I was born in India in the coastal city of Chennai (earlier known as Madras), and spent the first few years of my life in New Delhi, the capital of India. At age six, I moved with my family to Bangalore (initially labeled "Garden city" and later rechristened the "Silicon Valley of India" as it got progressively more developed, prosperous and congested!) where I spent the next fourteen "foundational years" of my life.

           In 1997, I got my B.A in Psychology, English Literature and Economics (triple major) from Mount Carmel College (affiliated to Bangalore University), where I was also awarded the university gold medal for English Literature. However, I chose to pursue Psychology! I then moved to Coimbatore, a medium sized industrial city in southern India, where I got my M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Bharathiar University in 1999. During the last semester of my M.A. program, I worked as an intern in the department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology at Wockhardt Hospital & Heart Institute, Bangalore. This was followed by a brief research internship in the Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, which laid the foundational block for my doctoral studies.

       At the turn of the millennium, I moved to Illinois, where I began graduate studies in the Department of Psychology, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I received my M.A in Human Factors in 2002 and finally my Ph.D., also in Human Factors, in 2005. Immediatly after, I spent two years as a post-doctoral fellow in the Dynamic Decision Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University. I now find myself among the faculty in the Department of Psychology at Old Dominion University . 

         Non-academic pursuits I have attempted in my "free time" - was once an aspiring philatelist (until I entered graduate school!) - bronze medalist at the state level; acquired a Diploma in Fashion Designing & Merchandising; amateur artist - exhibited my water colors once; converse with reasonable fluency in four languages. 

         Misc adventures - went parasailing in Honolulu, HI; climbed a 600 ft waterfall in Ocho Rios, Jamaica; tried kayaking in Illinois; took salsa dancing lessons in Pittsburgh; did a 2-mile hike on volcanic rocks in Big Island, HI - witnessed red hot lava pouring into the Pacific ocean; survived a 6-mile (7 hour) hike in the Grand Canyons in peak summer!!!...to name a few....

Well, that's my story. Thanks for listening!