Jenn Ha – Class of 2023

Jenn smiling broadly outside on UVM's green

Mentor: Mathew Price

Natalie Noble – Class of 2023

Mentor: Mathew Price

Annabel Diestel – Class of 2023

Annabel smiling outdoors on a sunny day by UVM's fountain

Mentor: Alexandra Potter

Raquel Castillo - Class of 2022

Areas: I am interested in the development of tailored cognitive-behavioral treatments. Specifically for adult mood disorders.

Mentor: Kelly Rohan

Jill Giannini - Class of 2022

Areas: My research focuses on the treatment of substance use disorders (SUD), specifically in those with comorbid mental health conditions such as PTSD. I am particularly interested in exploring combined pharmacotherapy and therapeutic interventions to target these specific populations.

Mentor: Kelly Peck

Bethany Hunt - Class of 2022

Mentor: Betsy Hoza

Mathilde Scarlata - Class of 2022

Mentor: Betsy Hoza

Casey Buck – Class of 2021

Casey Buck in outdoor setting surrounded by trees

Areas: I am interested in studying the development and outcomes of antisocial behaviors. Specifically, by utilizing behavioral, cognitive, and physiological data.

Mentor: Dianna Murray-Close

Janine Cerutti – Class of 2021

Areas: I am interested in studying early-life predictors of mental health, especially childhood adversity, and processes of resilience (or lack of resilience). I am also interested in how risk and protective factors influence each other over time to ultimately impact child developmental outcomes.

Mentor: Keith Burt

Marc Feinstein – Class of 2021

Areas: My interest lies in the application of behavioral economic and traditional psychological measures to predict and influence decision making as it pertains to health outcomes. Specifically I’m interested in working with substance abusing populations and gauging how they value their time and health compared to the substances themselves. I’m also interested in factors that influence the recovery process broadly, risk and time perception and how I can bring novel tools into the clinic to help people live happier, healthier lives.

Mentor: Elias Klemperer

Nathan Hacker – Class of 2021

Areas: I am interested in exploring the impact that dietary and nutrition related behaviors have on the health and well-being of adolescents living with a chronic illness. I am particularly interested in the social determinants and psychosocial factors that underlie these behaviors and contribute to nutrition related health disparities.

Mentor: Amy Hughes Lansing

Johanna Hidalgo – Class of 2021

Areas: My research areas focus on optimizing technology-assisted interventions to widen the reach of trauma-informed services. More specifically, examining mechanisms of change for PTSD and comorbid mood disorders to outline novel mHealth applications for marginalized communities. 

Mentor: Matthew Price

Laura Cohen - Class of 2020

Areas:  My research interests are in pediatric psychology and dynamic systems. Specifically I am interested in understanding the psychosocial impact of pediatric chronic illness on multiple members of a family system.

Mentor: Amy Hughes Lansing

Nathan Moxley-Kelly - Class of 2020

Areas:  I am interested in addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder. Specifically, I am involved in research that investigates the therapeutic potential of exposure therapy among individuals with comorbid opioid use disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Mentor: Timothy Stickle

Richard Norton - Class of 2020

Areas:  I am interested in investigating interventions for adult mood disorders through cognitive and physiological markers. I am particularly interested in investigating the role of physical activity in the treatment of mood disorders, as well as treatment applicability across gender identities.

Mentor: Kelly Rohan

Vanessa Ramirez - Class of 2020

Vanessa Ramirez

Areas:  My research interests revolve around how social media is implicated in how teenagers and young adults engage in risky behaviors. I am also interested in potential social problems that arise from this, such as being victimized online while and how this can affect mental health. I am interested in applying different interventions to help these groups, specifically among minorities.

Mentor: Jamie Abaied

Hannah Scott - Class of 2020

Areas:  I am interested in researching the effects of early detection and treatment of irritability, aggression, and noncompliant behavior in young children at risk for developing ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and other comorbid disorders.

Mentor: Betsy Hoza

Aya Cheaito - Class of 2019

Aya Cheaito

Areas: I am interested in child-parent relationships, the socialization of coping and trauma.

Mentor: Robert Althoff

Rachel Gehman - Class of 2019

Rachel Gehman

Areas: : My current research concerns the psychological processes underlying restorative justice conferences and other criminal justice settings. I am also interested in the roles of existential connection and self affirmation in mental health.

Mentor: Elizabeth Pinel

Kelly (Phuong) Nguyen - Class of 2019

Kelly Nguyen

Areas: I am interested in how interparental conflicts affect child developmental outcomes, especially in the context of the child’s temperament. And I intend to examine those linkages through neurophysiological markers, cognitive processes, as well as emotional reactions.

Mentor: Alice Schermerhorn

Emily Pomichter - Class of 2019

Emily Pomichter

Areas: I am interested in studying nicotine use and eating behaviors. Specifically, I want to explore the differences between smoking and vaping consequences and expectancies, as well as the relationship between nicotine use and eating behaviors/body image. Currently I am working on a project designed to help determine the relationship between smoking behavior, smoking expectancies, and body dissatisfaction and negative affect.

Mentor: Antonio Cepeda-Benito

Julia Terman - Class of 2019

Areas: I research cognitive-behavioral interventions for depression and anxiety. My current independent work involves developing, evaluating, and implementing an ultra-brief, scalable cognitive-behavioral intervention for primary care providers to utilize in routine visits. This work aims to translate evidence-based mental health interventions into tools that can be implemented in the most accessible settings.

Mentor: Kelly Rohan

Julia West - Class of 2019

Julia West

Areas: My research interests are youth and young adult substance use, primarily nicotine and tobacco use. I am particularly interested in informing addiction-related policies through population-level research.

Mentor: Andrea Villanti

Rhiannon Wiley - Class of 2019

Rhiannon Wiley

Areas: I am interested in chemical and behavioral forms of addiction and comorbidity.

Mentor: Stacey Sigmon

Brandon Wyatt - Class of 2019

Brandon Wyatt

Areas: I am interested in the psycho-physiological predictors of, and therapeutic outcomes for sexual dysfunction. I am also interested in how individual factors such as personality traits exacerbate or attenuate problems with arousal and orgasm, and how the interplay of these various factors impact sexual, romantic, and psychological well-being.

Mentor: Alessandra Rellini

Wilson Captein - Class of 2018

Wilson Captein

Areas: I am interested in the research and application of minority stress approaches to conceptualizing mental health and distress for gender and sexual minorities as well as kink-identified populations. Within this framework, much of my work focuses on moderators of shame, pride, community, and concealment/disclosure in predicting mental and sexual health outcomes.

Mentor: Alessandra Rellini

Marissa Dennis - Class of 2018

Marissa Dennis

Areas:  I am interested in the treatment of ADHD in childhood, particularly during the preschool years. I am also interested in studying risk and protective factors for ADHD in early childhood, cognitive functioning in children with ADHD, and the impacts of different learning and language impairments on child development and school readiness.

Mentor: Betsy Hoza
 

Thomas Geist - Class of 2018

Thomas Geist

Areas:

Mentor: Antonio Cepeda-Benito

Praise Iyiewuare - Class of 2018

Praise Iyiewuare

Areas: I am interested adult mood disorders and sexual trauma.

Mentor: Kelly Rohan

Phyu "Pannu" Khin - Class of 2018

Pannu Khin

Areas:  I am interested in studying (1) the role of resilience in development after traumatic experiences, (2) designing culturally appropriate assessments and treatments for depression and PTSD, especially to be used in underserved populations or resource limited settings.

Mentor:  Keith Burt

 

Allison Krasner - Class of 2018

Allison Krasner

Areas: I am interested in the development and implementation of preventative interventions geared towards improving children's cognitive, social, and emotional functioning. Particularly, I am interested in the treatment of childhood ADHD, and research related to the social-emotional development of children with ADHD and comorbid disorders. Currently our lab is investigating the impact of an aerobic physical activity intervention on ADHD symptoms and school readiness outcomes in preschoolers.

Mentor:  Betsy Hoza

Maria Lent - Class of 2018

Maria Lent

Areas:  I am interested in the mediating effects of the parent-child relationship and parenting style in the development of early childhood disruptive behavior disorders, aggression, and psychopathy, as well as the biological indices of aggression and victimization. 

Mentor:  Annie Murray-Close

Hannah Loso - Class of 2018

Hannah Loso

Areas:  My primary research interests are investigating child and adolescent neural, environmental and behavioral predictors of psychopathology.  I am also interested in gender identity development during adolescence.

Mentor:  Alexandra Potter