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Jacob Elder

Jacob Elder, Ph.D.

Behavioral Scientist | Data Scientist | Quantitative UX Researcher

[Website in progress]

Jacob J. Elder

Behavioral Scientist at The Vanguard Group

Behavioral Scientist with 8+ years applying principles of psychology, statistical modeling, and causal inference across academic and industry settings. Adept at deriving actionable insights from experiments, surveys, and user data to drive product, marketing, and business strategy. Proficient in statistical modeling and machine learning approaches using R, Python, SQL and other languages. Passionate about communicating findings through clear data visualizations and presentations.

  • From: Santa Cruz, CA
  • Lives In: Philadelphia, PA
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My Skills

Coding skills

R: Proficient
MATLAB: Proficient
Python: Intermediate
Stan: Intermediate
Bash: Intermediate
SQL: Basic

Design Skills

Experimental Design (e.g., A/B Testing)
Correlational/Observational Design
Survey Design
Longitudinal Design
Behavioral/Cognitive Task Design
Interview Research

Statistical Modeling

General and Generalized Linear Model
Mixed Effects/Multilevel Models
Parametric and Non-Parametric Statistics
Latent Variable Modeling
Frequentist and Bayesian Statistics
Dimensionality Reduction

Computational Social Sciences

Network Analysis
Reinforcement Learning Models
Text Analysis
Similarity-Based Category Learning Models
Agent-Based Models
Multinomial Processing Trees Models

Education

  • 2018 - Present
    University of California, Riverside
    Social Psychology, Ph.D. | Quantitative Focus | Departmental Award for Most Accomplished Researcher
  • 2018 - 2023
    University of California, Riverside
    Social Psychology, M.A.
  • 2011 - 2015
    University of California, Los Angeles
    Psychology, B.A. | Departmental Honors | Cum Laude

Experience

  • 2022 - Present
    University of California, Riverside: GradQuant
    Quantitative Consultant

    Provided four hours/week consultation to graduate students on quantitative issues (programming, theory, implementation)

  • 2018 - 2023
    University of California, Riverside
    Graduate Researcher

    Designed and conducted 15+ neuroimaging/behavioral experiments and survey-based studies investigating how people's beliefs and preferences shape behaviors

  • 2019 - 2022
    University of California, Riverside
    Teaching Assistant

    Prepared course materials, taught, and graded assignments for 250+ students

  • 2016 - 2018
    Virginia Tech
    Research Coordinator

    Supervised scheduling, finances, and data collection for multi-year longitudinal research of 167+ families

Academic Projects

Below are selected projects (published and in-progress). For a full list of all publications, see CV above.

Click to read more and to access code.

Mapping the self: A network approach for understanding psychological and neural representations of self-concept structure
Learning About the Self: Motives for Coherence and Positivity Constrain Learning From Self-Relevant Social Feedback
Insular Risk Processing Predicts Alcohol Use Via Externalizing Pathway in Male Adolescents
Maintaining Stable and Certain Self-Views: Self-Beliefs with More Semantic Implications are More Stable and Confident
Estimating the stability of implicit processes: Implicit attitudes reflect the contribution of both state and trait-like cognitive processes
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