Matthew chose to attend Western to compete his graduate work largely because he was interested in working with Dr. Neufeld in the Psychology Department. In addition to working with Dr. Neufeld, Matthew identifies the opportunity for excellent research and clinical training available at Western. These opportunities fit well with his goal of practicing part-time as a clinician and continuing to conduct research. Matthew identifies Dr. Pychyl and Dr. Neufeld as two individuals who have been very influential in his academic experience, "great thinkers of good character... these well-respected academics are also excellent men in their family, social and professional life".

Matthew sitting in the observation room of one of the Clinical Pyschology research study studios, located in Westminster Hall

Matthew's area of expertise is in decision-making and stress, and how these two interact. Decision-making is usually made to avoid stress down the road, but can be stressful in its own right and the presence of stress can compromise good decision-making. Currently Matthew is working with formal mathematical models to predict what is likely to be happening when someone is making a decision in order avoid a future threat. The lab in which Matthew is currently conducting research with has also worked on physiological measures for reading the cues of stress in people's faces and bodies. One particular area of interest Matthew plans to explore is the circumstances under which people perceive a stressor as a threat they want to avoid versus a challenge they want to face, "I am especially interested in applying this to young adult males' development. There is a budding crisis among young men today, where many more women than men are graduating from university (Statistics Canada), and in many families, sisters are much more high achieving than their brothers (e.g., "Boys Adrift", Sax, 2007)". This "failure to launch"-type behaviour may be connected to an overweighted perception of stressful situations as threats to be avoided and mitigated, rather than as challenges and opportunities. In his research Matthew will use the techniques the lab has developed to identify markers of challenge verses threat that could assist counsellors, parents and educators in challenging young men to develop their full potential.

Matthew identifies Factor Analysis Methods II with the late Dr. Richard Harshman as his favourite graduate course at Western. Matthew characterizes Dr. Harshman as an unconventional teacher, but one that pushed his students to really think, "Endlessly playful and quite brilliant, he taught me a lot about matrix algebra and data analysis, helped me develop my mathematical intuition, and was the most engaging professor I've had. Working late on a Friday evening on 3-way data structures, he would invite a couple of students out: `Let's discuss this over a steak dinner at Crabby Joe's, on me.` I remember his class as one of the most challenging and enriching experiences in my educational history".

In addition to his graduate work, Matthew was a council member for the Society of Graduate Students. He was also a member of the Psychology Slo-Pitch intramural team and has regularly participated with organizing weekly youth groups at his church. Matthew is an active member of the Knights of Columbus and he serves on the Clinical Students Advisory Committee which organizes the seminar series for the Clinical students and acts as a liaison between students and the Clinical Psychology area.