My areas of research focus on 1) the assessment of apathy and 2) the impact of social environments and physical environments on neurobehavioral symptoms and well-being in individuals with dementia. I developed the Person-Environment Apathy Rating (PEAR) scale to assess apathy in the environmental context. I serve as PI for two NIH-funded studies. One study examines the impact of staff caregiver communication on apathy in nursing home residents with dementia. In addition, my research includes interdisciplinary work to develop innovative technology to support dementia care. In collaboration with an architecture engineering researcher, we developed a smart lighting intervention and currently leading an NIH-funded project to test the effect of smart lighting on residents with dementia in nursing homes.