Research of Alec Biehl Featured in the Association of Psychological Science Publication

 

The research of Northwestern student Alec Biehl, was featured in the Association for Psychological Science's recent article, titled "Psychological Research May Offer a Route to Greener Travel." Biehl's study pursues the factors that sway people away from eco-friendly behaviors and decisions of travel, by evaluating people based on a state-of-change model. This determines how likely individuals are to pursue a lifestyle change that is better suited for the planet.

Alec Biehl is a fifth year Civil Engineering PhD student with a focus in Transportation Analysis. He works in the Mobility and Behavior Lab under the direction of Dr. Amanda Stathopoulos. He investigates travel behavior change processes and market segmentation strategies regarding the adoption of active modes and emerging mobility services. The overall message of his research is that policy design should incorporate more social psychological phenomena—such as identity construction, normative influence, and lifestyle orientations—to more effectively address environmental and social sustainability in relation to transportation. Accordingly, one could say that he is interested in fostering connected and autonomous individuals, as opposed to vehicles, within the sharing economy, which has important quality-of-life ramifications for both physical and social communities.

Outside of research, Alec serves on the executive boards of Northwestern’s Graduate Leadership and Advocacy Council and the Social and Economic Factors of Transportation committee of the Transportation Research Board. His life motto is “never stop exploring,” which he practices through frequent visits to new coffee shops, as well as natural areas for hiking excursions. Additionally, he is quite the bibliophile, devouring various fantasy and science fiction novels at an estimated pace of 12,000 pages per year.