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      James Brainard

      James graduated in May 2025 with majors in Psychology and Data Science, with a minor in Business Administration, and is now pursuing a Masters in Health Informatics.

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CV

James Brainard

Address: 1471 Indian Hills Rd, Council Bluffs, IA 51503
Phone: (402) 676-1356
Email: jamesbrainard@creighton.edu

Education

Creighton University, Omaha, NE — May 2025
Bachelor of Science in Data Science & Psychology, summa cum laude
Minor in Business Administration
GPA: 3.90

Research Experience

Enhancing Literacy: A Phonics-Based Approach to After-School Reading Buddies Programs

Advisor: Dr. Maya Khanna, Department of Psychology

  • Created 148 pages of phonics-based curriculum for elementary students
  • Selected assessments and monitored student performance
  • Collaborated with nonprofit and student service organizations

Building a Computational Model of Mobs Leveraging Social Science Theories

Advisor: Dr. Samer Al-Khateeb, Department of Computer Science

  • Built three machine learning models to predict mob success
  • Used SQL for data storage and filtering
  • Implemented models with Python, TensorFlow, NumPy, Matplotlib, scikit-learn, and Keras

Exploring the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Team Creativity

Advisor: Dr. Joshua Fairchild, Department of Psychology

  • Investigated LLMs and their effect on creativity
  • Designed creativity tasks and collected/analyzed open responses

Classifying Broad Absorption Line Quasars

Advisors: Dr. Steven Fernandes, Dr. Jack Gabel, Dr. Chris Anson

  • Preprocessed astrophysical data
  • Created a Random Forest classifier using Python, TensorFlow, scikit-learn, and Keras
  • Applied feature importance to identify key features in quasars

Redesigning the Visualization of Spatial Experimental Plots

Advisor: Dr. Alison Kleffner, Department of Mathematics

  • Researched how data visuals affect comprehension
  • Created alternative plots using R for better understanding

Teamwork in Virtual Reality

Advisor: Dr. Joshua Fairchild, Department of Psychology

  • Studied effects of team efficacy on VR task performance
  • Led data collection and setup

Leadership in Ambiguous Situations

Advisor: Dr. Joshua Fairchild, Department of Psychology

  • Studied leadership styles under varying levels of ambiguity
  • Developed questionnaire and behavioral tasks to assess dynamics

Publications and Presentations

Brainard, J., & Khanna, M. (2025, May). Enhancing Literacy: A Phonics-Based Approach to After-School Reading Buddies Programs for Elementary Students.
Poster presented at the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading & Association for Psychological Science conferences.

Brainard, J., DeLuca, K., Hessman, K., Legrand, A., Mehio, R., & Fairchild, J. (2024, May). Exploring the impact of artificial intelligence on team creativity.
Poster presented at the Midwestern Psychological Association conference.

Svenby, E., Kavan, L., Brainard, J., Mullins, M., Johnson, S. (2023, May). Leadership in ambiguous situations.
Poster presented at the Midwestern Psychological Association conference.

Al-Khateeb, S., Burright, J., Murray, R., Orr, B., Brainard, J., Agarwal, N. (under review).
Examining the efficacy of multiple deep learning models trained on multi-theoretical social science factors to classify meetup mobs.

Work Experience

Student Intern

Schlegel Center for Service and Justice, Creighton University
August 2023 – Present

  • Facilitated service activities and reflection sessions
  • Provided data support for service projects

Teaching Assistant

Departments of Psychology and Mathematics, Creighton University
August 2024 – Present

  • Tutored students and graded assignments with feedback

Research Assistant

Department of Computer Science, Creighton University
July 2024 – September 2024

  • Designed ML models for mob classification
  • Developed with Python, TensorFlow, scikit-learn
  • Collaborated on ongoing research

President

Nonprofit for Youth Mental & Physical Amelioration (NYMPA)
January 2022 – Present

  • Directed operations, including marketing and donor relations
  • Tracked program impact and led health campaigns

Leadership Experience and Involvement

Team Leader

Schlegel Center for Service and Justice, Creighton University
January–May 2023; August 2023 – Present

  • Coordinated service initiatives and mentored volunteers

GivePulse Ambassador

Creighton University
September 2024 – Present

  • Supported student and staff engagement with GivePulse platform

Academic Honors and Awards

  • Alpha Sigma Nu: The Honor Society of Jesuit Universities
  • Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (2024)
  • Psi Chi: The National Honor Society in Psychology
  • Dean’s List (All semesters)
  • National Society of Leadership & Success

Skills

Technical:

  • Programming Languages: Python, R, SQL, Java, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, YAML, JSON
  • Data Analysis & Visualization: pandas, NumPy, Matplotlib, ggplot2, plotly, Excel, Power BI
  • Machine Learning: TensorFlow, Keras, scikit-learn
  • Databases: MySQL, SQLite
  • Neuroimaging: NiBabel, Nilearn, DIPY
  • Version Control: Git, GitHub
  • Design: Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, GIMP
  • Other Tools: Notion, Jupyter Notebook, VSCode, KNIME

Conceptual:

  • Data Preprocessing
  • Feature Engineering and Selection
  • Dimensionality Reduction
  • Evaluation Metrics
  • Cross-Validation Techniques