Graduate Students

Anna Peddle

Anna is a doctoral student in Georgia State University’s Clinical-Community Psychology program. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Furman University in 2018. Prior to joining Dr. Cynthia Stappenbeck’s lab at GSU, she worked as a clinical research coordinator at the University of Minnesota on a project investigating subgroups within opioid use disorder. She has previously completed supervised research projects that span the topics of trait-level mindfulness, externalizing behavior and IQ, and social support in addiction. Anna has also worked in inpatient psychiatric settings with adolescents and adults with domestic and sexual violence histories, substance use disorders, and self-harm behaviors. 
    
At GSU, Anna is interested in researching novel and evidence-based interventions for substance-abusing populations and victims of domestic and sexual violence. 

Anna Peddle’s Curriculum Vitae

Contact: apeddle1@student.gsu.edu

Brennah Ross

Brennah is a PhD student in Clinical-Community Psychology at GSU. She grew up near Philadelphia and graduated from The College of New Jersey with a B.S. in Economics and minors in Public Health and Politics, Philosophy, & Law. After college, Brennah gained extensive research experience in anxiety and phobia treatment at Temple University in the Child & Adolescent Anxiety Disorders Clinic and Heimberg Anxiety Lab. Most recently, she coordinated a collaborative NIH-funded clinical trial between Temple’s School of Dentistry and the Department of Psychology examining the efficacy of a single session exposure-based intervention for dental phobia.

Brennah is interested in reducing barriers and improving access to mental health treatment for victims of sexual violence, especially through the use of brief technology-based interventions. She is also interested in working to bridge the gap that persists between evidence-based public policy and academic research. 

Brennah Ross’s Curriculum Vitae

Contact: bross28@student.gsu.edu

Olivia Westemeier

Olivia is in GSU’s Clinical-Community Psychology PhD program. She received her Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a minor in Rhetoric from the University of Iowa in 2021. At Iowa, she assisted in developing prosocial, protective behavioral strategies to reduce sexually aggressive behavior and risky sexual behavior; and as an active member of Iowa’s Anti-Violence Coalition where she collaborated on campus sexual violence climate assessment, policy, system response, and prevention programming.

Olivia’s primary research interest is how event-level (e.g., alcohol intoxication, emotional state) and psychological mechanisms act as risk or protective factors for sexual perpetration. In addition, she is interested in campus climate for sexual misconduct assessment, and how to integrate these two interests into violence prevention at the community level. 

Olivia Westemeier’s Curriculum Vitae

Contact: owestemeier1@student.gsu.edu