My research focuses on the neural circuitry children and adolescents use to learn about different aspects of their environment, how such circuits are shaped by early life stress, and why neural changes due to this stress confer risks for negative outcomes. Through this work, I have found that the risks for different forms of psychopathology associated with early life stress are conveyed by specific alterations in brain circuitry responsible for reward and socio-emotional information processing.

Currently, I am an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Psychology. I am also a research scientist at Pitt's Learning Research & Development Center. Before coming to Pittsburgh, I received my Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in a degree program that integrated developmental psychology, the neuroscience of emotion, public policy, and biostatistics. I also completed a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Developmental Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as in the Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University.

Also, see my work on google scholar and my curriculum vitae.