Ask any cat lover about their favorite kitty, and they’ll regale you with anecdotes and (if their phone is handy) pictures. It’s easy to see each cat as having a unique personality, and to find equivalents in the way cats behave and the way humans behave, But is there really a link between the two? Is personality something that transcends species, or are we just projecting our own understanding of behavior on our feline friends?

We didn’t want to just ask that question. We wanted to find out the answer. And thus, the Maine Cat Lab was born.

There are two of us in this partnership. Karol Maybury, Professor of Psychology at the University of Maine at Farmington, and Bryce Cundick, Library Director at the same institution. Karol brings the expertise on personalities and what affects them, and Bryce brings the research skills to ferret out information on just about any topic.

You’ll note that neither one of us has an academic background in cats. We’re not vets. Not feline specialists. We’re simply cat aficionados with a good understanding of how to find out answers to questions, whether through library research or new studies, and a desire to share the answers we find with others.

Karol earned her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of California, Davis, and is Professor of Psychology at the University of Maine at Farmington. She teaches courses in Personality Theory and Research, Research Methods and Statistics, Persuasion, Psychology of Gender, and Positive Psychology. After moving to Maine in 2009 with her husband and three children, she went from being an avowed dog lover to a reluctant cat owner—and quickly fell for her family’s cats, Pippin, Merry, and Steekle. (Steekle, named by her daughter who once called cats “steekles,” now boasts his own Instagram account.)

A social psychologist with a wide range of interests, Karol’s enduring focus is on helping students understand themselves and others through the tools of psychological research. Her scholarship spans personality theory, psychobiography, social media and person perception, and undergraduate well-being. She has presented at the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and the National Conference on Teaching of Psychology. Her research has appeared in journals such as Omega, Teaching of Psychology, and Teaching Matters. At UMF, she established the “Psyched for Pets” bulletin board, featuring students’ pet photos and bios, and helped advocate for the university’s first pet-friendly dorm, launched in 2023.

Writing under the pen name Bryce Moore, Bryce has published six young adult and middle grade novels, with two more under contract. He is Library Director at the University of Maine at Farmington, where his work focuses on helping people find, evaluate, and make sense of information. He holds master’s degrees in Library Science and English Literature and is a past president of the Maine Library Association. He has also written a daily blog since 2007.

Bryce brings to the Maine Cat Lab a particular interest in translating research into tools and information that are useful (and enjoyable) for the general public. His work with the Lab includes web development, survey and project design, and finding ways to turn complicated questions about cats into something ordinary cat owners can participate in. As a novelist and librarian, he spends a great deal of time thinking about research, communication, technology, and how people make sense of the world around them.