Current Students
I am a fourth-year student in the clinical psychology program at NIU. I am originally from Beckley, WV, and following high school, I completed a four-year enlistment in the United States Army. I received my B.A. in psychology from Emmanuel College in Boston, MA. After graduating, I worked at the National Center for PTSD in Boston, MA as the primary research assistant for a randomized control trial comparing Written Exposure Therapy with Prolonged Exposure for Veterans diagnosed with PTSD. My research interests revolve around dimensional models of psychopathology, conceptualization and measurement of trauma-related psychopathology, and negative trauma-related belief entrenchment. Outside of graduate school, I enjoy boxing, watching movies and playing intramural sports.
I am a fourth-year student in the clinical psychology program at NIU. I am originally from Elizabethtown, PA, and received my B.A. in psychology from Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA. After graduating, I spent two years as the lab manager of the Social Cognition and Intergroup Processes Lab at Northwestern University. During this time, I developed my interest in self-concept while looking at biracial stereotypes. My research interests broadly include examining cognitive changes following trauma exposure, executive functioning, sense of self, sense of belonging, and interpersonal trauma. My thesis project examined automatic and self-reported cognitions related to conceptualizing oneself as traumatized. In my free time, I enjoy being active, playing board games and video games, and exploring and trying new hobbies.
I am a sixth-year student in the clinical psychology program. I grew up in Londonderry, NH and received my B.A. in psychology with a minor in Spanish from Stonehill College. After graduating, I spent two years working in Providence, RI researching an intervention to aid pregnant and postpartum women dealing with abusive relationships. Subsequently, I spent three years at McLean Hospital working in the Neurobiology of Fear Lab and the Dissociative Disorders and Trauma Research Program. My research interests broadly include exposure to interpersonal trauma and the subsequent development and maintenance of PTSD and other trauma-related disorders, as well as clinical treatment and response. My thesis project explored the influence of childhood emotional abuse on cognitive biases toward guilt and shame. My dissertation expanded on this research by exploring the impact of a self-compassion intervention in reducing shame and psychopathology among women reporting a history of childhood emotional abuse. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with friends and family, practicing yoga, cooking/baking, and singing/listening to music.
I am a third-year student in the clinical psychology program at NIU. I am from Louisville, KY and graduated from Miami University with a B.A. in Psychology, Neuroscience and Data Analytics. As an undergraduate RA, I worked in a lab that studied Trauma, Interpersonal Violence and Emotion Regulation. My current research interests center on the role of coping and emotion regulation in the development and maintenance of trauma and stress response. Additionally, I am interested in exploring alternative conceptualizations of traumatic responses including moral injury and racial trauma. My thesis project explored the impact of various emotion regulation strategies on stress response in vivo using an ecological momentary assessment procedure. In my free time, I enjoy playing the piano, guitar and ukulele. I also enjoy playing sports with other students in the program.
I am an advanced doctoral student in the clinical psychology program’s trauma emphasis area. I graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with bachelor’s degrees in psychology and family services, and minors in gerontology, mental health and women and gender studies. As an undergraduate RA, I worked in clinical, cognitive, and developmental research labs on studies ranging from climate change attitudes to cross-cultural counseling. I worked for several years with individuals with intellectual disabilities and severe mental illness, and interned with violence prevention and sexual assault advocacy organizations. At NIU, I have taught undergraduate courses, gained valuable clinical experience in multiple settings, and collaborated on research projects. My research interests include pathways to victimization, risk, coping, and resilience in trauma survivors, motivations for sexual risk-taking, moral injury, and experiential avoidance. Clinically, I provide compassionate and evidence-based care, and I am especially interested in PTSD and other mood and anxiety disorders in marginalized and under-resourced clients. My thesis focused on the impacts of child abuse exposure on frequency and motivations for risky sex and substance use. My dissertation utilizes a lab-based sexual discounting task and examines the impact of trauma history and state effect on sexual risk-taking. In my free time, I like to read, bike new trails, embroider, play board games with friends, travel, and spend time with my spouse and two cats.
I am a third-year student in the clinical psychology program at NIU. I am from the northwest suburbs of Chicago, and I graduated from Northern Illinois University with a B.A. in psychology. Before starting graduate school, I worked with individuals who have neurodegenerative disorders. My previous research experience has centered on working with the United Nations Development Program examining mechanisms and prevention of violence against women and girls from an international perspective. Additional research experiences at NIU have centered around behavioral neuroscience paradigms and the impact of attention-based interventions on acute fear responses. My current research interests broadly surround experiences of trauma, with a specific focus on the co-occurrence of traumatic experience and alcohol use, alternative conceptualizations of trauma such as complex post-traumatic stress, and the role of emotion dysregulation after traumatic experiences. Outside of graduate school, I enjoy hiking in the mountains, cooking unnecessarily elaborate meals, and training my German Shepherds.
I am a second-year student in the clinical psychology program at NIU. I grew up in San Carlos, California, and received my B.A. in Philosophy from Princeton University, with a certificate in Values and Public Life. A few years after graduating, I realized that I wanted to work in the field of clinical psychology, with a focus on trauma. I then spent three years at the National Center for PTSD in Palo Alto, CA, as the primary research assistant for an observational study of sleep and suicidality among Veterans. I am interested in how prolonged interpersonal traumas affect the experience of the self concerning the broader world, including impacts on personal identity, social functioning, embodiment, and responses to emotion. My thesis explores how responses to social acceptance and rejection may differ based on previous experiences of childhood emotional abuse. In my free time, I enjoy watching anime and playing with my cats.
I am a first-year student in the clinical psychology program at NIU. I grew up on the East Coast, spending most of my years in Maine and Massachusetts. In 2022 I graduated from Bowdoin College with a double major in Psychology and Visual Arts. The two fields merged in my senior independent study in which I proposed an adjunctive art therapy for individuals receiving treatment for prolonged grief disorder. In the following two years, I served as the primary research coordinator at the Center for Mindfulness and Compassion at Cambridge Health Alliance for a study investigating bereavement following a loved one’s opioid overdose-related death. Currently, I am interested in the effects of community support on the development, maintenance, and remediation of PTSD symptomology following interpersonal trauma. More broadly, I am interested in the differences in the acceptability and accessibility of PTSD treatments and community support between sociodemographic groups. Outside of school, I enjoy being outside with my dog, meeting farm animals, and maintaining a creative practice.
