Michelle L. Rivers

I am an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Santa Clara University, where I research how students learn and support their growth through teaching and mentorship in psychological science.

My research bridges cognitive psychology and education, applying theories of learning and memory to improve instructional practices and support self-regulated learning. I focus on how learners form metacognitive judgments—how they assess what they know—and how they manage their own learning strategies. My work has been published in leading journals such as Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, Memory & Cognition, and Educational Psychology Review, and has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the American Psychological Association, and the Psychonomic Society.

Before joining SCU, I was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Metacognition, Memory, & Aging Lab at Texas Christian University, working with Dr. Uma Tauber. I earned my Ph.D. in Psychology from Kent State University in 2021 under the mentorship of Dr. John Dunlosky, and my B.A. in Psychology from UC Santa Cruz, where I first became interested in memory research. Prior to graduate school, I worked as a research assistant in Dr. Timothy Rickard’s Cognition Lab and as a tutor and teacher for students from elementary school through college.

Beyond the lab, I am passionate about science communication and community building. I founded Cogbites.org, a collaborative blog where early-career researchers make cognitive science accessible to the public.