Although the semester is well underway, we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to welcome ICD’s new class of PhD in developmental psychology students. To the students, we’re so glad you’re here and we look forward to working with you across the next several years!
Jasmine Banegas – DPCS
Jasmine received her Master of Social Work degree from the University of Michigan’s School of Social Work in 2017. She served as a bilingual clinical social worker providing community-based mental health services to Latine/o/a children, youth, and families in the greater Detroit area. Since 2019, Jasmine has worked as an ADAPT intervention coordinator and facilitator with Dr. Abigail Gewirtz’s research and implementation team. During her time with ADAPT, she assisted in the development of the contextual adaptations of ADAPT for first responders and diverse immigrant/refugee populations. My general research interests focus on child development, family resilience, and cross-cultural psychology in the context of globalization and migration, as well as cultural adaptation of culturally responsive prevention interventions. I am interested in understanding the psychological and ecological impacts of modern globalization and new forms of acculturation on the development and well-being of children, youth, and families that have experienced forced migration.
Isaac Bisla – Developmental Science
Isaac earned a BA in Psychological Science from UC Irvine in 2020. His research interests include risk and resilience among high risk populations, early childhood education, wealth inequality, and criminal justice.
Frederique Corcoran – Developmental Science
Frederique earned a B.S. in Psychological and Brain Sciences from the University of California Santa Barbara. She is interested in preventing early adversity and promoting resilience by focusing on parenting practices and the structural determinants of health in vulnerable populations.
Nathalie Dumornay – DPCS
Nathalie received a B.S. in Cognitive and Brain Science from Tufts University and worked as a Clinical Research Assistant in Dr. Kerry Ressler’s Neurobiology of Fear Lab at McLean Hospital prior to beginning graduate school. She is interested in understanding the effects of early life stress and adversity on brain and behavioral development as well as identifying mechanisms linking early life adversity to later psychopathology.
Ekomobong Eyoh – DPCS
Ekomobong received a degree in Biomedical Engineering and Neuroscience from Vanderbilt University and an MPH from the University of Miami. She is interested in identification, intervention and support for autism spectrum disorder. Additionally, she is intrigued by the impact of sibling relationships on the socialization and development of individuals with autism.
Clarissa Filetti – Developmental Science
Clarissa earned a BA in Psychology and Family Studies from the University of St. Thomas in 2018. She is interested in contributing to a multi-system and interdisciplinary resilience framework by identifying biopsychosocial mechanisms of resilience. She is particularly interested in researching the neurobiological stress response, attachment, interpersonal relationships, and self-regulation as resilience processes.
Maddie Fung – Developmental Science
Maddie received her B.S. in Biology from Creighton University. She is interested in understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of structural and functional brain development, particularly the influence of pubertal and stress hormones, during adolescence. Maddie is currently working with Drs. Megan Gunnar and Kathleen Thomas, using MRI to explore stress and social support in youth.
Norwood Glaspie – Developmental Science
Norwood earned a B.S. in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. He is interested in cognitive development, culture, cross-culture, early childhood education, and learning.
Seokyung Kim – Developmental Science
Seokyung earned B.A. in Psychology from Grinnell College in 2021. Her research interest includes various factors influencing learning in typical and atypical development. Currently, she is interested in when children decide to persist and give up in the face of challenges, how they perceive their efforts, and how they understand concepts of efficiency and effectiveness. She is working with Dr. Stephanie Carlson to study these topics in relation to executive function skills. In the future, she hopes to incorporate various experimental methods to explore relevant topics.
Sanju Koirala – Developmental Science
Sanju is broadly interested in characterizing the trajectory of brain-behavior relationship in the early years of life and understanding how such changes might be different in atypical development. Prior to joining ICD, Sanju was a Simons Fellow in Computational Neuroscience at the Marcus Autism Center, Emory University where she spent two years studying the developmental trajectory of social visual engagement in infants at high and low risk for autism spectrum disorder. She obtained her B.A. in Neuroscience from Hamilton College in 2019.
Mirinda Morency – DPCS
Mirinda earned a B.S. in Psychology from Loyola University Chicago in 2015. She worked as a research associate for two years conducting community-based participatory research in parts of Chicago. Mirinda then moved to New York City where she received her MSW and worked as a licensed clinical social worker. Her research interests include the impact of context (family, community, school) on normative and non-normative development as well as protective factors (e.g., resilience) in promoting competency and well-being amidst adversity. In addition to her love for micro-level work (clinical practice), she aspires to contribute to the movement of preventative science and intervention work, especially among ethnic/racial minority youth, adults, and families.
Isabelle Morris – Developmental Science
Isabelle earned her B.A. with Honors in Psychology from Stanford University in 2019. She is interested in studying theory of mind (ToM) in autism, with a particular focus on exploring alternative explanations– including the role of executive function and language development– for “failures” on traditional ToM tasks. Isabelle hopes to develop novel ToM measures which are valid in the autistic population and allow them to demonstrate the ways in which they do reason about the mental life of others. As an Autistic researcher, she is passionate about taking a participatory approach to bring other autistic individuals into the research process, a realm which has traditionally excluded them.
Felix Pichardo – Developmental Science
Felix earned a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy from State University of New York at Purchase College. He is interested in adolescents and youth, alcohol and brain development, cognitive development, developmental neuroscience, early childhood, executive function, infancy, learning, theory of mind
Jinyi Zhang – DPCS
Jinyi Zhang graduated from Emory University with a B.A. in Psychology in 2017. She is broadly interested in research that examines early social cognitive development, such as sharing and mechanisms for decision-making, from a cross-cultural perspective. In her spare time, she enjoys baking, cooking, karaoke and outdoor activities with her family.
