Welcome
I love to bring fresh perspectives into my books by applying knowledge and experience from many different disciplines, as well as from “real world” experiences. Although I’m now a professor of engineering, I’ve also worked in lots of different places and doing very different things: serving as a Russian translator on Soviet trawlers up in the Bering Sea, teaching in China, going from US Army private to Regular Army Captain, and working as a radio operator at the South Pole Station in the Antarctic. (I met my husband there—I had to go to the end of the earth to meet that man!)
More about me >
Watch my TED Talk on “Learning How to Learn”
Forthcoming events
Rethinking Neurodiversity: Understanding Autism, Dyslexia, and ADHD Through a Neuroscientific Lens, Japan Association for Learning Disabilities
On 10/18/2025 at Tokyo, Japan
Pathological Altruism in Education (for JALD)
On 10/19/2025 at Tokyo, Japan
Child Development Support Research Association, Japan
On 10/20/2025 at Japan (via webinar from Tokyo)
Cheery Friday Emails

Mental Models
Cheery Friday—whenever it shows up in your inbox, from Coursera’s mighty email servers to you! Greetings from sunny Tokyo! And (drumroll) our Book of the Week is! Mental Models: How understanding the mind can transform how you work and learn, by Jim He…
MORE >Free full version of Learning How to Learn
Cheery Friday! Free full version of Learning How to Learn Great news! For those of you—and we know there are thousands!—who are encouraging your students, colleagues, and friends to take Learning How to Learn, there’s now a direct link to a free versi…
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