Preston Menke

Assistant Professor of Business

B.S., Erskine College; M.S., ABD., Wright State University

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Guiding Scripture:

“For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” — Romans 1:20 (ESV)

Guiding Quote:

“Of the blessings set before you, make your choice and be content.” — Samuel Johnson, “The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia” (1759)

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Profile:

Preston Menke grew up in Powdersville, South Carolina. He holds a B.S. in Psychology with majors in Biology and Health Science from Erskine College, an M.S. in Human Factors and Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Wright State University, and is a Ph.D. Candidate in Human Factors and Industrial-Organizational Psychology at Wright State University. His academic and professional focus spans educational technology, human-computer interaction, user-experience, decision-making, training, and measurement. His education philosophy for himself and others is to be equipped in recognizing how personal abilities complement Christ’s calling — not just through abstract theory, but through ecologically valid, embodied processes rooted in real-world experiences and the lawful structure of God’s creation.

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Publications:

• Knowledge spillover, trust, effort, and error exposure in peer-assisted learning
• Peer‐assisted learning is more effective at higher task complexity and difficulty
• Human-AI coordination to induce flow in adaptive learning systems
• Evaluating the Construct Validity of Instructional Manipulation Checks as Measures of Careless Responding to Surveys
• Peer-Assisted Learning Presents Greater Learning Over Individual Learning in Miller Analogies Task, in development

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Conference Presentations:

• Peer-Assisted Learning leads to greater learning gain over individual learning in a complex task
• Exploring Mechanisms Underlying Time-on-Task Effects in an Image Recognition Task
• Peer-assisted learning: Investigating the mechanisms of knowledge spillover and trust
• Investigating Peer-Assisted Learning in the Miller Analogies Task
• Interaction among peers increases performance in the Remote Associates Test
• Cognitive and motivational effects in peer-assisted learning
• Human-AI Coordination to Induce Flow in Adaptive Learning Systems
• Varying Too Little—or Too Much? Using Response Variability to Assess Carelessness
• Validity of Response Variability Based Indices of Careless Responding
• Examining the Validity of Instructional Manipulation Checks as Measures of Careless Responding

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Ongoing Projects:

• Pro-Environmental Educational Outcomes in an Ecological Game-Based Learning Environment – A dissertation addressing an ecological interface experience to promote behaviors for more sustainable driving
• Moderating Role of Organizational Variables: Task Complexity and Task Significance on Constraints and Outcomes – A dissertation collaboration focusing on industrial/organizational variables in a game-based environment
• Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation Technologies – A collaboration with the Air and Space Biosciences Division of AFRL, and Kairos Research, focusing on fatigue and performance with stimulation interventions
• Knowledge Representations Via Transformer AI Technologies – Collaboration with the Warfighter Interactions and Readiness Division AFRL, and Human-AI Teaming group at the Air Force Research Lab
• Usability Assessment of Medical Big Data Inference Tool Using Topological Hierarchical Decomposition – Collaboration with the Warfighter Interactions and Readiness Division of AFRL, and Explainable Artificial Intelligence group at the Air Force Research Lab
• Cyberball: Ostracism & Fractals Study – A cognitive neuroscience investigation into fractal effects in Cyberball

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Experience:

Preston Menke’s professional background spans education and research:

• Air Force Research Laboratory ORISE Participant – Spent 2 years in non-invasive brain stimulation research focusing on fatigue, sleep deprivation, and performance
• Air Force Research Lab Researcher – Contracted as a Human Factors professional to help develop analytics software leveraging interactive machine learning and explainable artificial intelligence
• Air Force Research Lab Repperger Participant – Investigated autonomous agents for knowledge capture through text and voice based mental model elicitation
• Lead Data Science Instructor – Taught and managed 9 cohorts of data science students covering basic statistics, general linear models, and machine learning
• Teaching Assistantships – Assisted and developed curriculum for courses: Data Science, Java, Intro to Full Stack Development, Intro to Psychology, Psychology Research Methods I and II, and Advanced Psychology Research Methods

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Professional Memberships:

• SIOP – Society of Industrial-Organizational Psychology

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Personal Interests:

Preston currently enjoys playing basketball, endurance biking, developing video games, learning to play the piano, and learning about epistemology.