Donal Cahill

Donal Cahill is a Quantitative User Experience Researcher at Google, based in San Francisco, California.1 He is a behavioral scientist with over 9 years of experience in experimental testing and quantitative analysis of human decision-making.1

Professional Experience

Cahill has been working at Google since October 2017, where he applies his expertise in quantitative research to user experience.1 Prior to joining Google, he held the following positions:

• Research Associate at UCL (September 2015 - September 2017)
• Graduate Researcher at Harvard University (September 2009 - May 2015)
• Departmental Writing Fellow at Harvard University (July 2013 - June 2014)
• Lab Manager at Trinity College Dublin (January 2009 - August 2009)

Education

Cahill has a strong academic background in psychology and cognitive science:

• PhD in Experimental Psychology from Harvard University (2009 - 2015)
• Master's degree in Experimental Psychology from Harvard University (2009 - 2012)
• Master of Arts (M.A.) in Cognitive Science from University College Dublin (2007 - 2008)
• Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Philosophy from Trinity College Dublin (1999 - 2003)

Skills and Expertise

Cahill's skill set includes:

• Statistics and computational modeling
• Coding (R, Python, Matlab, JavaScript, SQL)
• Mentoring
• Communication of complex concepts to broad audiences

During his PhD studies at Harvard, Cahill focused on understanding wishful thinking, developing experimental paradigms to measure, model, and manipulate this phenomenon.1

Teaching and Research

Throughout his academic career, Cahill has demonstrated excellence in teaching and research:

• Received 4 teaching awards for high student ratings at Harvard
• Completed a multi-experiment dissertation
• Produced 2 in-preparation publications, 6 oral presentations, and 3 conference posters
• Conducted 111 one-on-one writing consultations with undergraduate students
• Developed educational materials for expository writing in psychology

Cahill's diverse background in behavioral science, experimental psychology, and quantitative analysis has prepared him for his current role at Google, where he likely applies his expertise to improve user experiences through data-driven insights and research.1