Dana Chesney

Education: Dana Chesney joins St. John’s as an assistant professor of psychology. She has a Ph.D. from Rutgers University and a B.A. from the University of Virginia.

Dr. Chesney studies how people understand numbers and math and how to improve this understanding. Numerical literacy is critical to individuals educational and economic opportunities, as well as to national development. A person’s likelihood of success in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics field (STEM field) is directly tied to that person’s numerical ability. In particular, numerical ability has also been linked to a person’s skill at making judgments in financial and health domains. She therefore believe it to be of practical as well as theoretical importance to uncover the cognitive foundations of numerical concepts.

Dr. Chesney’s program of research addresses multiple interrelated questions about numerical concepts