Melany Myers, M. A. is a seventh-year Ph.D. student in the Cognitive Sciences program. She graduated from Georgia Gwinnett College in 2014 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. Her research interests include prospective memory and individual differences in attention. Melany recently investigated the idea that a free writing activity could liberate cognitive capacity by reducing competition from endogenous sources of distraction. Her dissertation expands this work to encompass a comparison of multiple activities (e.g., free writing, prayer, meditation) as means for reducing competition from external distractors.
Isabella (Bella) Palumbo, M. A. is a doctoral student in the Clinical Neuropsychology program–she is currently completing her pre-doctoral internship at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. Bella earned her bachelor’s degree from Florida State University, where she worked in Dr. Chris Patrick’s ‘s research lab, and she completed her master’s degree at Georgia State under the direction of Dr. Rob Latzman. In June 2023, Bella successfully defended her European style dissertation, which presented a series of her articles on the RDoC Social Processes construct, framing them within a neurobehavioral lifespan approach.
Katie Murphy is a 4th-year doctoral student who previously served as the manager for the L-STAR lab while working as a part-time healthcare consultant. She is originally from Atlanta, GA and graduated from Georgia Tech in 2015 with a B.S. in Business Administration, and a minor in Biology. Her research interests include internalizing disorders, particularly anxiety and its relationship to interpersonal functioning. In her free time Katie enjoys playing with her puppy, attempting gymnastics, traveling, and laughing with friends.
Anne Werkheiser is a 4th-year graduate student in the clinical psychology PhD program. Anne grew up outside of Philadelphia and earned bachelor’s degrees in psychology and Spanish from Goucher College. There, she worked on studies of stress and coping as well as visual attention. After graduation, she worked as a research assistant at University of Maryland, Baltimore studying innovative treatments for schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Her research interests include anxiety and emotion regulation, and her master’s thesis focuses on mechanisms of worry such as mood-regulation expectancies and attentional biases.
Davena Mgbeokwere is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) and now a doctoral student in the cognitive and affective neuroscience program here at GSU. As a clinician, Davena specializes in treating stress- and trauma-related disorders (e.g., anxiety, PTSD, depression). Her research focuses on how social/environmental factors (e.g., ACEs, poverty, race-related stress, racial identity, relationships) influence race-related differences in stress physiology/neurobiology and cognitive, affective, and mental health. She hopes to use her research and clinical skills to support inclusive and equitable solutions for mental health treatment, technology, and policy and address health disparities. In her free time, Davena enjoys traveling, watching anime, and working out.
Emily Weiss is a second year in the clinical psychology PhD program. Originally from Michigan, Emily received her bachelor’s degree in psychology and human development and family studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her current research interests include interpersonal values and behavior for people with social anxiety. Outside academics, Emily has taken on baking and specifically enjoys making sourdough bread and bagels.