Margaret R. Tarampi

Education

PhD, University of Utah

MS, University of Utah

BArch, Carnegie Mellon University

Margaret R. Tarampi, PhD is the Director of University Interdisciplinary Studies and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology.  Her Spatial Cognition and Physical Environments (SCaPE) Laboratory investigates the cognitive mechanisms that underlie space perception and spatial cognition in select populations including visually impaired individuals and spatial experts such as dancers and architects. Other research interests include spatial thinking, perception and action, perspective taking, crowd dynamics, joint action, and kinesthetic imagery.

Tarampi cultivates a unique approach to her research and teaching that is truly interdisciplinary. She graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a Bachelor of Architecture. Her interests in the effect of architecture on quality of life brought her to the American Institute of Architects National Headquarters in Washington DC, then to the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla CA. Tarampi received her Master of Science and Ph.D. in Cognition and Neural Science from University of Utah. Following her graduate training, she was a Junior Research Fellow in the SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind and a Research Associate in the Center for Spatial Studies both at University of California Santa Barbara. Tarampi is also an accomplished visual artist whose work explores assumptions and manipulations of the human perceptual system. Her art and architecture work has been displayed in exhibitions nationally and internationally.

Tarampi currently serves on the Board of the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture. She received the 2022-23 College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Faculty Award and a 2022 Laura Johnson Leadership Award.