Michael Passage

Background

About Michael Passage

Dr. Michael Passage is the ABA Program Director and Assistant Clinical Professor at Saint Louis University. He earned his Ph.D. in Behavior Analysis from the Florida Institute of Technology under the guidance of Dr. Katie Nicholson, his M.S. from Temple University, advised by Dr. Matt Tincani, and his B.A. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He has been a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA-D) since 2014. Dr. Passage’s doctoral dissertation, which received partial funding from the Florida Association of Behavior Analysis through the Behavior Change for a Sustainable World Research Award, explored the cultural selection of cooperation toward sustainable causes. This research underscores his dedication to leveraging behavioral science to address pressing global issues. Dr. Passage's research interests focus on self-control, cooperation, and cultural selection. His work has been published in leading journals such as the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and Learning and Motivation. He has presented his research at numerous conferences, showcasing his active engagement with the academic community. His research combines various levels of analysis to offer a comprehensive understanding of behavior and its environmental impact, particularly emphasizing practical initiatives to combat global challenges like climate change. Dr. Passage emphasizes the importance of differentiated instruction and research-validated pedagogical methods. He values frequent evaluations aligned with course content and designs his lectures to evoke active student responses. His ultimate measure of success as an instructor is his students' retention of course content and their ability to perform skills they could not do before. Dr. Passage is deeply committed to promoting diversity and inclusion. He is dedicated to understanding and addressing systemic inequalities and actively champions initiatives that support underrepresented groups. He works to create an inclusive academic environment that respects and values diverse perspectives. His research on cultural selection and self-control training contributes to understanding diversity and inequality, aiming to shed light on the effects of inequity and identify effective strategies to address socio-economic barriers.