Faculty: Dr. Brock Kirwan
Originally from Pingree, ID, Dr. Brock Kirwan (he/him) completed undergraduate degrees in both psychology and philosophy at the University of Utah; his PhD at Johns Hopkins University; and his Post-Doc at UC San Diego. He has been teaching here at BYU since 2009, and his current research focuses on “how the brain forms and retains long-term memories and how we use those memories in future decision-making.” Of the importance of this research, Dr. Kirwan shared, “Our sense of self is based so much on our previous experiences that understanding how we remember helps us to understand who we are.” What a powerful thought!
A piece of advice he shared for all psych students was this: “Take Psych 381 Behavioral Neurobiology much earlier in your academic career! It’s not as scary as it sounds and it will help you understand so, so many things in your other psych classes.” If he was not teaching and researching, Dr. Kirwan says he would have a used bookstore–this is his current post-retirement plan!
Outside of teaching, Dr. Kirwan makes stained glass brains, skies, and plays the guitar! If you want to see more of his stained glass brains, click here! Another fun fact is that Dr. Kirwan recently added a mounted puku head to his office wall–a perfect Zoom background!
Some other fun facts!
- If you were asked to give a TedTalk (or similar discourse, such as a forum or devotional), what topic would you choose to speak on?
- It would probably focus on this quote from Spencer W Kimball: "When you look in the dictionary for the most important word, do you know what it is? It could be ‘remember.’ "
- It would probably focus on this quote from Spencer W Kimball: "When you look in the dictionary for the most important word, do you know what it is? It could be ‘remember.’ "
- What originally drew you to the field of psychology? How did you decide on your specialty/area of focus within psychology?
- My work in a research lab as an undergrad really ignited a desire to learn more about how memory works. More broadly, I'm interested in how we get mental events from physical substrates (which in philosophy is known as the mind-body problem), but that's a really big topic, so we focus on memory for now.
- While completing your studies, was there a psychology class that greatly impacted you? How?
- Yes, but it was a philosophy class on "Cognitive Science" taught by professor Steve Downes at the U of U. The topic and research was so interesting to me that I decided to take more classes on psychology and neuroscience, which eventually led me to double-majoring in psychology in addition to philosophy and to working in a memory research lab as an undergrad.
- Have you received any awards for your work during your career? What were they and what were they for?
- Alcuin Fellowship, BYU Honors Program (2021-2024); Karl G. Maeser Excellence in Teaching Award (2020); Best Published Paper Award in Information Systems Research (2016)
- Are you a member of any psychological organizations, societies, groups, etc.? Which ones?
- Society for Neuroscience; Cognitive Neuroscience Society; Neuro Information Systems Society; Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience; Association for Information Systems
Images: Top--Dr. Kirwan with his Puku head; Middle--Dr. Kirwan and a group of students visit a lab during a Study Abroad in Hungary; Bottom--Dr. Kirwan's stained glass brains.