PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Chegg. Santa Clara, CA

UX Research Manager                                                           April 2024—present

Lead UX Researcher                                                               October 2021—April 2024

Led foundational and tactical research into the needs, mental models, and perceptions of college students, including Chegg users and college students in general.

·    Served as a mentor to junior researchers and was promoted to manager position leading a team comprised of a Lead and a Senior UX Researcher.

·    Continue to do IC work leading research into the development of new AI-centered educational products.

·    Led mixed methods research to understand U.S college segments based on their attitudes and behaviors related to the college experience.

·    Led research to understand how U.S. college students meet their community and belongness needs.

·    Led a diary study exploring the day-to-day learning intents and practices of U.S college students across the semester.

·    Led research to understand student perceptions of the quality of Chegg’s question and step-by-step answer product based on those answers’ content relevance and potential to support learning.

·    Conducted secondary research to advise the organization about behavioral science and its opportunities for application to Chegg products.

·    Led discovery research to understand the impact of ChatGPT’s arrival on Chegg subscribers’ usage of Chegg and other educational tools.

·    Collected and analyzed small- and large-scale data, surveys, usability, interviewing, concept testing, and card sorting.

·    Designed and led a program that enabled product team members and other stakeholders to conduct their own research through training and consultive support from the UX Research team.

Robinhood. Menlo Park, CA

Behavioral Insights Researcher Level IV                                            May 2020—October, 2021

Led foundational and tactical research into the needs, mental models, and perceptions of Robinhood users.

·  Led research to understand the information needs and decision processes for different user segments as they make investing decisions. Informed product strategy and made design recommendations for improving the quality of investing decisions and financial wellness of Robinhood users. 

·    Led foundational research to map the trading customer journey and understand the information needs that characterized each stage of that journey. Developed and defined four user personas, based on differences in those information needs and provided recommendations for meeting those needs at each stage of the trading customer journey.

·    Led a multi-study mixed-methods project to understand and define user segments based on their financial and investing needs. Socialized findings to build a deep understanding of each segment across the organization and shared strategic recommendations for meeting each segment’s needs. 

·    Developed a sensitive, goal-able metric used to inform product team strategy. This measure detected differences in the user impact of product changes, offering clear guidance for product decisions.

·    Mentored researchers and created resources and tools to support research skill development.

Instagram (Meta/Facebook), Menlo Park, CA

UX Researchers Level V (FTE)                                                              July 2019 – February 2020

UX Researcher Level V contracting via US Tech Solutions       February 2019 – July 2019     

Led foundational and tactical research into user attitudes, beliefs and behaviors regarding trust in Instagram, trust in advertisers on Instagram, and perceived quality of ads on Instagram.

·    Led research into users’ perceptions and preferences for data privacy and control over user’s ads, helping to develop and improve Instagram’s first set of user controls over ads.

·    Directed research into understanding roadblocks and strategies for facilitating the product consideration cycle, resulting in a tool to help facilitate purchase decisions.

·    Led research into user attitudes and experiences of commercial content on Instagram at app, surface, and post levels, leading to improvements in machine learning model definitions and features.

·    Worked closely with stakeholders, embedded within product teams, to identify impactful strategic and tactical research questions and deliver timely findings to guide product decisions.

Joyce Ehrlinger Consulting. San Bruno, CA                                  

Principal Researcher/Founder February 2014 – December 2018

Partnered with companies as a consultant and content expert for a range of UX, marketing, and people science research projects. Drew upon my academic research and collected new data, synthesized findings and created knowledge products for clients.

·    Conducted AB testing/survey studies to inform product decisions for companies including Khan Academy and Mindset Works

·    Served as content expert for Morgan Stanley, and W.W. Norton & Company, School City, and Sid Lee for The North Face.

Washington State University. Pullman, WA                                       

Assistant Professor of Psychology June 2013 – June 2018

Directed numerous quantitative and mixed methods research projects on people’s decisions and consumer judgments, growth mindsets, motivation, and learning.

Florida State University. Pullman, WA                                       

Assistant Professor of Psychology August 2006 – May 2013

Directed numerous quantitative and mixed methods research projects to understand people’s growth mindsets, motivation, and learning.

EDUCATION

Stanford University, Postdoctoral Fellow, Social Psychology

Cornell University, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Social Psychology

Bowling Green State University, Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Psychology & Philosophy