Kimele Persaud, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor of Psychology Rutgers University-Newark

1. How did you become interested in cognitive science/psychology?

I first became interested in Cog Science at Delaware State University in an upper division cognitive psychology class. The professor was telling us about mnemonic strategies, and we were suspicious that it would work. He offered to demonstrate and let us give the materials. We gave a ridiculous list but low and behold he did retrieve it. Immediately I was curious about cognition. How do you study it? Are there real-world applications for using mnemonic strategies or is it only good for word lists? This one demo planted a seed of interest and it just kept growing from there.

2. What is the focus of your research?

My research focuses on the processes and mechanisms that govern how we might encode, store, and retrieve information from memory. I investigate how prior semantic knowledge interacts with episodic memory to help us reconstruct past events. I am also interested in how these processes differ across different developmental, cultural, and expertise groups. I use a combination of behavioral and computational methods to explore these facets of memory.

3. What aspects of your work do people get really excited about? Recently

I think there are two things people are generally interested in about my work. Much of the work I have done in memory uses the domain of color. Color is really cool because it is a rich categorical domain and in some ways our experiences with color are universally shared, which might be tied to the biology of the perceptual system. In other ways, there is variability in our color knowledge and experiences. This might be a function of language or environment or education or development. When people hear I study this, it lets them think about other ways color connects with their lives. The second thing is that people get really excited about the use of computational cognitive modeling. This is a sophisticated analytical toolkit that lets us go beyond our standard means of analyses to take a deeper look at the underlying processes that give rise to the kinds of behavior patterns we observe.

4. Where do you see your research going over the next few years?

I see my research going in a couple of converging trajectories. During my work as a postdoc, I was exploring memory from a developmental perspective. I am interested in continuing to pursue these questions. I am also interested in further developing computational models to explain long term episodic memory both in adults and children. In a few years, I would love to work with expert groups to understand how the structure and degree of their knowledge might impact their memory.

5. Do you see yourself in industry or academics moving forward?

Academia all the way! It is challenging but I enjoy it. I like the combination of research, mentorship, and teaching. I place an emphasis on mentorship for students from underrepresented groups and see myself as helping to blaze a trail.

6. What's it like being a person of color in cognitive science?

It’s complicated. It’s been great to see an increased conversation about diversity. We’re no longer just interested in developing cognitive theories that explain only certain racial/socio-economic groups. It is great that there’s an increased understanding around things like inequities and disparities in health, education, economics, plus more, that have plagued minority groups. But the flip side is that as a person of color who attends the conferences and the panels and knows first-hand the degree of these inequities, it feels like I am being confronted with my own trauma and the trauma experienced by members of my racial group repeatedly. While it’s essential to have this conversation and an opportunity for learning for people who don’t know, sometimes it is hard to hear it over and over again.

7. Any advice for other graduate students of color?

Find good mentors and develop a community of supportive people who are rooting for you! Sometimes your community might not fully understand your work or what it is that you do, they might not even look like you. However, knowing that you have people who are in your corner actively championing your success will help you to overcome many challenging experiences. Also, recognize that diversity recruitment or hiring does not necessarily translate to cultural competence. These statements are now everywhere. You might think this means people fully appreciate your diversity and what it brings to the space and how your lived experiences are important, but that is not necessarily the case. Recognize that people who are avidly recruiting diversity may not have the cultural competency needed to be effective. This can help you from internalizing negative experiences. I would hope that the field will move to making sure mentors are more culturally competent and do not just shape mentees to be a mini version of themselves. Instead, they will value what diversity brings as a benefit to the field.

8. What changes have you noticed in your field or the field more generally?

I think the question of diversity Is being brought to the forefront in both research topics and in who is doing the research. That has been encouraging to see.

9. Do you see spaces where diversity will change how/what questions cognitive psychology/cog Science is asking?

Organizations like SPARK are bringing these to the forefront. I can see how diversity would change the questions we ask about memory, development, and learning outcomes. In general, I think diversity will change the questions we ask about any facet of the human experience. If we’re going to capture it right, diversity is meaningful.

10. How do you protect your time?

This question made me realize that in some ways I was very unprotective of my time. I have three answers. First, I had to identify why I wasn’t protecting my time. I realized the there are aspects of the job that I do not necessarily enjoy. As a result, I kept filling the time that I allocated for these tasks with other things that came up. This meant that when the unpleasant assignments were due, I then had to sacrifice my time for other things to get it done. So to protect my time, I had to stop doing that! This has made me create and then stick to my to do list (including the less enjoyable tasks). I also had to be realistic about what I could accomplish within the allotted time. The second strategy came from a conversation with a colleague to “do a little bit of something every day.” In grad school, she mentioned that we could work intensely on something for a full day, but those time blocks do not exist anymore. I now do a little bit of reading, analysis, and writing every day. Third, I had to learn to delegate certain tasks. I was not delegating things I could do but as an assistant professor I can’t do everything. I’ve recognized this delegating gives important opportunities to others. So in a nutshell, to protect my time, I create and stick to my to-do lists, I do a little bit each day, and when I can, I delegate.