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Meet the Mentors

Blake Glatley

Area: Combined Program in Education and Psychology

Advisor: Dr. Allison Ryan

Research:  I study youths' friendship during the K-College years and how they can support students' academic adjustment and performance.

 

Harini Babu

Area: Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience

Advisor: Dr. Patricia Reuter-Lorenz

Research:  My research investigates the relationship between neurostimulation and excitatory neurotransmitters (i.e., Glu) and their subsequent effect on brain activity in older adults, both those with healthy aging and those with mild cognitive impairment (in collaboration with Dr. Alexandru Iordan). Through this work, I aim to advance our understanding of why memory declines with age and the interventions that may preserve/enhance memory performance.

 

Neema Prakash

Area: Clinical Science

Advisor: Dr. Patricia Deldin

Research: My research focuses on the assessment, development, and implementation of minority-focused mental health interventions. I am most interested in creating interventions that address the unique cultural needs of different communities. Part of that entails working with community partners to assess needs and create accessible interventions.

 

Hannah Becker

Area: Clinical Science

Advisor: Dr. Kate Fitzgerald and Dr. Christopher Monk

Research: I study psychotherapeutic treatments for anxiety and OCD in youth. I mostly use neuroimaging tools to examine brain changes that occur with, or predict response to, these interventions.

 

Kali Sarver

Area: Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience

Advisor: Dr. Patricia Reuter-Lorenz

Research: My research focuses on cognitive working memory and affective working memory (i.e., working memory for emotion) performance across the adult lifespan. Although some cognitive abilities tend to decline with age, working memory for emotion may be resilient to age-related declines, and a goal of mine is to investigate preserved abilities with the healthy aging process.

 

Tong Suo

Area: Social

Advisor: Dr. Shinobu Kitayama

Research: I study self-concept and well-being in cross-cultural contexts. A good proportion of my research focuses on the cultural comparison between East Asian and 'WEIRD' (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Democratic; e.g., middle-class European American) cultures, but I recently also started a collaborative project which extends the scope of my research to Sub-Saharan African population. I hope to combine surveys, experiments, and data-driven methods to investigate the complex dynamics between individuals and their socio-cultural and ecological contexts

 

 

Jessica Bezek

Area: Clinical Science

Advisor: Dr. Luke Hyde

Research:  I study how early life adversity influences brain development and risk for mental illness, with a particular focus on identifying neural mechanisms that support resilient outcomes in youth experiencing neighborhood disadvantage.

Keion Harris

Area: Joint Social Work and Developmental Psychology

Advisors: Dr. Daphne Watkins, Dr. Lorraine Gutierrez and Dr. Kevin Cokley

Research: I am interested in how local and state policy impacts health and educational outcomes for adolescent minority youth within Michigan and more specifically the city of Detroit.

 

Ana Patricia Esqueda

Area: Developmental Psychology

Advisor: Dr. Vonnie McLoyd and Dr. Lorraine Guitierrez

Research: My research explores how systems of oppression- namely those that devalue members of low socioeconomic status or racial minorities- impact the linguistic and social development of Latinos.

 

Jennifer Murray

Area: Biopsychology

Advisor: Dr. Natalie Tronson

Research: I study fear conditioning to understand what motivational or affective information, in addition to prediction, is included in a learned fear association. Unraveling these associations may help in understanding anxiety disorders and PTSD.

Lillian Guyen

Area: Personality & Social Contexts

Advisor: Dr. Gigi Awad; Dr. Craig Rodriguez-Seijas

Research: My research focuses on minority stress, identity processes, and belonging with an intersectional lens primarily among QTBIPOC and Asian American populations. I am most interested in how people's understanding of intersectionality informs their experiences and how we can empower and improve outcomes for people with multiple marginalized identities. 

 

Dianna Alvarado

Area: Personality and Social Contexts

Advisor: Dr. Kevin Cokley 

Research: Broadly, I study environmental factors that affect health and academic outcomes among students from underrepresented backgrounds. Recently, I examined how protective strategies (e.g., engaging in self-compassion practices) help students combat imposter feelings.