Dr. Pilegard is an Associate Teaching Professor at UC San Diego. She received her Ph.D. in Psychological and Brain Sciences from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research falls at the intersection of cognitive psychology and educational psychology: she is interested in how we learn and how, as a consequence, we should teach.
In the lab, she focuses on how motivation and metacognition interact with principles of learning to produce meaningful learning outcomes. In the classroom, she is interested in infusing open science principles into intro-level courses, facilitating causal reasoning, developing inclusive course policies, and helping students relate to scientists. She teaches courses in research methods, cognitive psychology, and educational psychology.