Brian Cahill

Brian Cahill was not a very good student in high school — bright, but defiant. He struggled with learning disabilities and behavior issues related to ADHD. But that all changed when he took an introductory course in psychology at his local city college. He finally found something he felt passionate about and motivated him to want to apply himself academically. Brian fell in love with psychology and set his sights on becoming a professor and a researcher — he wanted to ignite that same fire in others by teaching. Brian transferred from city college to Illinois State University and graduated with honors. He earned his M.A. in experimental psychology and then came to FIU to pursue a Ph.D. in legal psychology.

Under the guidance of Stephen Charman, Brian’s research focuses on how witnesses make identification decisions and on finding ways to improve that process. Hundreds of Americans are falsely convicted due to mistaken eyewitness identification. Brian wants to help police, lawyers and judges do their jobs more effectively and thus reduce the number of innocent people who are convicted of crimes they did not commit.

Brian will be teaching at FIU in the spring.