Assistant Research Professors
Brendan Ostlund
Brendan received a B.S. (2013) and a M.S. (2015) in Psychology from University of Oregon. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from University of Utah in 2019, working under the supervision of Dr. Elisabeth Conradt. He then worked as a post-doctoral scholar in the CAT Lab, until becoming an assistant research professor in 2022.
His research aims to elucidate the developmental origins of infant temperament, with a special emphasis on the neural mechanisms that may underlie the intergenerational transmission of childhood psychopathology risk. His current research examines how individual differences in infant neural noise contribute to attentional and behavioral risk for internalizing disorders in early childhood.
POST-DOCTORAL FELLOWS
LIZ DAVIS
During her time in the lab, Liz examined mechanisms responsible for effective emotion regulation (e.g., attentional focus) to explain why certain emotion regulation strategies attenuate negative emotion and distress. Currently, Dr. Davis is an associate professor at UC Riverside.
PAN LIU
During her time in the lab, Pan explored emotion processing in school-aged children from a developmental and clinical perspective, using fMRI. She is currently an Assistant Professor at North Dakota State University.
BRADLEY C. TABER-THOMAS
During his time in the lab, Brad studied the role of the frontolimbic neural system in socio-emotional functioning and development, working to understand neural bases of core psychological processes implicated in social development (e.g., attention biases). He is currently an assistant professor at Geneseo, The State University of New York.
JIN QU
During her time in the lab, Jin studied infant temperamental development. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Clarion University.
GRAD STUDENTS
ALICIA VALLORANI
Alicia graduated with a PhD in Developmental Psychology in 2022.
BERENICE ANAYA
Berenice graduated with a PhD in Developmental Psychology in 2022.
KELLEY GUNTHER
Kelley graduated with a PhD in Developmental Psychology in 2022. During her doctoral training, Kelley studied top-down attention as a mechanism of risk or resilience in children with a temperamental predisposition for anxiety, using methods including mobile eye tracking, fNIRS, fMRI, and EEG. She is now working as a Susan Nolen-Hoeksema postdoctoral fellow in the department of Psychology at Yale University, working with Dr. Dylan Gee and Dr. Jutta Joormann.
LEIGHA MACNEILL
Leigha graduated with a PhD in Developmental Psychology in Summer 2019. During her doctoral training, she examined children’s naturalistic patterns of visual attention in the context of parent-child interactions and child temperament using mobile eye-tracking. She received a competitive training fellowship to continue her research as a postdoctoral fellow at University of North Caroline Chapel Hill, working with Dr. Cathi Proper at the BEE Lab. She is currently an assistant professor at Northwestern University.
ERAN AUDAY
Eran graduated with a PhD in child clinical psychology in 2018. During his time in the lab, he examined how parenting behaviors during childhood and adolescence are associated with individuals’ self-perceptions and social information processing, as well as psychological functioning. Dr. Auday completed his internship at Wellspan Health and fellowship at Geisinger Medical Center. He is now a psychologist in Danville, PA.
XIAOXUE (JESSIE) FU
Jessie graduated with a PhD in developmental psychology in 2018. During her time in the lab she investigated how temperament interacts with attention to predict social behaviors in children. Currently, Dr. Fu will be an Assistant Professor at Notre Dame University in 2023.
SANTIAGO MORALES PAMPLONA
Santiago graduated with a PhD in developmental psychology in 2017. During his time in the lab he used psychological, neurobiological, and behavioral measures to study emotion and emotion regulation in children predisposed to internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Currently, Dr. Morales is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Southern California.
NHI THAI
Nhi is an assistant teaching professor at Penn State. During her time in the lab, she examined the neural underpinnings of attention bias to threat in children temperamentally at risk for social anxiety disorder. She is also a photographer in State College.
LAB MANAGERS
Zaynab Ibrahim
Zaynab joined the CAT Lab as a research assistant for the Parent-to-Child Anxiety Transmission project in early 2024.
Harmony Nguyen
Harmony joined the CAT Lab as project coordinator for the Parent-to-Child Anxiety Transmission (P-CAT) project in 2022.
Morgan Gilmer
Morgan joined the CAT lab as lab coordinator.
Melissa Bomberger
Melissa joined the CAT Lab as a research assistant for the HBCD pro
DAKOTA REIS
Dakota joined the CAT Lab in October 2021. During his time in the lab, Dakota coordinated both the P-CAT R56 pilot study and the P-CAT R01 longitudinal study.
KATHRYN GRAY
Katie Gray helped with the LANTS project. Currently, she is a graduate student working with Dr. Sonya Troller-Renfree at Columbia University.
SYDNEY THIEM
During her time in the lab, Sydney coordinated the P-CAT R56 study. She is now working on outreach for a marriage and family counselor.
ELIZABETH ALLEN
During her time in the lab, Elizabeth coordinated the BRAINS project. She is currently a project manager at the University of Delaware Lerner College of Business and Economics.
ELIZABETH ALLEN
During her time in the lab, Elizabeth coordinated the AnT study. She is currently a graduate student in Human Development and Family studies at The Pennsylvania State University.
KAYLA BROWN
During her time in the lab, Kayla coordinated the PLAY and AnT studies. She is currently a graduate student in developmental psychology at The Pennsylvania State University.
CHRIS DANILO
During his time in the lab, Chris coordinated the BRAINS project. He currently does outreach for West Arete, a custom computer software company.
PHIL GALINSKY
During his time in the lab, Phil assisted with the iTrac project. He is currently the Head of Media & Content at Vand Labs.
KELLY METCALF
During her time in the CAT Lab, Kelly coordinated the BRAINS and PLAY projects. She also assisted with the CAnT and LAnT projects.
COURTNEY PFEIFER
During her time in the lab, Courtney coordinated the BRAINS project. She is currently a graduate student in industrial and organizational psychology at the University of Connecticut. She is also a personnel research psychologist intern with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.