Dr. Gary L. Wells, distinguished professor in psychology, describes himself as the “expert in your backyard” on the topics of eye witness memory and the reliability of eyewitness identification. Wells has demonstrated that mistaken eyewitness identification can be further exacerbated by methods used by crime investigators when conducting lineups and photo spreads. He has appeared on CBS’s “48 Hours,” “NBC Nightly News,” “CNN Newsnight,” NBC’s “Today Show” and in many of the most prestigious magazines and newspapers in the United States. Wells has also testified at the Oklahoma City bombing trial in Denver and did behind-the-scenes work for the O.J. Simpson trial.Wells, who has been at Iowa State since 1989, said he is now more popular in Boston than Ames, the Daily thought Iowa State should get to know him better.

Chelsea Koster: Why did you choose an emphasis in eyewitness identification as opposed to another field?

Gary Wells: Well, I guess the simple, stupid answer is that it’s more interesting. No one had done anything on it. I’m not one who is thrilled about working on problems that other people have already been working on. I wanted to do something new – discover something new.

CK: What was it like testifyng in the Oklahoma City bombing trial?

GW: It was primarily interesting and different because of the incredible security. For people to just get anywhere near the courthouse was very difficult. They had done things like weld shut the manhole covers within two blocks of that courthouse. This was profound high security. I must have gone through five machines and six patdowns just to get inside there.

CK: You were a founding member of the U.S. Department of Justice group that developed the first set of national guidelines for eyewitness protection. Has the Ames Police Department adopted any of these guidelines?

GW: I’m not sure what Ames is doing. People may find that odd but I know more about what Boston is doing. Boston knows more about me than what Ames knows about me. It’s a strange phenomena, but generally speaking I’m much better known in other places like California, Florida, North Carolina and Massachusetts.

CK: What was it like being on the “Today Show,” “48 Hours” and “Oprah?”

GW: All very different experiences. The “Today Show” is live television so it’s all very well timed out, very organized, very calm. Everybody has stuff under control because you have to pull it off in real time. “Oprah,” on the other hand, is filmed and it’s absolute chaos. It looks good – the final product. They’ll shoot stuff and stop and shoot again. People don’t realize if Oprah misspeaks, she just stops and says “let’s do that over again.” You’re never sure what’s going to happen. “48 Hours” was another experience entirely because they literally followed me everywhere I went, filming me. That’s very disconcerting. This was going on for 72 hours, but out of that they only used little, tiny clips.

CK: Who was the coolest on-air personality that has interviewed you?

GW: I would say Dan Rather. I was a big fan of Dan Rather. He was a great newsman. We had a great time conversing off-camera. I found him to be very nice, very friendly.

CK: What is a typical day for you like?

GW: I start drinking coffee from the time my eyes open. I’m in here [my office] pretty early and I try to hide out from the things that are going to happen during the day, trying to get some tasks done. I usually have some meetings with my Ph.D. students. I’ll spend at least an hour before each class going through my materials. I’m always trying to fight for some time to do some creative, scholarly writing. I’ll go home at five or six, have dinner and make sure I watch “The Daily Show” at 10 o’clock or at least have it TiVoed. There’s a lot of atypicality though. I travel a lot, and in a typical week, I’m probably out of town a day or two. When I get the chance, I’ll shoot pool.

CK: What do you read for pleasure?

GW: I read a lot. I don’t read fiction – not that I wouldn’t like fiction – but there’s so much nonfiction I’d like to learn.

CK: Tell me about something that you still haven’t accomplished.

GW: There’s so many things I haven’t yet accomplished. I’ve not yet won the Midwest Pool Tournament, but I took second place last year.

CK: What’s one last thing you would like ISU students to know?

GW: I’m very similar to ISU students. I too went to my state university, starting off not knowing what I wanted to do. I too had to borrow money and have a job. I see in them [ISU students] myself. I haven’t forgotten what is was like, both the good and the bad.