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I am currently an Assistant Professor of Management at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. I take a multimethod approach to my research, employing both quantitative and qualitative methods in experimental laboratory and field settings. Broadly, my research examines individual reputation and emotions in workplaces.

I study the process of how people gain, lose, and recover their reputations and how reputational information is stored and communicated in networks. Through a variety of settings ranging from baseball fields, sorority houses, wineries, and Japan, my work examines the content, structure, and dynamics of individual reputation. Currently, I have projects underway looking at how different forms of criticism influence reputation, and the role of gender on reputation in negotiation contexts.

My work on emotion centers on discrete emotions (e.g., gratitude, hope, joy, compassion, awe) and how people regulate their emotions. Through a variety of settings ranging from Silicon Valley tech companies, hospital ICUs, oncologists, and professional sports, I have projects underway examining compassion for challenging people at work, the impact of emotion and emotion regulation on individual and team resilience, quantifying and measuring the affective component of hope, and examining the social functions of gratitude at work by looking at different levels of analysis (individual, dyadic, group, and organizational).

I attempt to apply insights from my academic research into practical applications that can improve people’s experiences in a variety of organizations. For example, in one project, I created and implemented the use of artifacts (wristbands) to facilitate community and connection. In another project, I use insights from my work on gratitude to facilitate organizational members’ experiences and expressions of gratitude. My research has been featured in Harvard Business Review, the Wall Street Journal, among other outlets.

My research has been generously supported by a number of organizations, including: The Dispute Resolution Research Center (DRRC) at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, the National Science Foundation (NSF), UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center (GGSC), and Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE).

I hold a PhD in Social Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, an MA in Psychology from Santa Clara University, and a BS in Psychology from the University of Washington. I completed my postdoctoral fellowship at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. At the Leavey School of Business, I teach the MBA core course, Business and the Common Good (MGMT 3060). I also mentor students for Independent Study / Directed Research (MGMT 3698). In 2022, I was named by Poets&Quants as one of the Top 50 Undergraduate Business Professors.

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