Dr. Coley is Professor of Psychology and Professor of Marine and Environmental Sciences at Northeastern University, and Director of the CORE Lab. He is interested in the basic cognitive processes underlying how people organize and use their knowledge of the world, how those processes develop and change over time, and how differences in culture and experience lead to differences in the organization and use of knowledge. He is also committed to cross-disciplinary translational research, and to exploring the concrete consequences of conceptual organization and reasoning in areas like science education, social conflict, and ecological awareness. Dr. Coley sees his lab as an environment in which smart, motivated, people have the opportunity to work together while learning about research, exploring these issues in lots of different ways, making genuine contributions to cognitive science, and having fun along the way.

Catie is a postdoctoral researcher focusing on human-centered thinking and science learning. In particular, she is interested in how our intuitive ideas about humans color the way that we learn about and care for the more-than-human world. She is also fascinated by how our human-centric biases impact how we think about neuroscience and the relationship between mind and brain across species. Catie has a passion for teaching, mentoring over 70 undergraduate research assistants over the past 4+ years and teaching research methods courses for two summers. She joined the CORE lab in 2020, after completing her Master’s at Northeastern studying emotion and physiology, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Brigham Young University.

Favorite Snack: Trader Joe’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Emma is a fifth-year doctoral student in the CORE lab. Her research interests broadly include the ways that people conceptualize and interact with social groups, and the factors that shape social reasoning. She is also interested in how humans relate to the world around them, including how humans relate to nature and non-human animals. When Emma is not in the lab, she is either skiing or wishing she was skiing.

Favorite Snack: Old Bay Seasoning Goldfish

After graduating from Tufts University, Joan spent some time at a cardiovascular imaging lab before transitioning back to psychology with the CORE Lab. She is currently interested in how people think about the natural world/systems and climate change. Her hope is that she can develop interventions in fighting climate change by encouraging people to think about themselves as part of the natural world and rethinking the psychological distance between the self and climate change disasters. In her free time, she likes to bake and dance.

Favorite Snack: Chex mix

Krissy is a second year doctoral student in the CORE lab. She is interested in how humans conceptualize and model themselves in the broader systems of the natural world. She hopes to use a cross-cultural approach, meaning that rather than privileging western perspectives as human universals, her research seeks to explore the diversity of human sense making in its relational, interdependent, sociocultural context. She further asks what the implications are of different conceptualizations of human-nature relationships and self-construal/identity on how we interact with the social-ecological systems we are embedded in. One avenue she is currently exploring examines the role of systems thinking and metacognition on our ability to detect intuitive misconceptions about the natural world. to In her free time, she likes to take long, meandering walks and have equally long and meandering conversations.

Favorite Snack: Frozen cotton candy grapes

Subina is a second-year doctoral student in the CORE lab. Her research interest includes studying the connection between intentions and actions in terms of environment protection and preservation. She is passionate about teaching, learning about society and cultures. Her goal is to discover policy level solutions to promote pro- environmental attitude and behaviors. Her hobbies are reading, watching movies and drawing.

Favorite Snack: Lays chips

Daria is a first-year doctoral candidate in the CORE Lab. She received her undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies with a minor in Sociology from Boston College in 2021, before transitioning to Northeastern University, where she received her master’s degree in Environmental Science and Policy in 2023. Daria is primarily interested in exploring perceptions of social-ecological systems through mental modeling, with applications for understanding implications of climate change, coastal adaptation strategy, and the benefits of place-based climate education.

Favorite Snack: Dark chocolate peanut butter cups

Research Assistant

Major: Environmental & Sustainability Sciences
Research Interests: Socio-Ecological Systems Thinking and Environmental Education

Controversial Opinion: We should normalize wearing costumes on regular days

Research Assistant

Major: Environmental & Sustainability Sciences and Business
Research Interests: Environmental Psychology, Human Exceptionalism, Climate Change and Sustainability

Controversial Opinion: A vanilla latte with soy milk is a three bean soup

Research Assistant

Major: Environmental & Sustainability Sciences
Research Interests: Environmental Stakeholder Engagement, Perceptions of Climate Change, and the Psychology of Clothing Consumption

Controversial Opinion: Cake is overrated

Research Assistant

Major: Criminal Justice and Psychology
Research Interests: Cognitive Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Mental Health

Controversial Opinion: They should make pizza without cheese