Highlights:

  • 8+ years experience in education, training and development
  • 8 years management experience
  • 10 years corporate experience
  • Solid collaboration skills; detail-oriented; self-starter
  • Strong research, evaluation and communication skills

Quick Links:

 

Education:

  • M.A. Human Factors Psychology, 2003, California State University , Northridge; with Distinction
  • B.A. Psychology, 2000, California State University , Northridge; Summa cum Laude
  • A.S. Math and Science, 1998, College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita; Valedictorian

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Training and Education Experience:

Instructional Designer
Training Systems Design, Camarillo, CA
Mar 2004 - Mar 2007
Developed print, CD- and computer-based instructional materials; incorporated principles of Human Factors, cognition, motivation, learning theory and other psychological principles into the design of each project. Clients included Amgen, Pfizer, and WellPoint. www.trainingsystemsdesign.com

Web Designer
Psychology Department, California State University, Northridge, CA
Sep 2003 - Jan 2006
Designed and maintained psychology department website, adhering to university and departmental standards; in collaboration with department chairperson, faculty, staff, and student organizations to build an informative and viable resource for the department. www.csun.edu/psychology

Freelance Researcher, Statistical Consultant, Tutor
Sept 2002 – Sep 2003
Conducted survey research for Human Factors expert witness, produced reports for court submission. Private statistics tutoring and thesis consulting.

Tutorial Lab Supervisor
College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita, CA
Jan 1998 - Aug 2002
Supervised tutorial lab (math, English, and computer labs, and subject tutors); scheduled, trained and managed over 30 tutors; proctored tests; opened and closed the lab. Tutored statistics, psychology, anthropology, sociology, computer skills, basic math through college algebra, introductory biology, introductory chemistry, beginning Spanish, and basic
study skills. www.canyons.edu/Offices/TLC

Teaching Assistant, Intermediate Statistics and Statistics Tutoring Project Coordinator
California State University, Northridge
Aug 1999 - Dec 2000
Conducted lab classes, generated and graded lab and homework assignments. Coordinated psychology department statistics tutorial lab, including scheduling, oversight, and promotion.

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Management Experience:

Project Manager / Producer
Training Systems Design, Camarillo, CA
Feb 2005 - Nov 2008
Developed project schedules, assembled project team, monitored all phases of project development to keep project in scope and on schedule; client communications, including weekly status reports, conducting milestone meetings, and achieving client sign-off on key deliverables. As Producer, I carried the client's and writer's visions throughout the project, casted and directed photo and video shoots and voiceover sessions, selected music, and oversaw the editing process through delivery. Clients included Amgen, Pfizer, WellPoint, and Southern California Edison. www.trainingsystemsdesign.com

Credit/Customer Service Manager
Selandia Designs, Valencia, CA
Feb 1994 - Aug 1996
Restructured, trained and supervised staff in seven departments (credit collections, new accounts, order entry, customer service, inventory allocation, billing, and claims) to boost accuracy, efficiency and productivity. Developed training manuals summarizing all basic processes in all departments. Produced weekly and monthly activity reports distributed to owners and directors. Responsibilities included hiring, firing and disciplinary action. Management style facilitates training, teamwork, and empowerment.

International Account Executive
Applause Inc., Woodland Hills, CA
Jul 1988 - Feb 1994
Sales and customer service for all accounts in the Middle East, Asia, Australia and New Zealand . The position entailed cultivating new distribution channels with licensor approval (e.g., Disney, Warner Bros., Children's Television Workshop) through sales presentations, pricing negotiation with vendors and customers, tracking production, shipment arrangement and tracking with freight forwarders and carriers–all in constant communication with the customer. Heavy fax and email correspondence.Other positions held at Applause, Inc.:

  • International Finance Administrator
  • National Account Collection / Reconciliation
  • Reconciliation Specialist / Special Projects Supervisor
  • Claims Analyst approx

Auditor / Bookkeeper
Specialty Restaurants, Inc., Castaway Restaurant, Burbank, CA
April 1983 - April 1986
Daily cash receipts through Income Journal, accounts payable (receipt of merchandise through preparation for payment), collection of accounts receivable, payroll for 150 employees, daily weekly and monthly flash reports, daily perpetual and monthly physical inventories of food and bar, issuing and monitoring of employee house banks and keys, general implementation of company policies and controls, mid-shift bar audits, and the training and supervision of office staff.

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Selected Computer-based Training Projects (Developed and Managed):

  • New-hire orientation
  • Career development
  • Leadership training
  • Benefits training for HR specialists/global
  • Body Mass Index training for pediatric physician assistants
  • Coaching the health coach
  • Good Manufacturing Practices compliance training
  • Drug research and FDA approval pipeline process

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Selected Academic Research:

Masters Thesis. The Effect of Driver Distraction on Simulated Driving: Are Multiple Resource Theory Predictions Mediated by Central Executive Involvement? Thesis experiment investigated the nature of driver distraction through the exploration of competing models; included programming of a driving simulator to test and record participants’ behavior, culminating in a 100-page master’s thesis paper and 1-hour presentation. California State University, Northridge, CA, 2003. (pdf 875K)

Auditory Alerts in Surface Transportation. Meta-analysis investigating auditory warnings commonly used in aerospace applications to proposed application in conventional vehicles, culminating in a detailed research proposal. California State University, Northridge, CA, 2002.

Speech Recognition. Meta-analysis investigating the current state of speech recognition technology and the challenges posed to human factors psychologists. California State University, Northridge, CA, 2002.

Habitability Requirements: Environment, Exercise and Recreation. Integrated systems design of exercise and recreation systems for a space station, including environmental requisites. Required negotiation and cooperation with other subsystem designers. Included milestone presentations culminating in a 60-page report. California State University, Northridge, CA, 2002.

Collision Prevention System. Interface design and human factors requirements for a collision prevention system that could seamlessly share control functions with a driver to avoid rear-end and road-departure hazards. Included milestone presentations and 90-page research and implementation manual. California State University, Northridge, CA, 2001.

IPA Approval and Referral System Redesign. Redesign of a medical insurance authorization system for an independent physician organization (IPA), including presentation to customer and 70-page indexed implementation manual. California State University, Northridge, CA, 2001. (pdf 974K)

Analysis of Response Time for Prototypicality and the Effect of Ambiguity. California State University, Northridge, CA, 2002. (pdf 290K)

Internal Structures of Semantic Categories. Partial replication of Rosch (1973). Twenty-seven participants were presented with sentences in the form of “A (member) is a (category)” and were asked to indicate whether the sentence was true or false using SuperLab software. Central and peripheral members were varied, as well as true and false sentences. Response time (RT) was measured and correct responses analyzed. In agreement with Rosch, faster RT was found with central examples, regardless of whether they were presented as true or false. California State University, Northridge, CA, 2000.

Paired-Associate Learning Strategies. Concrete and abstract noun pairs were presented in random order to twenty-seven participants using SupeLab software. Half of the noun pairs were presented in sentences and half were presented for sentence-generation. A cued-recall test was administered and analyzed. Both sentence-generation and concrete nouns resulted in significantly higher recall. Presented to class. California State University, Northridge, CA, 2000.

Analyzing Frazier: A content analysis of gender roles in the media. Twelve episodes of the sit-com Frazier were recorded and viewed several times to rate interactions, behaviors, and character plot positions. California State University, Northridge, CA, 1999.

Prosocial Telephone Behavior: The effects of urgency and gender of caller. Urgent and non-urgent voice mail messages were presented to eighty participants randomly selected from several Los Angeles, CA phone directories. Frequency of response was measured. Presented to class and published on class website. California State University, Northridge, CA, 1999.

Hypermnesia and Encoding Effects with Expository Prose. Hypermnesia is the phenomenon of enhanced recall over time. Thirty participants were asked to read a passage of expository text, performed tasks to evoke either relational encoding or item-specific encoding, and then performed three successive free-recall tests. A significant increase in recall was obtained between the first and third recall tests, though type of encoding was insignificant. California State University, Northridge, CA, 1999.

The Functional Explanation of the Monogamous Family Unit of Hylobatidae. Conducted observational research involving several subspecies of gibbons at the International Center for Gibbon Studies. Behavior was filmed over the course of several days. Frequency and type of behaviors were rated and tallied while viewing the film. Class and faculty presentations. College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita, CA, 1997.

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Academic Department Work:

  • Teaching assistant, intermediate statistics 1999-2000.
  • Student coordinator and tutor of the psychology department statistics tutoring project 1999-2000.
  • Student panel member for the re-certification of the psychology department graduate programs at the Northridge campus, 2002.
  • Web designer of the psychology department website 2003-2006.

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Academic Honors/Awards:

  • Irving Streimer Award for Outstanding Human Factors Graduate, California State University, Northridge, 2003.
  • Graduate Project Award, California State University, Northridge, 2000.
  • James Russell Simpson Merit Scholarship, California State University, Northridge, 2000.
  • Nora Weckler Psi Chi Award, California State University, Northridge, 2000.
  • Dean’s List, California State University, Northridge, 1998-2000.
  • Social and Behavioral Science Scholarship, College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita, 1998.
  • President’s List, College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita, CA, 1996-1998.

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Additional Skills:

Software:

  • Business: Microsoft Office Professional Suite, Project, Adobe Acrobat, Visio
  • Experimental: Superlab, STI Driving Simulator
  • Statistical: SPSS, MatLab, Minitab
  • Web/Graphic: Dreamweaver, Fireworks
  • Other: Voice Recognition Programs

Skills:

  • Website design
  • Type 50+ wpm
  • 10-key by touch

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Other Interests/Hobbies/Affiliations


Gibbon Conservation Center
One of my favoirite organizations. I worked as a researcher/zookeeper Dec 1997 - Jun 1998, which included the general care (food and supplement preparation, feeding, cleaning), and behavioral observation of over 30 gibbons of various subspecies; fund-raising, and web page design for this non-profit, entirely volunteer organization which seeks to breed nearly extinct species for non-intrusive research, and to accumulate behavioral data which may aid in a possible future release program for these apes.

 

 

Green America
This is my favorite all-around resource for everything green, sustainable, and socially responsible. Many worthwhile and practical ideas and campaigns can be found on thier site. Everything from easy ways to recude your carbon footprint to Woodwise, their campaign to get magazines and catalogs to kick their virgin wood habbit. You'll also find information on fair trade products, socially conscious investing, what really happens to our recycling when it leaves the curb, great ideas nieghborhoods across the country are trying...I could go on and on. They offer information that is leading edge in an addessible format. Members receive their famous Green Pages each year. Well worth the low price of membership!

 

 

Defenders of Wildlife
One of the best wildlife charities out there. Well worth a look.

 

http://www.wecansolveit.org/

http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/

 

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