Faculty & Staff

I am a social psychologist trained in the interdisciplinary field of judgment and decision making. I am particularly interested in how people develop an understanding of complex environmental and societal problems and how their "mental models" of complex systems can best be studied and improved to aid both personal and public decision making. I firmly believe that environmental and social problems can't be solved without understanding how they are represented in the mind and identifying what cognitive processes people bring to bear upon them. ... View Profile

Robert Krueger is the founding director of WPI's Environment and Sustainability Studies Program. He has been a Co-Principal Investigator on two U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants focused on environmental justice issues in Worcester. He serves as co-chair of the EPA’s Environmental Justice Working Group. He is also board president of the Regional Environmental Council. A broad, international audience recognizes Krueger’s scholarship on urban sustainability. He has published dozens of papers in prestigious internationally peer-reviewed journals. ... View Profile

Erin Ottmar is an assistant professor of psychology and learning sciences at WPI. She received her BA in psychology and elementary education from the University of Richmond. After college, she spent several years teaching in Ecuador and Japan. In 2011, she received her PhD in Educational Psychology: Applied Developmental Science from the University of Virginia. After graduate school, returned to a small liberal arts environment and spent 3 years as a post-doctoral research scientist at the University of Richmond. ... View Profile

Professor Radzicki is an economist, creator of WPI’s program in system dynamics, and co-creator of WPI’s program in trading and investment system development. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Notre Dame and his training in system dynamics computer simulation modeling from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition, he is a certified Rapid-I Predictive Analytics Analyst. Professor Radzicki’s research focuses on predictive analytics, simulation science, and the application of techniques from these areas to problems in economics, finance, and management. ... View Profile

Khalid Saeed is professor of economics and system dynamics. Widely recognized for his work on computer modeling and experimental analysis of developmental, organizational, and governance-related issues, he has written two books and numerous articles and book chapters on a variety of developmental and management agendas, including sustainable economic development, infrastructure planning, political economy, supply chain management, and system dynamics modeling. ... View Profile

Jeanine Skorinko is an associate professor of psychology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the Department of Social Science and Policy Studies. She also is the director of the Psychological Science undergraduate program. She received her PhD in social psychology at the University of Virginia. Her research program attempts to understand how factors in our social environment, especially those factors we are unaware of, influence decisions and interpersonal interactions. ... View Profile

My research is policy-oriented and focuses on development from the perspective of applied economics and policy evaluation. From my experience as economist and development practitioner in West Africa, I came to realize that as long as actual or potential growth is lagging, promoting economic and social development can be extremely challenging. That is why my research focuses on how economic theory and empirical analysis can provide insights to improve growth and development strategies. ... View Profile

Professor Stoddard’s research focuses on the policy and politics of food production in a changing climate and global economy. Her work analyzes the ways in which the governance of agriculture and livestock production shapes our food systems’ vulnerability and capacity to adapt to drought, floods, the global spread of disease, and other hazards. She is also interested in issues of environmental injustice in the livestock industry and the ability of social movements to make powerful changes, especially in the age of social media. ... View Profile