Cognitive and Affective Neurosciences - CAN Lab

Many congratulations to Dr. Parker, who successfully defended her dissertation in April! We are so proud of you!

Our very own Alyssa Parker has gotten a job as a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland! We are so proud of you, Alyssa!

Our very own Teal Raffaele just matched for a fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center with a focus on Autism and Developmental Disabilities! We are so proud of you, Teal!

Where are they now. . .

Dr. Kelly Ferreira
CAN Lab’s former graduate student & research assistant
Human Development Ph.D., 2018

Career
She is currently focused on teaching. She is a visiting lecturer at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, teaching introduction to psychology.
She has developed three upper-level courses for Trinity College (1) developmental disabilities and mental health, (2) executive functioning, (3) development, progression, and treatment of psychosis.
She also teaches online courses for Nova Southeastern University in Florida (developmental and early childhood courses) and Kennesaw State University in Georgia (introductory course).
In addition to teaching, she also holds a research associate role at UConn Health, where she is focused on disability research.

Family
She graduated from the Catholic University of America in 2018, moved to Connecticut, had her first son in April 2020, and boy/girl twins in August 2021.

Meet our team . . .

Kaitlyn Dombrowski
First-year Master's student in PsychologicalSciences

Education Background
B.A. in Psychology from Cal State LA and complete Post-Baccalaureate in Psychology at UC Irvine

Research Interests:
Examining neurological psychopathology aspects of mood disorders

Coolest place you have ever visited?
Kells Sheep Centre, County Kerry Ireland

What is your patronus? wolf

What is the last thing you binge-watched?
Bob’s Burgers

Many congratulations to our newly-minted Dr. Khosravi who defended her dissertation *with distinction* in November! Parmis will be starting a post-doc at the NIMH in January. We are so proud of you!

Meet our team. . .

Carolyn Albright
CAN Lab’s Undergraduate Research Assistant
Psychology B.A. and Philosophy B.A. double major

Interests:
She is interested in emotional regulation and emotional development.

Coolest place you have ever visited?
Acadia National Park, Maine

What is your Patronus? Horse

What is the last thing you binge-watched?
I binged High School Musical the Series with my roommates

Meet our team. . .

Hailey Steier
CAN Lab’s Undergraduate Research Assistant
Psychological and Brain Sciences, Pre-Med, and Health, Society, & Policy Minor (sophomore)

Interests:
She hopes to pursue a dual MD-PhD program to work as a research physician with special interests in neuroimaging techniques and neurodegenerative diseases.

Coolest place you have ever visited?
Grand Canyon

What is your Patronus? Giraffe

What is the last thing you binged watched? New Girl

Meet our team. . .

Justin Popoola
CAN Lab’s Undergraduate Research Assistant
Psychological & Brain Sciences B.S. major (Sophomore)

Interests:
He is still exploring the field of cognitive and neuropsychology. He joined the CAN lab to gain hands-on experience that would help him narrow down his intended pursuit of study.

Coolest place you have ever visited?
Bangkok, Thailand

What is your Patronus? Stag

What is the last thing you binge-watched?
Brooklyn Nine-Nine

New publication!

Ph.D. student Teal Raffaele, in collaboration with Ph.D. students Parmis Khosravi, Alyssa Parker, Sheina Godovich, and their advisors Dr. Nancy Adleman and Dr. Brendan Rich, published a paper on "Social-Emotional Attention in School-Age Children: A Call for School-Based Intervention during COVID-19 and Distance Learning."

Read here:

Social–Emotional Attention in School-Age Children: A Call for School-Based Intervention during COVID-19 and Distance Learning Early research indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent regulations put children at increased risk of negative mood, anxiety, attention difficulties,

🗣🗣 CAN lab's graduate student, Alyssa Parker, is presenting her poster on "The Effects of Timing, Valence, and Arousal on Attentional Biases for Emotional Stimuli" at the Society of Biological Psychiatry (SOBP) 2021 Virtual Conference.