In two words

Meticulous polymath

In twenty seconds

PhD candidate at the University of Toronto studying meta-awareness and attention. Co-Founder of the Psychedelic Studies Research Program and Canadian Centre for Psychedelic Science pioneering research on psychedelic microdosing. Side-projects on mediation, creativity, wisdom, and attention. Strong focus on rigour and transparency.

In ninety seconds

My PhD supervisor is Prof. Norman Farb in the Regulatory and Affective Dynamics Laboratory. My PhD committee includes Prof. Michael Inzlicht (social neuroscientist) and Prof. Kei Fukuda (cognitive neuroscientist).

I am developing neuroanalytic methods aimed at studying meta-awareness: the moment that we realize that our behaviours are not aligned with our overall goals. The clearest example of this is when we catch ourselves unintentionally mind-wandering even though our goal is to pay attention to the task at hand.

I collect and analyze self-report, behavioural, physiological, and neuroimaging (MRI, fNIRS, EEG) data. I’m ultimately trying to model how 1.5 kg of fatty brain-tissue consciously experiences a universe, but for now I take baby steps toward answering those big questions. My PhD attempts to develop tools for modelling the neural dynamics of attention and meta-awareness: objectively quantifying the subjective.

I love to collaborate so feel free to reach out. Collaboration is a resource-multiplier. I take special joy in designing Xanatos gambit experiments; it is an exercise in reducing inefficiencies and I love it.

Read my CV for the concise summary (link may not work if you’re on a VPN).

A brief timeline of my personal universe

• 1988 Conceived, to the surprise of everyone involved
• 1995 Recruited to gifted/enrichment program
• 1999 Academic Excellence award
• 2005 Communications Technology award
• 2006 Begin Bachelor’s degree at University of Waterloo in Software Engineering
• 2008 Employed at Electronic Arts making video games (a childhood dream achieved)
• 2010 Change majors into Psychology; begin work in an EEG/ERP and eye-tracking lab
• 2012 Complete BA in Psychology with Computer Science minor
• 2013 First presentation at a scientific conference on stage at Visions Sciences Society
• 2014 Publish Bachelor’s thesis research in Neuroimage
• 2015 Begin Master’s degree at University of Toronto in Psychology
• 2016 Begin PhD studies at University of Toronto in Psychology
• 2017 Begin research on psychedlic microdosing
• 2019 Co-found Psychedelic Studies Research Program at the University of Toronto
• 2020 Co-found Canadian Centre for Psychedelic Science with Rotem Petranker

My Personal Life

Not that it’s anyone’s business, but here are a few things about me. I adore decadence.

• I love dark chocolate (over 85%). Chocosol is my daily go-to. Sirene is a delight.
• I eat ethically sourced meat. Sanagain’s Meat Locker is my butcher of choice.
• I wear clothing made from natural fibres like cotton, wool, bamboo, or cashmere. I find they breathe better. Merino wool socks in cold Canadian winters included. I like United Dry Stock Goods for apparel.
• I order my shoes from Carmina. I’ve got a great pair of boots from Dayton.
• I get custom gloves made by Chester Jeffries. My four pairs have served me well.
• I cut with beautiful knives from hacher&krain. My choice are the K-Sabatier Authentique 1834 Ltd.
• I don’t use social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.). I use DuckDuckGo instead of Google. I use ProtonVPN.

This Website

This site is powered by Hugo Minimal theme and made in R using the package blogdown. It is hosted and deployed with Netlify and the domain was purchased through GoDaddy.

This website design was inspired by Derek Sivers' website and the code was based on a previous version of Hause Lin’s website. Hause is a friend and colleague of mine who does great work and I personally recommend his hausekeep package of tools.