Graduate Students

Alemu, Kale

Advisors: Mara Mather &

Research Interests: Association between heart rate variability & emotion regulation/well-being, interventions focused on increasing parasympathetic activity to strengthen regulatory control of brain regions involved in emotion, multimodal neuroimaging techniques

Aviv, Lizzie

Advisor: Darby Saxbe

Research Interests: Dyadic functioning over the transition to parenthood; romantic relationships between co-parents; community-based and participatory couples/family interventions

Beale, Lexy

Advisors: Gayla Margolin & Amy West

Research Interests: Peer relationships; internalizing disorders, adolescent social media use, social maladjustment

Brodell, Regina

Advisor: Stan Huey

Research Interests: Impact of trauma/early life adversity on development (i.e. executive functioning skills); gang intervention; resilience; educational interventions for high-risk youth

Cardenas, Sofia

Advisor: Darby Saxbe

Research Interests: Neuroimaging, parenting behavior, biopsychosocial models of family well-being and health

Dews, Aridenne

Advisors: Amy West & Darby Saxbe

Research Interests: Digital intervention delivery; psychosocial interventions treatment accessibility for at-risk youth; internalizing disorders; emotional awareness and emotional development

Dutt, Shubir

Advisors: Dan Nation, Mara Mather & Gayla Margolin

Research Interests: Brainstem degeneration in Alzheimer's disease; structural and functional neuroimaging of aging populations; locus coeruleus integrity and cerebral blood flow in cognitive aging and dementia

Ewusi Boisvert, Esthelle

Advisors: Matthew Kirkpatrick & Gerald Davison

Research Interests: Addiction, comorbidity; prevention and treatment of psychopathology; vulnerable populations

Fenton, Laura

Advisors: Duke Han, Bruna Martins-Klein & Darby Saxbe

Research Interests: Healthy aging and neurodegenerative disease; early signs of cognitive decline; modifiable risk factors for dementia; multimodal imaging techniques

Fritz, Hannah

Advisors: Sonya Negriff & Gayla Margolin

Research Interests: Developmental psychopathology; childhood maltreatment and early life adversity; intergenerational transmission of trauma; PTSD in children; peer relationships; child psychosocial adjustment; resilience; neuroimaging

Galbraith, Katharine

Advisor: Stan Huey

Research Interests: Evidence-based treatment for juvenile justice and at-risk youth, adolescent substance use, trauma, digital health, family-based interventions

Gold, Alaina

Advisors: Gayla Margolin & Chris Beam

Research Interests: Romantic relationships across the lifespan; co-parenting; aging; stress & resilience; longitudinal data analysis

Gonzales, Cassie

Advisors: Jonathan Tarbox & Gayla Margolin

Research Interests: Autism spectrum and related disorders assessment treatment; dissemination of services across diverse and underserved populations

Jhaveri, Nina

Advisor: Stan Huey

Research Interests: Culture, mental health, and health psychology; technology-enabled assessment and intervention

Kim, Alice

Advisor: Chris Beam

Research Interests: Life-course psychosocial factors and ADRD risk; aging; caregiver health and relationships; grief and bereavement; health disparities

Kim, Yehsong

Advisor: Gayla Margolin

Research Interests: Risk and resilience; interpersonal and community-level stressors; psychophysiology; couple and parent-child relationships

Leon, Gabriel

Advisor: Darby Saxbe

Research Interests: Personalized interventions for diverse couples, families, and children; Intensive longitudinal analysis; Within- and between-family differences in relationship dynamics across multiple timescales

 

Li, Jiani

Advisor: Jon Stange

Research Interests: Within-subject and between-subject differences in emotion regulation; multimodal assessments of emotions (e.g., neuroimaging, psychophysiology, behavior); vulnerability factors for mood disorders; naturalistic measurements

Lynch, Morgan

Advisor: Chris Beam

Research Interests: Dementia; epigenetics, psychosocial and modifiable dementia risk factors; behavioral genetics; neuroimaging biomarkers

Marshall, Anisa

Advisors: Dan Nation & Chris Beam

Research Interests: Structural and functional neuroimaging; stress; cerebrovascular and physiological markers for healthy aging, cognitive impairment, and dementia; neuropsychology

Marshall, Narcis

Advisor: Darby Saxbe

Research Interests: Parent-child attachment; brain and behavioral development in relation to early life adversity; psychobiology of parenthood; pro- and antisocial behavior

Mateo Santana, Adrelys

Advisor: Chardée Galán

Research Interests: Developmental consequences of early adversity (e.g., violence exposure and racial discrimination) on youth's behavior, emotions, and psychopathology; protective factors of early adverse experiences; culturally and contextually-relevant interventions

Morris, Alyssa

Advisor: Darby Saxbe

Research Interests: Perinatal and early-life risks and protective factors; parental stress and mental health; parenting-infant bonding; neurobiological and genetic markers of risk and resilience; child psychopathology

Pilgrim, Matt

Advisor: Chris Beam

Research Interests: Modifiable risk factors of Parkinson's disease and ADRD; healthy aging, cognitive decline, cognition in neurodegenerative diseases

Preston, Emma

Advisors: Amy West & Gayla Margolin

Research Interests: Non-suicidal self-injury, suicide, social media, harm reduction, intervention development and dissemination  

Rasmussen, Hannah

Advisor: Gayla Margolin

Research Interests: Parent-child and romantic relationships; early adversity and its relation to parenting; psychophysiology; behavioral observations

Ryjova, Yana

Advisor: Gayla Margolin 

Research Interests: Close dyadic relationships including romantic, peer, and family relationships; co-parenting; child development; developmental psychopathology; culture and mental health

Saldich, Emily

Advisors: Susan Luczak & Chris Beam

Research Interests: Etiology and maintenance of alcohol and other substance use; prevention and intervention strategies for reducing alcohol-related harm

 

Satinsky, Emily

Advisors: Chardée Galán & Stan Huey

Research Interests: Global mental health; health disparities; childhood adversity; substance use; depression; HIV; peer support; social norms

Sible, Isabel

Advisors: Mara Mather, Dan Nation & Gayla Margolin

Research Interests: Cerebrovascular and physiological signatures of healthy and pathological aging; emotional wellbeing and vulnerabilities in aging populations

Tureson, Kayla

Advisors: John Ringman & Chris Beam

Research Interests: Neuropsychology, health disparities related to HIV, cognitive aging, sociocultural factors, and cross-cultural assessment

 

Waizman, Yael

Advisor: Darby Saxbe

Research Interests: Impacts of early life adversity and stress on brain and socioemotional development; risk and resilience factors; child and parental psychopathology
Walden, Kyla-Rose

Advisors: Susan Luczak & Gerald Davison

Research Interests: Etiology and maintenance of alcohol use problems in minority populations (e.g., ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+); identity-related stress and alcohol use; real-time assessment methods for alcohol research

Woodward, Diana

Advisors: Amy West & Gayla Margolin

Research Interests: Dissemination and implementation science; mental health treatment delivery innovation; clinical decision making; clinician training and engagement; strategies for improving treatment engagement and adherence for at-risk youth; community mental health settings

Xu, Ellie

Advisor: Jon Stange

Research Interests: Affect regulation; mood disorders; cognitive and affective flexibility

Zapetis, Sarah

Advisor: Jon Stange

Research Interests: Cognitive flexibility; affect regulation; mood disorders; ambulatory assessment techniques; neuroimaging; autonomic psychophysiology

Zhou, Elayne

Advisor: Stan Huey & Jessie Borelli

Research Interests: Racial/ethnic minoritized youth and families; health disparities and health equity; racial stress and trauma; strengths-based interventions; culturally relevant measurement; community-based participatory research.

  • Department of Psychology
  • University of Southern California
  • SGM 501
  • 3620 South McClintock Ave.
  • Los Angeles, CA 90089-1061
  • Phone: (213) 740 - 2203