Faculty Research Interests

Lucy Bencharit

Factors that promote positive outcomes for diverse groups in employment, workplace, and classroom settings. Ways that cultural factors may subtly and unconsciously shape our behaviors, judgments, and decision making.  Explorations of how culture influences our emotional values, behaviors and employment outcomes. Investigating how to leverage our cultural values to facilitate successful work and classroom outcomes in an increasingly multicultural world. Emphasizing the ways in which we can intervene on our environments to create healthy, efficient, and equitable organizations and institutions. 

 

Kelly Bennion

Factors that promote successful memory using a combination of behavioral, eye tracking, polysomnography, and neuroimaging approaches. Effects of real-life variables (e.g., emotion, physiological arousal, stress, motivation) on memory, and understanding how sleep affects memory. Prioritization of information during encoding to lead to optimal consolidation during sleep.

 

Jay Bettergarcia

Queer and transgender mental health and wellness; Latinx/Latine queer and trans resilience and resistance; radical healing with queer and trans people of color; Evidence-based approaches to teaching and training about anti-racist LGBTQ affirming care

 

Miriam Mina Burlakovsky

My research interests center on inclusive education and neurodiversity-affirming practices, with a focus on gender-sensitive autism assessment. I integrate perspectives from applied behavior analysis (ABA), mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), and the trauma resiliency model to support equitable, strengths-based outcomes for children and adolescents, while also addressing caregiver burnout and promoting approaches that help families raise resilient, compassionate humans.

 

Shawn Burn

Application of social psychology to social problems, including racism, sexism, sexual assault, heterosexism, and environmental sustainability. Expertise in group dynamics and organizational psychology.

 

Laura Cacciamani

Investigating how we use our senses to perceive the world around us, as well as the interactions between perception and memory, using behavioral, neuroimaging, and brain stimulation approaches. How we use our other senses (e.g., sense of touch) to perceive objects in the absence of vision.  

 

Denise Daniels

Early learning environments and children’s motivation; development of social cognition; beliefs about child development and practice.

 

Natasha Duell

Biopsychosocial, cultural, and contextual factors influencing decision-making and risk taking in teens with a particular emphasis on positive risk taking.

 

Aaron Estrada

Teaching and training psychotherapy skills and process; psychotherapy and counseling with diverse populations; the intersection of psychological assessment and culture

 

Laura Freberg

Learning, memory, and cognition; physiological psychology; history and systems of psychology; sensation and perception; behavior disorders in childhood. Ongoing research in the areas of the use of technological innovations in instruction and memory processes in adults with learning disabilities.

 

Julie Garcia

Social stigma; Self-esteem & self-concept; Stereotyping & prejudice; Multiple social identities.

 

Ivan A. Hernandez

• STEM learning environments and undergraduate research experiences
• Student identity, motivation, belonging, and career pathways
• Faculty beliefs and their impact on mentorship and lab culture
• Social norms and microcultures in research labs
• Inequality and inclusion in STEM education
• Institutional and contextual interventions to improve student outcomes

 

Jennifer Jipson

Children’s emerging theories of scientific domains, children’s developing scientific reasoning skills, informal environments (e.g., museums, zoos, preschools) as contexts for learning, use of technology to support children’s learning, social and cultural contexts of young children’s cognitive development.

 

Jasna Jovanovic

Adolescent development; gender socialization. On-going research on emerging adult sexual behavior with a particular focus on women’s sexual agency in casual relationships.  

 

Jessica Kaczorowski

Understanding brain-behavior relationships in children with neurodevelopmental differences, from a developmental psychopathology perspective. Neuropsychological factors associated with a wide range of neurodevelopmental differences in childhood, such as autism, adhd, intellectual disability, learning differences, and genetic syndromes.

 

Carrie Langner

Social Norm-Based Bullying Intervention, Social Status & Hierarchy; Social identity and Political Participation; and Conflict Resolution.

 

Gary Laver

Memory and cognition, research methodology, and quantitative analysis of data including computer applications; basic research on semantic memory and changes in it over the course of adult aging.

 

Linda Lee

Peer relationships in early childhood. Peer play, preferences, and friendship selection and formation in culturally diverse preschools. Ethnic identity development in early childhood.

 

Susana A. López

The psychological processes of acculturation, immigration, psychological/racial trauma, protective factors, resilience, and the utilization of psychological services among marginalized populations. Specifically, cultural factors and assets that promote resilience and systems that reduce vulnerability. Mental health stigmas and mental health care disparities among BIPOC populations. The benefits of multicultural education for students and educators. Using decolonizing psychology and qualitative community-based research frameworks.

 

Kristin Makena

The intersection of positive psychology with personal growth and educational innovation, including the power of peace-centered advocacy in leadership. Investigating when and how individuals navigate significant life changes more effectively through mind-body-spirit modalities. Shifting traditional clinical and educational frameworks to better facilitate transitions in perspective and professional identity within high-stress environments. Focus on supporting individuals through the architecture of change to achieve a state of professional and personal alignment.

 

J. Kelly Moreno

Eating disorders, mood and anxiety disorders; group therapy; psychodynamic theory and practice; forensic psychology.

 

Codie Place

My research examines how language shapes human behavior, with a focus on psychological reactance, cooperation and resistance in high-stakes interpersonal interactions. I am particularly interested in how subtle differences in word choice influence outcomes in applied settings such as law enforcement encounters. My work integrates perspectives from psychology, linguistics and communication to develop and evaluate evidence-based strategies, including the VOICE (Verbal Options to Improve Cooperation and Engagement) framework. Broadly, my research explores how communication can be used to reduce escalation, enhance rapport and improve real-world interactions.

 

Jennifer Teramoto Pedrotti

Counseling psychology; the intersection of multiculturalism and positive psychology constructs such as hope, coping, and well-being; multiracial identity development.

 

Daniel Rodriguez Ramirez

My research explores the psychology of social change, aiming to understand it and promote it. My team examines how care workers, organizers, and minoritized people drive transformative change in their communities, using qualitative, quantitative, and participatory/student-engaged methods. We examine how organizations and collectives cultivate equitable practices, such as care-based practices, consensus decision-making, and accountability as healing, to support sustainable psychological well-being. 

 

Taylor Smith

Developmental origins of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); prenatal environmental influences on neurodevelopmental outcomes; gene-environment interaction; epigenetics; meta-analysis. Ongoing research on the interplay between genetic/epigenetic factors and prenatal environment on ADHD risk.

 

Thomas Steffora

Archetypal theory and post-analytic/post-Jungian psychology. Philosophical considerations within psychological theory. Dimensional psychopathology and psychopharmacology. Integrations of modal theories to assessment, diagnosis, and clinical practice. Affective disorders, personality (disorders), and substance use (disorders).

 

Julie Vaisarova

My research focuses on early childhood cognitive development — how toddlers and children think, problem-solve, and learn about the world around them. I’m especially interested in understanding the cognitive mechanisms of creativity and curiosity (what happens in children’s minds when they come up with new ideas or go out of their way to learn something new) and how we can structure social and physical environments that prompt more creativity and curiosity. I conduct my research primarily using behavioral tasks — game-like activities that can give us insight into children’s thinking — and by observing how children play in different environments.  

 

Debra Valencia-Laver

Memory and cognition, especially the changes that occur with advanced age. Psycholinguistics and the relationship of memory to language processing in healthy young and older adults.