations (including those you might have never expected it to).