Hello, and welcome!

Cosmo, one of my research subjects.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my personal website. I am an associate professor of psychology at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA. I earned my bachelor's of science degree in psychology from Denison University in 2007, and my master's and doctoral degrees in psychology from the University of Georgia in 2009 and 2013, respectively.

My research interests include origins of language, animal cognition, interspecies social relationships, and comparisons between parrot speech and child language. Both my master's thesis and my dissertation explored one parrot's use of speech to regulate and manipulate her social relationship with her. I teach Introductory Psychology, Research Design in Psychology, History and Systems of Psychology, Animal Cognition, Learning and Behavior, and an interdisciplinary seminar on consciousness in other species.

I devote much of my time and energy to developing my skills as an instructor and undergraduate mentor. I am the proud faculty adviser of Visible Spectrum, a campus club for BIPOC STEM students. I am also the coauthor of a research mentoring handbook for students and faculty titled the SURE (Specialized Undergraduate Research Experience) Workbook. This interactive guide was developed with my colleague, Dr. Elizabeth Simpson. 

This website provides an overview of my research, student mentoring, and other professional activities. Please feel free to contact me with any questions at ecolbertwhite@pugetsound.edu.

---

PSYC311 Rat Training

​Click the photo above to watch some of my students' rats in action! Students in Learning and Behavior (PSYC311) use only positive reinforcement to train their rats to perform a variety of fun behaviors.

Lab News

Last year, I co-authored a book with my colleague Dr. Allison Kaufman. Click here to learn more.