hi! I'm cleo.
i'm currently based in the bay area but have lived in singapore, vancouver, durham uk, and montreal over the past few decades. i study how children learn to think about others' thoughts and i crunch data to understand the bigger picture. i find joy in making art, learning languages, and creative puzzle-solving.
Research
"And yet what are we to do about this terribly significant business of other people ... so ill equipped are we all to envision one another's interior workings and invisible aims? You get them wrong before you meet them, while you're anticipating meeting them; you get them wrong while you're with them; and then you go home to tell somebody else about the meeting and you get them wrong all again... That's how we know we're alive: we're wrong." — Philip Roth
My primary research interest is theory of mind. In layperson's terms, theory of mind allows you to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and think about what they’re thinking or feeling. Using psych jargon, theory of mind refers to the ability to represent and attribute mental states such as beliefs, desires, and intentions to oneself and to others.
I'm also curious about the development of theory of mind, its relation to language, and how it helps us to navigate the social world (e.g., detecting deception and deciding whom to trust/learn from).
Read more about two of my projects:
Past Conference Posters
Publications
Education
Grade: CAP 5.0/5.0
Master's Thesis: Mental State Talk in Two Contexts: Parents’ Cognitive Sentential Complements are Positively Associated with Children’s Theory of Mind
Supervisor: Dr Ding Xiao Pan
Grade: Highest Distinction (First Class Honours)
Honours Thesis: Does Attentional Capture Habituate?
Supervisor: Dr Chua Fook Kee
Professional Development
2024
- Using Python to Access Web Data | University of Michigan (Coursera)
2023
- Sentiment Analysis Fundamentals | School of Computing, National University of Singapore
- Natural Language Processing Fundamentals | School of Computing, National University of Singapore
- Python Data Structures | University of Michigan (Coursera)
- French 109-2 | Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration, Québec
2022
- French 112-1 | Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration, Québec
Skills
- Quantitative Data Analysis
- Data Visualisation
- Meta-analysis & Literature Review
- Data Wrangling
- Experimental Design
- Scientific Writing
- Lab & Research Coordination
- Teaching & Mentoring
Programs
Languages
- English | Native
- French | CEFR B1
- Mandarin | CEFR B1
- Hindi | CEFR A2
Selected Work Experience
Research & Higher Education
- Analysed and visualised data from a longitudinal cohort study (GUSTO) using advanced statistical methods
- Wrote and edited manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals
- Mentored students in research methods and academic writing
2021 - 2022
Teaching Assistant | Full-time
Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore
- Prepared content for and conducted weekly tutorial sessions (10-12 contact hours per week)
- Guided undergraduate research projects and graded presentations, assignments, and final exams
- Click here to read student feedback.
Courses taught
- PL2132 Research and Statistical Methods II
- PL2131 Research and Statistical Methods I
- PL3104 Developmental Psychology
- PL4201 Psychometrics and Psychological Testing
2018 - 2021
Research Coordinator | Full-time
Child Development Lab, National University of Singapore
Teaching & Mentoring
- Managed a team of 15-20 students per semester
- Trained undergraduates in experimental and data coding procedures
- Conducted R and statistics crash courses for thesis students
Research Coordination
- Designed experimental studies and built data cleaning pipelines in R and Python
- Collected and analysed behavioural data from 3- to 6-year-olds
- Wrote and edited successful grant proposals, IRB ethics forms, and peer-reviewed manuscripts
Scientific Outreach
- Liaised with local kindergartens and communicated with parents
- Managed the lab website and social media page for participant outreach and recruitment
Volunteer & Community
Prepared material for and faciliated weekly Hindi गपशप sessions guided by pedagogical principles of spaced repetition in different scaffolded contexts.
English Teacher | Volunteer
Jan - Apr 2024: Facilitated weekly conversational practice for immigrants and refugees | St Mark & St Peter, Montreal
Sep - Dec 2020: Prepared and conducted weekly conversational English lessons for four migrant workers confined in dorms over Zoom during the COVID-19 crisis | Care Connexion, Singapore
Dec 2014 & Jun 2013: Conducted week-long English training workshops for 15-20 local youth at an NGO based in Manatuto | Heartfriends Centru Kristaun, Timor Leste
Feb 2013 - Nov 2014
Private Tutor | Part-time
Freelance
Taught key concepts and provided weekly one-to-one academic guidance to four 14- to 18- year-old students struggling with GCE O- and A-Level Singapore mathematics.
Creative Pursuits
"The world always seems brighter when you've just made something that wasn't there before. Make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. Make good art." — Neil Gaiman
In my free time, I enjoy sketching/painting, knitting, gardening, photographing people & places (my go-to lenses: 50mm f/1.8 & 24mm f/2.8), reading fiction, learning new languages (Hindi/French), and creating Shiny apps.
R Shiny App Repository
Shiny is a package in R that allows me to design UIs and program server logic for interactive web applications. Combining multiple hobbies (e.g., knitting/Hindi-learning + coding) has been lots of fun — it takes a surprising amount of creative thinking, tinkering, and puzzle-solving to get things to work. All code can be found on my Github page.
Try out my apps below:
