Department of Psychology

Department of Psychology

Perception, Ecological Action & Learning Lab (PEARL)

Program Director

 

Dr. Michael McBeath

Michael McBeath was trained in the emerging area combining Psychology and Engineering. He majored in both fields for his Bachelors degree from Brown University, received a Masters of Science in Instrumentation from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and earned his Doctoral degree from Stanford University in Psychology with a minor in Electrical Engineering. Parallel to his academic career, he worked as a research scientist, both at NASA - Ames Research Center, and at the Interval Corporation, a technology think tank funded by Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen. He has been a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at Kent State University and at Arizona State University, where he is also adjunct faculty in the Kinesiology Department, and the Arts, Media, and Engineering School.  His research has been funded by grants from the Interval Corporation, the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research.

                  

 Vita (Pdf)                          

Research Focus

Michael McBeath’s research focuses on computational modeling of perception-action in dynamic, natural environments. Specialty areas span sports, robotics, music, navigation, and multisensory object perception. The most widely known work is on navigational strategies used by baseball players, animals, and robots.

The four major research streams are as follows:

 

                  People                                            Research Publications                                                Links