Monika Lohani

Monika Lohani is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Utah since July 2023. She integrates basic and applied perspectives to understand attention and emotion regulation in response to stressors, employing experience sampling, behavioral, and psychophysiological measures in both lab and real-world settings.

• Education: PhD from Brandeis University, postdoctoral training at Yale University
• Affiliation: Also serves as Research Associate in the Collections & Research department at the Natural History Museum of Utah

Her research focuses on self-regulation, daily wellbeing, and climate change impacts through interdisciplinary lenses. She leads the Applied Cognitive Regulation Lab, emphasizing experiential learning for students. Her work bridges psychophysiology, ecological momentary assessment, and environmental science, with recent studies examining stressor forecasting, climate-related affect, and automotive interface design.

Monika's teaching portfolio includes courses like Human Factors & Ergonomics, Quantitative Methods, and Indiv Research Projects. She actively mentors graduate and undergraduate researchers, focusing on high-quality empirical work.

• Professional Engagement:
  • Member of Society for Psychophysiological Research (since 2024)
  • Active in Society for Affective Science (2024-2027)

Her funded research includes grants from CaptionCall LLC on text captioning effects on speech memory and a longitudinal study on open monitoring vs. focused attention techniques for emotional health. She advocates for inclusive research environments and community-focused climate action protocols.