Former lab coordinators
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Rebecca graduated in 2014 from Stony Brook with a B.A. in Psychology, minoring in Philosophy. She is interested in researching how differences between informants (parent, teacher, self, observer) may provide insight into subjective social functioning in children and adults with ASD. Becca is currently in her first year of Stony Brook University's Clinical Psychology PhD program working with Dr. Nicholas Eaton.
Samantha Sommer, B.A.
Sam earned her B.A. in Psychology from Stony Brook in May 2017 with magna cum laude honors. She is interested in child anxiety and how individual differences can affect treatment outcomes inside and outside of lab settings. Sam will be continuing her education at the University of Maryland this fall and will be pursuing a doctorate degree in School Psychology!
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Former Ph.D. Students
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Meg earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Stony Brook University in 2015. She completed her dissertation study, "Getting to Know Siblings of Youth with ASD: A Model of Risk and Resilience" in the SCTL, a.k.a. the ASD Sibling Survey. Meg went on to complete a postdoc at the Yale Child Study Center. She is now clinical faculty at the UC Davis MIND Institute where she continues to provide services and conduct research related to youth with developmental disabilities.
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former master's students
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Caitlin Reeves, B.A.
Caitlin graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2015 with a B.A. in Sociology and a minor in Applied Psychology. She continued her research there after graduation at the Koegel Autism Center and is now a Psychology Master's student at SBU. She is interested in comorbid mental health disorders with ASD, particularly how social deficits affect the onset of psychiatric conditions and how best to treat mental health disorders in the ASD population.
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Catherine Halpern, B.A.
Cat graduated May 2017 from Johns Hopkins University with a B.A. in Cognitive Science and a minor in Psychology. She is currently in the MA Program in Psychology. Ultimately, she would like to do research concerning visual processing in ASD and consider how this may correlate with other developmental differences seen in ASD.
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Christine O'Brien, M.A.
Christine earned a Masters degree at Stony Brook University in May 2017. She is interested in studying the interventions available to children and families working through social and pragmatic deficits in children and teenagers. During her time at SCTL, she was mostly involved in Social Groups. Christine is attending St. John's University and working towards a Psy.D in School Psychology!
Alexander Mulhall, M.A.
Alexander graduated from Stony Brook in May 2017 with his Masters in Psychology. He’s currently a TA in the Young Autism Program at DDI. He’s interested in understanding the causes of differences in social motivation within the ASD population and how they can help improve interventions. During his time with SCTL, Alex was mainly involved in Social Groups, PASI, and our Recruitment Team.
Lauren Wagler, M.A.
Lauren graduated from SBU with her Masters in Psychology in May 2017. She has worked with children with ASD at the Developmental Disabilities Institute, and with typically-developing children at Stony Brook Childcare. She is interested in improving intervention efficacy and in developing novel treatments for some of the more challenging behaviors seen in the ASD population. During her time in SCTL, Lauren helped out mainly in Social Groups and the PASI study.
Bianca graduated from Stony Brook in May 2016 with her Master's in Psychology. She will be attending Teacher's College at Columbia University in NYC this fall to begin the school psychology program with a BCBA track to focus on working with children with ASD. During her time with the SCTL, Bianca was involved in several projects, most notably as a lead of the ASD Usual Care Study.
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Anthony graduated from SBU in May 2016 with a Masters in Psychology. During his time at SCTL, Anthony diligently helped in a variety of projects, especially PASI and Social Groups. Anthony is now pursuing his research and career interests as a Lab Coordinator at Rush University's Autism Assessment, Research, and Treatment Services (AARTS) Center in Chicago, Illinois.
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Christopher Kleva, M.A
Chris graduated in 2014 from King’s College with a B.A. in Psychology, minoring in Neuroscience and is a recent graduate of the Masters of Psychology program at Stony Brook. He is interested in working with children who are deaf and are diagnosed with ASD. In his spare time, he serves as a volunteer firefighter for West Islip and works as a Behavior Counselor for children with ASD and behavioral issues. |
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Leanne Zinn, M.A
Leanne earned her M.A. in Psychology at Stony Brook in 2016. In addition to lending a hand in various projects at SCTL, Leanne works in the lab of Dr. Joanne Davila exploring relationship competence, and is particularly interested in researching the nuances of romantic functioning in individuals with ASD. |
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Sarah Lewis, B.A
Sarah Lewis is a post baccalaureate student at Stony Brook. She is interested in child psychology and the correlation between children with ASD and the presence of other psychological conditions. Sarah is currently applying to medical schools and intends to pursue pediatric medicine. She was a member of the Spotlight Summer Study 2015 team and helped us with our Social Groups. |
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Jacquelyn joined the SCTL in June 2014, and in May 2015 earned her M.A. in Psychology from SBU, during which time she developed methods for and oversaw the ASD Usual Care Study. She is particularly interested in evidence based practice and intervention for ASD. Jackie assisted the SCTL as Event Coordinator for the second annual CASL Conference, held in December 2015.
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FORMER Lab Volunteers
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Paul Young, B.A.
Paul earned his B.A. in Psychology and Sociology from Western State Colorado University in May 2015. He is interested in Developmental and Educational Psychology, and plans on returning to school for a PhD in Human Development Research. He is mainly involved in helping out with our Social Groups.
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Abigail Zurhorst, B.A.
Abigail graduated with a BA in Psychology in May 2017. She is interested in combining clinical psychology with developmental psychology in order to work with children with disabilities to help improve their prognosis and outlook.
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Mable Lam, B.S.
Mable graduated from Stony Brook in December 2017 with a BS in Psychology. She is interested in developing ways to help children with ASD and ADHD to cope better in everyday life, and plans on returning to school for a Masters in Health Psychology.
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Nicole Saitta, B.A.
Nicole earned her B.A. in Psychology and Sociology from SBU in January 2015. She is interested in siblings with autism, such has how having a sibling with ASD may affect the way one goes on to raise their own children. She plans to go on to a Psy.D program in Clinical Psychology. Nicole was working on the ASD Usual Care Study and also helped with our Social Groups.
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Lauren graduated from SBU with a B.A. in Psychology in May 2015, and joined the SCTL as post-bacc research assistant for 1 year. She is interested in how various interventions and treatments can affect individuals with an ASD and studying which intervention is best suited for specifically which individual. Lauren is now in the Psychology Master's program at SBU and is focusing her research on cognitive psychology.
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Arjun Iyer, M.S.
Arjun completed his Master's in Anatomy and Neurobiology at Boston University in 2014, before spending a year in the SCTL. He is interested in the neurological correlates of social impairments in individuals with ASD, such as emotion regulation and theory of mind. Arjun is now in his 2nd year of the joint Developmental Psychology and Behavioral & Cognitive Neuroscience PhD program at University of Florida, Gainesville, under Dr. Lisa Scott.
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FORMER Undergraduate students
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Denisse Janvier, B.S.
Denisse graduated with a degree in Psychology and Biology in May 2018. She is interested on how ethnic and cultural factors affect the phenotypic expression of ASD, and also is very interested in the neurobiological phenomena pertaining to different disorders. Denisse was most involved in Social Groups, PASI, and organized our community recruitment team!
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Amanda Stoerback, B.S.
Amanda graduated with a degree in Biology in May 2018. She served as the Events Coordinator for the Autism Awareness Club on campus. In lab, she was very interested in studying the neurological function of ASD patients and in learning about how to optimize psychotherapeutic interventions. Amanda was primarily working on our EEG processing team!
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Kimberly Tena, B.A.
Kim graduated with two degrees in Psychology and Sociology in May 2018. She is interested in understanding how culture impacts how individuals experience autism, in addition to the transition to adulthood for people with ASD. She plans on attending graduate school for occupational therapy. Kim was a proctor for our initial visits team and helped out on our reports team!
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Christopher McLean, B.A.
Chris graduated with a degree in Psychology and a minor in Sociology in May 2018. He is interested in task switching and emotionally-influenced task performance in children with ASD. He plans to go to graduate school for a Ph.D in Psychology. Chris was primarily working as a coder on our coding team for the ASD Usual Care Study and later worked on EEG processing for all of our studies!
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Fanny Talledo, B.A.
Fanny graduated with a Psychology major in May 2018 with a concentration in Women Studies. She is very interested in how religion and cultural factors affect the way people deal with trauma as well as how the behavior of those with ASD is affected by these factors. Fanny was a part of our recruitment team and then moved to proctoring EEG visits.
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Hira Shah, B.S.
Hira recently earned her BS in Biology with a minor in Chemistry on the Pre-Med track in May 2018. She is interested in becoming a psychiatrist or a pediatrician. She is interested in the effects of ASD on the formation of friendships in childhood and their development later on throughout life. She also hopes to study the biological and neurological impact of ASD. Hira was part of our EEG processing team!
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Dilsa Perez
Dilsa is an undergraduate Biology major with a concentration in Neuroscience and Chemistry minor. She dedicates her time to working with the under-served Hispanic community. She is passionate to learn more about the social interactions of children and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. She intends on going to medical school and will dedicate her time working with the general public.
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Beren Gokcil, B.A.
Beren graduated with a B.A. in Psychology in May 2017, and will be pursuing an MSc in Developmental Psychology in England starting this September. During her time at the SCTL, Beren was part of the ASD Usual Care Coding Team.
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Jessica Garofalo, B.A.
Jessica received her B.A. in Psychology from Stony Brook in May 2017. She spent her time in lab on the coding team for the ASD Usual Care Study and also as a general RA mainly for the Social Groups and PASI. She currently works as a direct support professional for Maryhaven Center of Hope and is interested in improving behavioral interventions for children and adults with ASD and other developmental disabilities. Jessica hopes to become a behavior analyst and will be studying ABA for her Master's Degree starting this fall at Queens College.
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Kaitlin Darmiento, B.A.
Kaitlin recently graduated from Stony Brook University with a B.A. in Psychology and a B.A. in Sociology. She has worked on the Usual Care Coding Team, reading and coding interventions for children diagnosed with ASD. She continued her education at Columbia University's Teachers College School Psychology Ed.M. Program with a BCBA track in the Fall of 2017. She hopes to work as a school psychologist with younger children particularly specializing in ABA therapy and ASD.
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Elliot Keenan, B.A.
Elliot earned a B.A in Psychology in May 2017. He was the honors student at SCTL and ran the study Measuring Repetitive Thinking on Sona. He is interested in repetitive behavior and repetitive cognition in ASD, particularly how repetitive cognition relates to depression and anxiety. He is also interested in psychiatric comorbidity broadly. Elliot began UCLA’s Human Development and Psychology PhD program working with Dr. Jeffrey Wood in the Fall of 2017.
Ashley Culuso, B.A
Ashley graduated from SBU in May 2016 with a B.A. in Psychology. In addition to helping out here at the SCTL, Ashley is currently working under Dr. Craig Evinger in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior here at Stony Brook. Her research focus involves studying motor control and disorders of the eyelid, in particular the focal dystonia, benign essential blepharospasm. In the future, Ashley will pursue graduate studies in Behavioral Neuroscience.
Dhara Doshi, B.S.
Dhara earned her B.S. in Psychology from SBU in May 2016. She is currently exploring her interests in the medical field and plans on applying to medical school. During her time at the SCTL, Dhara was most involved in Social Groups and Social Skills in a Virtual Environment.
Jesus Pichardo, B.S.
Jesus graduated from SBU in May 2016 with a B.S. in Psychology. During his time at the SCTL, Jesus devoted time to his role as study lead for Paying Attention to Social Interactions, as well as working with families on Seeing the Social World. Jesus is now pursuing a Master's Degree at Adelphi University.
William Friedman, B.A.
William graduated from SBU in May 2016 with a B.A. in Psychology with a concentration in Sociology. During his time here at the SCTL, Will worked diligently on the ASD Usual Care Study.
Lindsay Bungert, B.A.
Lindsay graduated from SBU in May 2015 with a Bachelors in Psychology and a concentration in Biology. During her time here, Lindsay worked on several different studies, especially as a lead in Virtual Skills in a Learning Environment and also as a co-Lab Coordinator during her Senior Year. Lindsay is now pursuing her Masters in Social Work at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Christine earned a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Biology from SBU in May 2015. While an RA in the SCTL for 2 years, she completed an honors thesis concerning trends in school-based services for children with ASD. Christine is currently at the Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research at University of Pennsylvania working on a large, school-based study of computer-assisted interventions for autism under Dr. David Mandell. Christine is now currently attending Columbia University's MA in Education Policy Program at Teachers College.
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James earned a B.A. in Psychology from SBU in May 2015. While an RA in the SCTL for 2 years, he completed his honors thesis on the relationship between spousal support discrepancy and depression. He is interested in research on the transition into adulthood for adolescents with ASD and the role that family dynamics play in families of children with ASD. James is now in his 2nd year of the Clinical Psychology PhD program at University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, under Dr. Ted Tomeny.
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Sruthi earned a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Women and Gender Studies from SBU in May 2015. During her 3 semesters as an RA in the SCTL, she explored her interests in the neurological underpinnings of language development in individuals with ASD. Sruthi went on to the Master's program in Psychology at New York University.
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Trish earned a B.A. in Psychology from SBU in May 2015. During her 3 semesters as an RA in the SCTL, she explored her interests in research on developmental disabilities and how children can successfully transition into college and adulthood. She plans to combine this with her love of children to pursue a degree in nursing with psychiatric training.
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Andrea earned a B.A. in Psychology and Sociology from SBU December 2015. During her year as an RA in the SCTL, she explored her interests in learning about how children with Autism Spectrum Disorder perceive the world and develop social skills. Andy devoted time to her role as study lead for Seeing the Social World, as well as PASI and Social Groups.
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Christina is an undergraduate Psychology major with a concentration in Sociology. She is interested in understanding the comorbidities in children with ASD such as OCD and depression. Christina was a team member of the Spotlight Summer Study 2015 coding team, and she aided the SCTL through our Social Groups.
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Aruba is currently an undergraduate Sociology major who is on the premedical track with hopes of becoming a doctor. Her experience with sociology and natural sciences gauged her interest in children with ASD. Her plans for the future is to receive an M.D. as well as pursue clinical psychology. During her time at the SCTL, Aruba helped out as a member of the Coding Team for the ASD Usual Care Study.
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Shaina is an undergraduate pharmacology major. She is interested in studying the effects of different treatments and interventions, namely drug intervention, on the symptoms of children with autism. She plans on going on to graduate school to receive a Ph.D. in pharmacology. Shaina aided the SCTL as part of the coding team for the ASD Usual Care Study.
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Aisha is an undergraduate Biochemistry major following the premed track. Her curiosities also include applied mathematics and statistics. As the youngest of seven, she appreciates learning about the social competencies between individuals. She is interested in clinical psychology and researching the social development of children with ASD. Aisha aided the ASD Usual Care Study as a member of the Coding Team in the summer of 2017.
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Ryna is an undergraduate Psychology major with a concentration on Sociology. Ryna is interested in researching how to optimize formal education policy to assist students with special needs such as ASD and ADHD. She is also interested in evaluating the flexibility and mental health supports by current education policies. She contributed to the SCTL as a member of the Coding Team for the ASD Usual Care Study.
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Samantha earned her B.A in Psychology from Stony Brook in May 2017. She began attending Stony Brook Nursing School in the Fall of 2017. She has served as the president of the Autism Awareness Club here at SBU, and during her time at the SCTL she explored her interest in the effectiveness of current treatments and interventions developed for individuals with ASD. In addition to coordinating our community outreach here at the SCTL, Samantha was mainly involved in our Social Groups.
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Toni earned her B.A. in Psychology in May 2017. She is interested in alternative forms of therapy for individuals with ASD such as music and arts. She plans on attending graduate school for Social Work. Toni aided the SCTL with the Social Groups study.
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Julia is a high school senior with a strong passion for psychology and neurodevelopmental disorders, with a particular interest in ASD diagnosis and the mechanisms of treatment as well as the pathology of developmental disorders. She will continue on to college as a double major in Chemistry and Psychology with a strong focus on Forensics. She helped out at the SCTL in the summer of 2017.
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Ruby Smith
Ruby is an undergraduate psychology major. Her interests include child and family interactions, and finding ways to improve communication and resources for children with ASD. Ruby plans to get a PhD in Clinical Psychology or MSW in Clinical Social Work. Ruby contributed to the SCTL as a member of our Recruitment Team.
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Mohamed Heiba is a Biology major on the pre-med track with an interest in molecular bioengineering. Heiba is looking to gain clinical experience through the lab and learn more about ASD. He Joined the SCTL lab due to his interest in ASD from prior experience working with children on the spectrum as a STEM teacher. He hopes to involve himself in clinical work by pursuing an M.D.Mohamed devoted time to the SCTL during the early Fall of 2017.
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Aaradhana is an undergraduate Biology major with a concentration in Neuroscience, as well as a minor in Anthropology and Creative Writing. She is interested in developmental neurology and the development and efficacy of social competence interventions for children with ASD. Aaradhana devoted time to the SCTL during the Fall of 2017.
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Rachit Bhatt
Rachit graduated in May 2017 as a Biology and Psychology double major with a concentration in Neuroscience. Rachit is interested in the social competency deficits that occur in children with ASD and ADHD, and utilize these insights to understands how social behavior emerges in typically developing children. He served at the SCTL as a research assistant on our Recruitment Team from November 2016 until early Fall of 2017.
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David is an undergraduate Psychology major with a concentration in Biology. He plans to attend graduate school to earn a PhD in clinical psychology. His interests include studying the underlying neuropsychological processes during social-interaction in children with ASD. He contributed to the SCTL as a member of our Recruitment Team in the Spring 2018.
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