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Hello, my name is Randy.


I am a PhD candidate in Social and Personality Psychology and Cognitive Science at Cornell University, where I work with Vivian ZayasCindy Hazan, and Tom Gilovich. I also serve as a Graduate Resident Fellow at Carl Becker House, one of Cornell's residential colleges. 

My research examines how people navigate complex social dynamics in everyday life. Specifically, I focus on three key areas: (1) how emotions are socially regulated, both automatically and deliberately, (2) how people interpret and respond to ambiguous social situations, and (3) strategies that foster social connection and mitigate social disconnection. I study these topics across multiple levels ranging from the intrapersonal and interpersonal to the group, team, institutional, and systemic.

In a separate line of work, I explore topics in metascience and methodology. This work investigates how the presentation of research findings shapes perceptions of those findings, and how to identify situational features that are most "psychologically active" for a given person.

Before coming to Cornell, I earned my BA in psychology with high distinction from UC Berkeley. After graduating, I was the lab manager for the joint Ozlem Ayduk and Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton Lab at UC Berkeley from 2016 to 2018.

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