He began his career working in a residential treatment facility for adjudicated youth as a teacher and research coordinator for the Odyssey Project, sponsored by the Child Welfare League of America. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Utah in Educational Psychology, with an emphasis in learning, memory and cognition. His research interests are in the areas of models of working memory, complex cognitive processes, and metacognition. More recently his research has focused on implicit learning processes and their relationship to intelligence. He has published over 40 peer-reviewed papers, chapters, and refereed conference proceedings in the areas of learning, educational psychology, and cognitive psychology.