```html CV | ava cahill

Curriculum vitae

Johns Hopkins University · Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences

Education
PhD, Psychology — Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Advisor: Dr. Christopher Krupenye
Expected May 2030
BS, Psychology (Minor: Art History) — Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA
Magna Cum Laude · Psychology Departmental Honors
Advisor: Dr. Angie Johnston
May 2025
Study Abroad — Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NL
Fall 2023
Research Experience
Honors Thesis Student — Boston College Canine Cognition Center
Comparative psychology, evolutionary social learning, canid domestication
Jan 2024 – May 2025
Summer Research Intern — Boston College Canine Cognition Center
June – Aug 2024
Research Assistant — Boston College Canine Cognition Center
Tested 70+ dogs on 7 projects · 30+ children on 3 projects · field work at Discovery Museum (MA)
Aug 2022 – May 2025
Teaching & Mentorship
Teaching Assistant — Brain, Mind, and Behavior (PSYC1102), Boston College
Jan – May 2025
Graduate Student Mentor — Fiorella Durand (Undergraduate Thesis), Johns Hopkins University
Project title: Can dogs infer the content of others' minds? · Student awarded Provost's Undergraduate Research Award
Jan 2026 – Present
Awards & Honors
Scholar of the College Designation — Boston College
Project title: An Investigation of the Novel Marker Cue in Dogs and Dingoes
May 2025
Undergraduate Research Fellowship — Boston College
June 2024 - August 2024
Dean's List, First Honors — Boston College
Every semester, Fall 2021 – Spring 2025
Psi Chi Psychology Honor Society
May 2023
Dever Award for Freshman Writing ($1,000) — Boston College
Awarded best essay written by a freshman · Essay title: "Perceptions of Blackness in Fred Wilson's Iago's Mirror"
May 2022
John A. Ernst III Scholarship ($1,000) — Central Ocean Rotary Club
June 2021
Academic Service
Recruitment Host — Dept. of Psychological and Brain Sciences, JHU
Aug 2025 – Present
Certifications
CITI Social/Behavioral Research Course
June 2025
CITI Working with Dogs in Research Settings
Sept 2022
Wilderness First Aid — Stonehearth Open Learning Opportunities
Nov 2024
Research Skills
Study design & preregistration Human & non-human data collection R (statistical analysis) BORIS behavioral coding Apparatus building & piloting Field research Data management Comparative psychology
Professional Memberships
Comparative Cognition Society
2026 – Present
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