Kyle Nolla ("noia"; they/she) began as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Morgan State University in 2024. They are interested in understanding how gender impacts skill acquisition in competitive video gaming, or esports. They will continue this work at Morgan State University with the support of the Center for Data Analytics and Sports Gaming Research. Their research activities include field research, laboratory-run tournaments, interviews, and survey studies to understand how self-regulation, cognitive skills, and identity interact to produce highly skilled players. They hope to design interventions that support the growth and success of underrepresented minorities in gaming, and create industry partnerships so that these interventions might have real-world impacts. During their postdoc at Northwestern University, Dr. Nolla studied psychometrics in the context of health with the PROMIS research group. They have a mixed-methods approach to research and measurement, including qualitative investigation of novel concepts alongside quantitative exploration and validation. Dr. Nolla has worked at the intersection of gaming and health by developing a gamified web app for older adults with cancer to track their symptom severity, which will soon be piloted. 

Areas of Specialization: expertise, performance, gender, esports, video games, measure development, mixed-methods research