Joel Landsteiner
When I first decided to attend St. Olaf, I was given a tour of the psychophysiology lab by Dr. Howard Thorsheim. It was then that I decided I wanted to work more with the lab, Dr. Thorsheim and the multifaceted projects that occur between the two. My freshman year at St. Olaf I was able to take Intro to Psychology and Psychophysiology during the interim. I was later accepted to work with the Psychophysiology Team for summer research in 2002.
Joel graduated in 2004 with a B.A. in Pychology and Computer Science.
Research Interests
Psychology & Teaching
Along side my interest in how people learn about technology I also enjoy teaching. My sophomore year I was able to start tutoring some psych classes, as well as cooperatively teach psychophysiology as a lab preceptor with Mike Mensink. As junior lab administrator, my responsibilities included teaching and lab maintenance. In the spring of 2002, I had the opportunity to visit the Bakken museum of electricity and life to present some basic psychophysiological phenomenon to middle school kids. It was apparent to me then how much I really enjoyed teaching.
Human Computer Interaction, Interfacing and Ergonomics
My final interest bridges many academic subjects, and therefore is hard to get a good idea of where exactly it fits into. The ability to interact with a computer, as a human, is a phenomenal task in itself, but to be able to bridge the digital divide, and even increase the efficiency of the technology that already exists, would be a phenomenal undertaking. Because this is such a vast interest, I won't explain all that it entails
