Priti R Shah

Priti R Shah serves as Arthur F Thurnau Professor and Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, where she chairs the Department of Psychology within the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. She maintains joint appointments as Professor of Information in the School of Information and Professor of Educational Psychology in the Marsal Family School of Education, while also holding a Faculty Associate position at the Research Center for Group Dynamics (Institute for Social Research).

Her academic credentials include a BA from the University of North Carolina and PhD from Carnegie Mellon University (1996).

Shah's research centers on higher-level cognitive processes including thinking, reasoning, and problem solving, with emphasis on executive functions and attention mechanisms. Her work bridges fundamental cognitive science with practical educational applications, particularly in STEM learning contexts and neurodiverse populations. Current investigations examine distractibility traits, hyperfocus phenomena in ADHD, and interventions for reasoning improvement.

Recent publications reveal strong thematic continuity in cognitive psychology and education research, with increasing focus on ADHD-related attentional processes (2023-2025) and methodological innovations in reasoning interventions. Her scholarship consistently addresses real-world educational challenges while advancing theoretical understanding of cognitive mechanisms.

Shah has received institutional recognition for research excellence, teaching innovation, and mentoring contributions across multiple university units.

Her work has secured substantial external funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of Naval Research (ONR), Institute of Education Sciences (IES), Spencer Foundation, and McDonnell Foundation. She has served as Associate Editor for Memory & Cognition and editorial board member for Journal of Educational Psychology and Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, reflecting her leadership in disseminating cognitive science research.

Through her Faculty Associate role at the Research Center for Group Dynamics, Shah contributes to interdisciplinary investigations of social behavior and group processes within the Institute for Social Research's collaborative research ecosystem.