Dr. Riley Loria completed her bachelors degree in psychology and cognitive science at Tulane University in her home city of New Orleans, then went on to earn her Masters and PhD with CU Boulder’s social psychology program. Her research examines what circumstances most effectively evoke cooperative decision-making, strategies for promoting policy engagement and communication, and the role of identity in shaping individual policy attitudes.
She expanded her research to focus on applied psychology as a research fellow with PENN State’s Research to Policy Collaboration Institute where she worked one-on-one with state and local policymakers to increase their use of research evidence in policy, and to evaluate the effectiveness of communication tools used to reach legislators. In her internship with ACT Inc., she examined how to best model holistic predictions about long term student success and career prospects. Her current work aims to apply social psychological theory to real world educational policy research.
Riley is now a data and project manager with the Renee Crown Wellness Institute's Data Repository Team.