Sample Biographies
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Robert A. Bjork Wendy Castleman Robert Hoffman Mark McDaniel Gregory E. Monaco |
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Helga Noice Victoria Romero Ann Speed Gordon Willis Dan Wright |
Wendy Castleman
Professional Biography: Wendy Castleman received her PhD in 1997 in Cognitive and Perceptual Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She is currently the Principal User Research Scientist at Intuit (the makers of TurboTax and Quicken software). Her current research focuses on the role of psychological processes on experiences, especially pertaining to running a small business, managing finances and doing taxes. In practice, this ranges from small-scale "usability tests" to large-scale exploratory research. Her team is currently investigating the role of emotion in the experience of using software in an effort to investigate the relationship between people's memories for emotional experiences with their subsequent behaviors.Personal Statement: One of the best parts of doing research in industry is the variety of different projects I get to work on within a relatively short period of time. I have been at Intuit for just under five years, and I have been involved in well over 100 distinct projects. For each project, I get to learn about a whole new set of customers, address new customer problems, and conduct different types of research. In this environment, I have conducted very controlled experimental studies and very exploratory ethnographic studies. I deal with easily analyzed quantitative data, and amorphous qualitative data. This variety keeps things fresh and exciting.
The reason I chose applied research is serendipity. I finished my PhD and didn't want to go do a post-doc. I wanted to "get on with my life". So, I looked to what my other options were. One of those options was going to work for a research lab in Industry. I looked to Bell Labs, and joined a team at Lucent who were building early mobile phones. As luck would have it, this team of amazing Human Factors Engineers embraced research, and I learned about methods that would help us understand how to make solutions better and easier to use. It was a natural fit, and I have been very happy and successful in my career.
Advice? Look broadly for solutions, including how to manage your career. Sometimes, the perfect fit is something you hadn't ever imagined. If you want to be a cognitive psychologist in industry, consider the field of user experience research. There is significantly more research to be done in this field than researchers to conduct the research, so there are lots of opportunities.
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