I've spent years studying how people maintain relationships across distance, time, and life transitions. My academic work focused on maintenance behaviors in long-distance romantic relationships—the specific things couples do (or don't do) that predict whether they stay together.
At PRESENCE, my role is to make sure that when we say something "works" for long-distance relationships, we're grounding that claim in actual research—not just personal anecdotes or marketing copy.
Why Research Translation Matters
Academic research is often locked behind paywalls and written in jargon that's inaccessible to the people who could most benefit from it. That's always frustrated me.
The research findings on long-distance relationships are, in many ways, more optimistic than popular culture suggests. But those findings are nuanced. "LDRs work" is too simple; "LDRs fail" is too pessimistic. The truth is more interesting and more useful than either sound bite.
My job is to translate that nuance into practical advice. When studies show that "communication quality matters more than quantity," what does that mean for how you should structure your video calls? When research identifies "assurances" as predictive of relationship stability, how does that apply to gift-giving?
My LDR Experience
My wife and I were long-distance for four years during my graduate studies. She had a career in Chicago; I was in Colorado. We saw each other about twice a month, which was more than many couples manage but still required significant effort—logistical and emotional.
Living the phenomenon I was studying gave me perspective that purely academic inquiry wouldn't have. I understood the research intellectually, but I also understood the 2 AM loneliness, the frustration of time zone mismatches, the specific joy of airport reunions.
We've been married eleven years now. The distance phase is long behind us, but the communication patterns we developed during that time—regular check-ins, scheduled relationship conversations, intentional quality time—persist.
Background
- Graduate training in communication studies, focus on interpersonal relationships
- Research expertise in relationship maintenance and long-distance relationships
- Four years personal LDR experience (now married, in the same city)
- Contributes research-backed content to PRESENCE