The Center for Advanced Hindsight actively seeks to recruit new members with the right set of skills and an uncontained enthusiasm for science. There is no application process for the Center and qualified applicants are notified immediately after they have demonstrated the skills needed to become a member of the Center. At this point they are given the secret handshake and at last become a full-fledged member.
The members of the Center are available for consulting and parties.
Dan Ariely
James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at the Fuqua School of Business, Dan studies how people actually act in the marketplace, as opposed to how they should or would if they were rational beings. Dan’s bestselling books about behavioral economics include “Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions,” “The Upside of Irrationality,” and most recently “The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty.”
Megan Hogerty
Megan grew up in Northern California where she received her BA in English Literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz. At the Center for Advanced Hindsight, her main interests include keeping Dan’s life organized and everybody else buzzed on espresso.
Aline Grüneisen, Lab Manager
Aline spent most of her time frolicking in the quaint city of Los Angeles until attending Reed College in Portland where she received a BA in Psychology with a minor in analytic people-watching and acute curiosity. In her free time, she enjoys balloons, living room dance parties and cooking with more vegetables than non-vegetables. She is overly attached to her umlaut.
Lalin Anik, Post-doctoral Researcher
Originally from Istanbul, Lalin received her BA degree in Psychology from Brandeis University and her doctorate in Marketing from Harvard Business School. Her research interests include experimental work in social networks and happiness, but she is chronically curious about a variety of topics, ranging from life philosophies to social adoption, from personal space to consumption. Once a professional swimmer, she can now be found running after a football, following arts or flying.
Guy Hochman, Post-doctoral Researcher
Born and raised in far, far Israel, Guy is the proud father of two wonderful kids: Boaz and Roi. Guy earned his PhD in Psychology at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, and here at the Center for Advanced Hindsight he is pursuing what will hopefully turn into a fertile academic career. His research interests center around the cognitive processes underlying economic decision-making.
Alon Evron, Data Technician and Analyst
Alon earned his BS in Mathematic and Statistics from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, and his Masters in Operation Research from the same faraway place. Alon’s academic training serves him well, as he recruits all his statistical knowledge to his biggest passion – Sports (and especially Duke’s Basketball team). Alon has two kids who were infected with his Basketball bug, and during his spare time he likes to write articles about college Basketball. At the Center for Advanced Hindsight, Alon helps the researchers manage their datasets and make statistical analyses.
Merve Akbas, PhD student
Merve grew up in Istanbul where she received her BA and MA in Economics. Currently she is a PhD student in Economics at Duke University and she studies how real people (as opposed to “rational agents”) interact strategically in real life. She usually needs to feel the wind on her face and used to do so either on a sailing boat or on a paraglider in the past. Now she just fans herself with “to be read” AER papers and actually enjoys it a lot.
Troy Campbell, PhD student
Troy received his BA in Social Psychology from the University of California, Irvine. His research interests include social exchange norms, morality, and how different motivations predictably bias thinking and memory. He grew up on the beaches of Southern California, and has spent many of his years in the shadows of Hollywood making viral videos, managing local tourism websites, and recently working as an Imagineer at Walt Disney. Today Troy is pursuing a PhD in Marketing and can be found using California lingo no one understands, doing spontaneous backflips off walls, and visiting his favorite animals, the Ring Tailed Lemurs at the Duke Lemur Center.
Heather Mann, PhD Student
Heather began her research training at the University of Waterloo, investigating a curious phenomenon known as time-space synaesthesia, and continued UBC, where she probed the depths of the brain using functional neuroimaging. As a Psychology PhD student at Duke, she is keen to explore how people’s perceptions and biases influence their real-world decisions and political attitudes. Outside of the lab, you might find her meditating, shopping for her next Halloween costume months in advance, or riding the bus.
Jared Wolfe, PhD student
Jared Wolfe grew up in New York City and received his BS in Human Development from Cornell University. His main research focus is on the utility that consumers gain from experiences (e.g., what types of utility consumers prefer to gain from experiences, how consumers can maximize their utility from experiences). He spends his spare time listening to music and lamenting the breakup of the Beatles.
Erin Allingham, Research Associate
Erin grew up all over the U.S., but finally settled in Durham after attending Duke for undergrad, where she majored in English and Spanish, and continuing on to UNC for her Master’s degree in English. Other than writing lots of things with Dan, most of Erin’s time is spent reading all the things, participating in the cult of Crossfit, cooking, educating people on the nature of the soap/cilantro problem, and forever seeking the perfect sunscreen.
Nick Buttrick, Research Associate
Nick graduated in 2008 from Yale with a degree in cognitive science. He spent the intervening period working with a colony of hyperintelligent monkeys. He’s looking forward to being able to talk to his participants.
Samuel Iglesias, Research Associate
Samuel is an eclectic who majored in English and Economics, with a minor in Physics, graduating from Duke University in 2009. Prone to take up any art that strikes his fancy, Samuel’s extracurricular interests include fine tea, Beethoven, philosophy and, most recently, helping make people’s lives better through thoughtful iPhone development.
Jamie Foehl, Research Associate
Jamie spent 12 years making a living in an industry that relies on irrational consumer behavior: Advertising. She managed accounts for a number of brands including Rolling Rock and Sony at agencies in NYC, Minneapolis and McKinney in Durham. She graduated from Carleton College. She doesn’t drink coffee but she does enjoy activities such as swing dancing and triathlons.
Joseph Harvey, Research Associate
Although born in the Unites States, Joe grew up in Singapore before returning to get his BA at Davidson College in History while working in a Clinical Psychology lab. Joe’s academic interests include the behavioral economics of innovation, particularly in negotiations. In his spare time, Joe spends way too much time second guessing football coaches, watching Davidson and Liverpool lose late leads, and going for long runs.
Susan Wunderink, Research Associate
Susan takes way too long to tell people where she’s from. She grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, majored in poetry at Northwestern, then went on to stints as a teacher, Peace Corps Volunteer (Kazakhstan), and magazine editor/journalist. Susan moved from the Chicago area to Duke in 2009 to earn her Master’s degree in Public Policy. Three years later, she considers herself an expert on Durham’s sandwich shops, trailheads, and resale shops.
