Samantha Leigh, Lab Coordinator at PACT Harrisburg

Samantha Leigh graduated from Christopher Newport University in 2018 with her B.S. in Neuroscience and Psychology, and minor in Writing. She is working in the Emotion Development Lab at the PACT Harrisburg site as a Project Coordinator for LAnT and TEENS. Her previous experience includes working as a research assistant in Dr. Stephanie DeLuca’s Neuromotor Research Clinic at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, as well as using eye-tracking equipment in Dr. Laurie Hunter’s Face Processing Research Lab at CNU to study how students examine facial expressions. She is interested in the development of stress and anxiety, particularly in k-12 students, and plans to attend graduate school to study Educational Psychology and help schools improve student mental health.

Email: sxl1221@psu.edu

Andrea Cordero, Project Coordinator 

Andrea Cordero joined the Emotion Development Lab as a Research Coordinator working closely with Dr. Buss primarily on the TEENS Study. Andrea is a 2017 Penn State graduate with multiple B.A. in Psychology, Criminology, and Sociology and her M.Ed. in Higher Education. Prior research experiences include a project on social games for adolescents with Autism, directed by Dr. Suzy Scherf and serving as a lab manager for the Child Attention and Learning Lab directed by Dr. Cynthia Hunag-Pollock. She is broadly interested in how negative family environment and adversities affect children's temperament and biological regulations. 

Email: alc5886@psu.edu

Meghan McDoniel, Graduate Student

Meghan received her PhD in Developmental Psychology from Penn State University in 2020.  Meghan received her B.A. in Psychology with a Neuroscience concentration from Grinnell College in 2010.  She also received her M.Ed. in Elementary Education with an Early Childhood emphasis from the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 2012 while teaching preschool with Teach For America. Her research interests focus on the multiple factors that influence social and emotional development of children in special populations (e.g. low-income populations, special needs populations).  

Email: mem489@psu.edu

Elizabeth Shewark, Graduate Student

Elizabeth is in her sixth year of the Developmental Psychology area Ph.D. program. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in psychology, summa cum laude, from the University of Mary Washington and attained her Masters of Arts in Applied Developmental Psychology from George Mason University (GMU) under the mentorship of Dr. Susanne Denham. Elizabeth worked with Drs. Jenae Neiderhiser and Kristin Buss examining the development of children’s social and emotional competency, within the context of the family and schools using a behavioral genetics framework. Her dissertation work examined genetic influences on the child and how that association may evoke different or similar responses across the family and school contexts and subsequently impact later adjustment. 

Elveena Fareedi, Project Coordinator at PACT Harrisburg 

Elveena received her Masters' degree in Clinical Psychology from Penn State Harrisburg. She is now working as a Senior Research Coordinator for Northwestern University. 

Jin Qu, Post-Doctoral Fellowship

Jin Qu worked as a post-doc scholar with Dr. Koraly Pérez-Edgar and Dr. Kristin Buss. She graduated with a Ph.D. degree in Human Development and Family Studies and her Ph.D. advisor was Dr. Esther Leerkes.  Her main research interests lie in infant social and emotional development (e.g., infant emotion regulation) in relation to children’s subsequent behavior problems.  She is also interested in how caregiving environment and parent–child attachment influence infant development. She has used multiple levels of analysis (i.e., psychophysiological and behavioral) to examine these research questions and she considers child development in context.  For her post-doc work, she learned more about infant EEG and eye-tracking and to continue her previous line of work in infant emotional development. Jin is currently an Assistant Professor at Clarion University.

Email: joq5026@psu.edu

Nhi Thai, Graduate Student

Nhi graduated with her PhD in Developmental Psychology under the mentorship of Drs. Perez-Edgar and Buss. She received her bachelors in Child Psychology and Biology from the University of Minnesota, where she conducted research with Dr. Philip Zelazo on the development and neural bases of executive function throughout the lifespan. Her Master work looked at the neural underpinnings of attention bias to threat and attention training. For her doctoral work, she investigated the neurocognitive processes involved in emotion regulation and explore effective emotion regulation strategies toward adaptive behavior, particularly in the context of psychopathology. 

Email: nxt183@psu.edu

Xiaoxue (Jessie) Fu, Graduate Student

Jessie received her BSc in Psychology from Bristol University and MSc in Psychological Research from Oxford University, and recently finished her PhD at Penn State University. For her master’s thesis, she employed psychophysiological methods to study the acquisition of fear and anxiety in anxious adults. While working with us she worked on projects that assess the efficacy of cognitive bias modification of interpretations training in ameliorating interpretation bias and negative mood in Chinese adolescents with subclinical and clinical anxiety. For her Ph.D., she studied how neurocognitive processes interact with genetic and environmental factors to contribute to the risk and resilience of developing social-emotional maladaptations in temperamentally at-risk youths. Jesse is currently holds a post doc fellow at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital (merged with OSU's med program) working with Dr. Eric Nelson.

Email: xuf104@psu.edu

Connor Destafney, Lab Coordinator/Consortium Coordinator

Connor graduated from Penn State in May of 2016 with a B.S. in Psychology; Life Sciences. Connor worked as the lab coordinator from June 2016 to July 2018. While working closely with Dr. Buss and Dr. Perez Edgar, Connor focused on project coordination and harmonizing data through the Dot Probe Consortium. As of now, Connor works at Berks County Children & Youth Services as a County Caseworker. Connor investigates sexual abuse in minors, assures child safety, and builds relationships with families within all areas of the county.

Email: cjdestaf@gmail.com

Santiago Morales Pamplona: Santi was a graduate student from 2011 to 2017 and helped the lab with visits from 2011 to 2013. He completed his Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology in 2017. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Nathan Fox at the University of Maryland in the Child Development Laboratory. 

Sydney Risley: Sydney is currently a first year doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at Miami University of Ohio, working with Dr. Elizabeth Kiel. She worked with the us as our Consortium coordinator since summer of 2015. She is interested in researching parental influences on the development of child anxiety. Her clinical interests include working with anxiety in young children and families, as well as eating disorders in adolescents and adults. She hopes to pursue a career in a hospital setting or academia in the future. 

Anne Frank Webb: Anne worked with us since 2012 and after four years at Penn State in the School Psych program, she is now involved in her predoctoral internship with the Juniata County School District. While on internship, she is completing her dissertation. In the future, she hope that she will be able to return to State College as a researcher and professor at Penn State. 

Lucia Parry: Lucia is a graduate of Penn State - she earned her BA in Psychology in 2011. As an undergrad, she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Buss's lab, and she returned as lab coordinator in 2016. After college, she joined Teach for America and spent five years teaching Kindergarten in Wilmington, DE. Lucia is pursuing graduate studies in Developmental Psychology at the University of Rochester in NY and she hopes to focus on the learning and coping skills of children who experience trauma early in life.

Elizabeth Davis

Elizabeth is currently an Associate Professor of Psychology at UC-Irvine.

Jessica Dollar

Jessica is currently an Assistant Research Professor at UNC-Greensboro.

Adam Schwartz: Adam is a graduate of Penn State University with a Bachelor of Science degree and a Psychology minor. He worked in Dr. Buss's lab from 2012-2015 as a volunteer research assistant and then lab coordinator. Adam’s research interests focus on early social-emotional development and related problematic trajectories and risk factors which might potentially contribute to anxiety related psychopathologies later in development. He is currently pursuing graduate studies in Clinical Psychology.

Martha Early, 

Martha is currently a Pediactric Psychologist at Unity Point Health, Des Moines Iowa.

Lauren Philbrook: Lauren was a member of the lab from 2011-2015 and helped with lab visits in 2012-2013. She completed her PhD in Human Development and Family Studies in 2015 and is currently a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Mona El-Sheikh's Child Sleep, Health, and Development Laboratory at Auburn University.

Megan Scrimgeour: Meghan completed her doctoral training in August 2015 in Developmental Psychology and is currently a Research Associate at 3C Institute in Durham, NC. While at Penn State, she worked with Dr. Kristin Buss in the Emotion Development Lab and with Dr. Alysia Blandon in the Family and Child Development Lab. Her research interests focus on multiple aspects of family subsystems and their impact on children’s social and emotional development. She is particularly interested in the family influences on the development of children’s prosocial behavior and emotions. Meghan received her B.A. in Psychology from Wheaton College in 2007 and her M.S. in Developmental Psychology from Penn State in 2011.

Natalie Williams, 

Natalie is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska. 

Charlie Beekman: Charlie completed his graduate training, earning his PhD in Developmental Psychology in May 2015. After graduation, he moved to Arizona to complete his Post-Doctoral fellowship at Arizona State University. Charlie is currently a Research Analysis Manager at The John F. Kennedy Center of Performing Arts. 

Jeremy Armstrong: Jeremy served as our Lab coordinator and primary contact from 2008-2012. Many of you will remember him from telephone calls, lab visits, etc. Jeremy earned his degree in Counselor Education from PSU in 2014, and he currently works as Children’s Advocate/Parent Counselor for the Centre County Women’s Resource Center.

Becky Brooker: Becky ran many of our lab visits from 2006-2011 before graduating with her PhD in Developmental Psychology in 2011. Upon graduation, she served 2 years as a post-doc with the Wisconsin Training Program in Emotion Research, and was an Assistant Professor at Montana State University and is the director of the Development of Mind and Emotions Lab. Becky is currently an assistant professor of psychology at Texas A&M.