Paul McKee is a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University, an Executive MBA candidate at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, and a graduate of Duke’s Master in Interdisciplinary Data Science (MIDS) program.
His research—drawing from organizational behavior, social and cognitive psychology, philosophy, and behavioral economics—examines the motivational factors that influence how individuals perceive and navigate the workplace. These forces include moral cognition and the fear of missing out (FoMO). To understand how they influence behavior, decision-making, and the ability to thrive in organizational contexts, he employs a range of methodologies, including behavioral experiments, neuroimaging, and computational modeling. His work has been supported by the National Science Foundation and has been featured in popular press outlets, including Forbes, Times Higher Education, and Fortune. Additionally, his work has been featured in public messaging from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and WebMD.
He also holds Visiting Researcher affiliations with Stanford and Yale. Additionally, he is an Adjunct Professor at his alma mater, Southern Connecticut State University (B.S. Psychology ’21), in the Departments of Psychology, Philosophy, and Computer Science.
Outside of academia, he has extensive industry experience as the Lead Machine Learning Engineer for Patient Preference Predictor, LLC, a start-up with the goal of revolutionizing healthcare for patients with Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias (ADRD).
Paul proudly served as an active-duty United States Marine Corps Machine Gunner from 2013 to 2018 as part of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment.
While an undergraduate at SCSU, Paul majored in psychology with minors in biology and data science. Before graduating Summa Cum Laude after completing his degree in three years, he earned many awards, including the Honorary Undergraduate Scholar Award (New England Psychological Association), Academic Excellence in Psychology (SCSU), Dr. James Mazur Research Award (SCSU), Dr. Ed Thompson Award (SCSU), and the Henry Barnard Distinguished Student Award (Connecticut State Colleges & Universities System). Moreover, Paul served as a teaching assistant, peer academic leader, supported fellow veterans through Southern’s Veterans’ Services office, and mentored at-risk youth in the community.
In 2021, reflecting his commitment to this community, he became the first then-active student in the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system to establish and personally endow a scholarship. The $25,000 endowment—lasting in perpetuity—supports many of SCSU’s incredibly gifted but financially insecure students’ engagement in interdisciplinary research and coursework across the Psychology Department and Data Science program.
Paul loves his SCSU community and wants to give special thanks to some of his mentors, now dear friends, who continue to embody all that is good about SCSU: Dr. Imad Antonios (Computer Science, Data Science), Dr. Michael Nizhnikov (Psychology), and Dr. Christopher Budnick (Psychology).
Young Alumni Professional Award
The Young Alumni Professional Award is presented to alumni, age 40 or under, who have been acknowledged by their peers for outstanding work in their chosen field and have significant career achievements.
