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Background

• 2016-present Professor, Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech

• 2016-present Professor, Health Sciences, Virginia Tech

• 2014-2016 Associate Professor, Health Sciences, Virginia Tech

• 2011-2016 Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech

• 2005-2011 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech

• 2000-2005 Research Assistant Professor, Mt. Hope Family Center, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY

• 1998-2000 Postdoctoral Associate, Dept of Human Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

• 1993-1998 Ph.D. Developmental Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

 
Interests

• Developmental Psychopathology

• Developmental Neuroscience

• Risk and resilience in adolescent risk taking and psychopathology

• Risk and resilience in child maltreatment

• Adolescent decision making and health risk behaviors

• Religious and spiritual development during childhood and adolescence

• Life-span developmental research methodology; quantitative methods for studying variability and change; analyses of developmental processes and life course transitions.

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Courses Taught

• 6944 - Risk and Resilience in Developmental Psychopathology

• 4364 - Senior Seminar: Family and Peer Relations

• 4034 - Advanced Developmental Psychology

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"The more I study science, the more I believe in God." - Albert Einstein
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"Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them." - Albert Einstein

 
Claudia is a fifth-year PhD student and received a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2021. She completed her senior thesis studying emotion regulation, attention bias, and memory in people with and without PTSD symptoms. Her research interests include risk and resilience and how adversity impacts relationships and psychological well-being later in life. Outside of the lab, she enjoys running, coffee shops, and reading.
 

 
Celina is a third-year Ph.D. student and received two B.S. degrees in Psychology and Statistics from Florida State University in 2021. After graduating, she worked as a Social/Clinical Research Assistant in the CIRCLE Lab at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Celina's research interests are related to the long-term physiological and psychological outcomes associated with early life stress and maltreatment, where her focus is on identifying pathways toward resilience. Outside of the lab, she enjoys hiking, kayaking, and skiing.
 

 
Sahar is a third-year PhD student and received a B.A. in Psychology and Economics from New York University in 2021. After graduating, she was a clinical research coordinator for the Addiction and Decision Neuroscience lab at Rutgers University. She is primarily interested in the longitudinal trajectories of substance use and the impact of early life stressors on health and social outcomes. In her free time, Sahar loves listening to music, hanging out with her cat, and gaming.

Ashlyn is a recent graduate from Montana State University where she received a B.S. in Psychology. She is passionate about developmental and clinical psychology and is excited to be learning and developing her research skills. Her research interests mainly revolve around developmental psychopathology and early life stress and adversity. In her free time, she enjoys reading, exercising, hiking, and traveling.
 

Ya-Yun is a Postdoctoral Associate and received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Virginia Tech in 2025. She is passionate about affective neuroscience, using neuroimaging techniques (e.g., fMRI) across different age groups, and is excited to apply various computational skills to her research. Her research primarily focuses on understanding the neural circuitry underlying negative behaviors and experiences, and exploring how these processes can be modulated and regulated. In her free time, she enjoys using data for social good, promoting the field of neuroscience (e.g., writing popular science articles and organizing camps for high schoolers), and immersing herself in creating art.