Congratulations, Psychology Class of 2025!
Commencement
Meet the Class of 2025!
From everyone at Emory Psychology, we would like to congratulate our graduates for their hard work and commitment over the years.
- Abudayyeh, Rayah, BA
- Acquaah, Isabella, BA
- Akridge, Ella, BS
- Phi Beta Kappa, Psi Chi, SURE and SIRE Fellowships, Emory Student Employee of the Year 2025
- Alday, Evelyn, BS
- Amorim, Beatriz, BA
- Ampong, Laureen, BA
- Antunes Maciel Salem, Laura, BS
- Apple, Jessica, BA
- Arie, Maya, BS
- Arnold, Sarah, BS
- Arruda, Sophia, BA
- Barbee, Isabelle, BA
- Bartos, Nur, BA
- Bessman, Alyce, BS
- Bhagat, Jaya, BA
- Bhasin, Shaan, BA
- Bilsky, Hadara, BS
- Bluestein, Lillian, BS
- Fall 2023 Research Methods Poster Fair Award Winner
- Bradshaw, John, BS
- Brown, Estelle, BS
- Byrne, Charles, BA
- Cai, Yunke, BA
- Campos, Jose, BA
- Cano, Virginia, BS
- Mellon Mays Fellow
- Cao, Xuefeng, BA
- Cariker, Jennette, BA
- Castañeda, Ana, BA
- Chen, Marissa, BA
- Chen, Beral, BA
- Chen, Sara, BA
- Choksi, Janvi, BS
- Choo, Jiyoun, BA
- Cohen, Lauren, BS
- Darrah, Brooke, BS
- Highest honors, Phi Beta Kappa, Dean's List, Darrah, B., Ghiloni, L., & Mischel, J.(2024, August). Effect of belonging on well-being after return to in-person learning at the university level. Poster presented at American Psychological Association, Seattle, WA.
- Daube, Alexandra, BS
- Delony, Aida, BS
- Quest Bridge Scholar, Dean's List (Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2024, Spring 2024), High Honors
- Dixon, Benjamin
- Dorfman, Catalina, BA
- Dubinski, Abigail, BA
- Dumesnil, Lauren, BA
- Earla, Rishi, BA
- Echols, Jeffrey, BS
- Eimbinder, Alexa, BA
- Elie, Aidan, BA
- Escalante, Joshua, BS
- Estroff, Emma, BA
- Fajobi, Sandra, BS
- Fatty-Branch, Alimatu, BS
- Feng, Tianning, BA
- Fischer, Delaney, BA
- Furci, Nicolas, BA
- Furey, Abigail, BA
- Highest Honors, Phi Beta Kappa
- Gakio, Stuart, BS
- Gammill, Louisa, BS
- Girma, Elsabeth, BS
- Gomez, David, BA
- Goodloe, Stephanie, BS
- 100 Senior Honorary, Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa, MARC Scholar, Psi Chi
- Gu, Xinhan, BA
- Gueye, Oumy, BS
- Haimes, Chloe, BA
- Hampton, Anna, BA
- Hansen-Mann, Talia, BS
- Hardin, Nicholas, BA
- Brad Edwards Leadership Award Scholar, Member of Psi Chi, Senior Class Representative on Pi Sigma Alpha Executive Board, Member of the Student Alumni Board, 2022 and 2023 NJCAA Academic All-American
- Harton, Madison, BS
- He, Yiou, BS
- Deans list, Student Healthcare Startup Founder, Research Specialist
- Hills, Isabelle, BA
- Huang, Natalie, BA
- Huh, Haley, BS
- Jimenez, Daisy, BA
- Johnson, Ambulai, BA
- Joseph, Samantha, BA
- Kanderis, Emily, BS
- Kapadia, Vidhi, BA
- Kapur, Rhea, BA
- Kesler, Leah, BA
- Khaki, Sofia, BA
- Kim, Sophia, BA
- Kondas, Alexa, BS
- Krambeer, Rachel, BA
- Kwok, Angela, BS
- Lamberson, Sydney BS
- Lee, Rebekah, BS
- Lee, Jiwon, BA
- Questbridge Scholar, Psi Chi Member, Phi Beta Kappa Member, Dean’s Honors List
- Lee, Se Yeon, BS
- Levy, Cassandra, BS
- Lewis, William, BS
- Lhabdon, Shawo, BS
- Li, Xiaonan, BS
- Li, Valeria, BS
- Li, Zhiyi, BA
- Lim, Chaeyeon, BS
- Lim, Jayoung, BA
- Liu, Dylan, BA
- Liu, Dingding, BA
- Lopez, Priscila, BS
- Lopez Gaucin, Vielka, BS
- Lu, Amy, BS
- Ma, Yizhuoran, BS
- Macmanus, Emma, BS
- Mallya, Glory, BS
- Mammen, Serena, BA
- Mamoun, Malak, BS
- Mandell, Allison, BS
- Marn, Briana, BA
- Martinez, Alex, BA
- SURE Fellowship, 100 Senior Honorary
- Masuyama, Sara, BA
- Menchaca, Shamaniy, BA
- Mendelbaum Kweller, Michal, BS
- Michel, Skylar, BS
- Mo, Amelia, BA
- Moose, Elizabeth, BA
- Murphy, Briana, BS
- Nadimpalli, Pooja, BA
- Nicholson, Tschaka, BS
- Notes, Lily, BA
- Olivier, Madeline, BS
- Oshins, Kate, BS
- 100 Senior Honorary, SURE Fellowship, URP Conference Grant, URP Research Grant, Psi Chi Undergraduate Research Grant
- Paladugu, Gitanjali, BS
- Park, Natalie, BA
- Park, Joseph, BA
- Peters, Elizabeth, BA
- Plummer, Aurora, BS
- Pomper, Claire, BA
- Pons, Jasmine, BS
- Poobalasingham, Sonali, BS
- Pretsky, Sarah, BA
- Qiu, Mingyu, BA
- Ramirez, Adriana, BS
- Ramirez, Alondra, BA
- Ravi, Kaushiki, BA
- Ren, Joy, BA
- Robbiani-Paulete, Nora, BS
- Rodriguez, Ashley, BA
- Rojas, Melany, BA
- Rowe, Jasmine, BA
- Said, Bada, BA
- Salvage-Edwards, Meliyah, BA
- Saxena, Prachi, BS
- Schaefer, Genevieve, BA
- Scott, Christian, BS
- Quest Bridge Scholar
- Sethi, Meera, BS
- D12 Chair Student Alumni Association, Oxford College Alumni Board Member, Oxford College Class Gift President 2023
- Shi, Yujingai, BS
- Psi Chi Memeber; Simons Foundation SURFin fellowship
- Shin, Elizabeth, BS
- Singer, Maya, BA
- Psi Chi, Alpha Kappa Delta, Dean’s List
- Smith, Charlotte, BA
- Smith, Porsche, BS
- Smith, Everett, BS
- Sohani, Elma, BS
- Stallworth, Keiara, BA
- Staton, John, BS
- Sung, Jieun, BA
- Sweeney Benzon, Elizabeth, BS
- Takayama, Hiromi, BS
- Tamayo, Andy, BS
- Temlock, Yonah, BS
- Thampy, Janet, BS
- Prentice Scholarship Recipient, SURE Summer 2024 Fellowship, Former Undergraduate Researcher for Goodman Psychoanalytic Lab, Phi Sigma Tau
- Thorsen, Benjamin, BA
- Trachtenberg, Emily, BA
- Trent, Grace, BS
- Urato, Rebecca, BS
- Vazquez, Natalie, BA
- Villalpando-Vizcarra, Francheska, BA
- Waisser, Andres, BS
- Wang, Anna, BA
- Wanjiku, Ivy, BA
- Warden, Elizabeth, BA
- White, Ja'Nora, BS
- Imagining Democracy Lab Fellow, SPLC Intelligence Project Fellow, National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) Charter Member and President, BMHA Communication Committee Member, InspireZ Panelist
- Wu, Sijia, BA
- Yamato-Chang, Tyler, BS
- Yang, Peiming, BS
- Yang, Lan BA
- Yang, Junhyeok, BS
- Yang, Shuwen, BS
- SIRE Fellow
- Yang, Qianlin, BA
- Yang, Lianggan, BS
- Yisrael, Isaiah, BS
- Phi Beta Kappa, Psi Chi, Phi Sigma Iota, Phi Eta Sigma, Emory College Language Center Excellence in Language Studies Award in Spanish
- Zaldivar, Giovanna, BA
- Zhang, Alex, BA
- Zhang, Luping, BA
- Zhao, Yirun, BS
- Zhou, Xinxin, BA
- Zhou, Zhiheng, BS
- Zhou, Helen, BA
Ackridge, Ella “The Impact of Childhood Adversity and the Interpersonal Stress Experience on Adolescent Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors” Advisors: Drs. Allison LoPilato and Sara Botto
Bilsky, Hadara "The Association Between Caregiver Characteristics, Implementation, Child Outcomes in a Parent-Mediated Intervention for Children with Autism" Advisors: Drs. Katherine Pickard and Sherryl Goodman
Cai, Monica "Examining Retrograde Emotional Arousal Effects on Episodic Memory" Advisor: Dr. Stephan Hamann
Darrah, Brooke "Observed and Perceived Parental Criticism Prospectively Predicts Substance Use Problems and Depression in Later Adolescence" Advisor: Dr. Patricia Brennan
Furey, Abby "Sex Differences in Autistic Toddlers: Total Score and Item Analysis of the M-CHAT-R/F" Advisors: Drs. Allison Schwartz and Elaine Johnson
Lee, Jiwon "Social Determinants of Health on Moral Injury: The Role of the Social and Community Context" Advisors: Drs. Negar Fani and Jessica Barber
Levy, Cassandra "Applying Gender Stereotypes in the Workplace: Children's Perception of Novel Jobs" Advisor: Dr. Stella Lourenco
Li, Xiaonan "Probing visual imagery implicitly: Pupil responses to predicted light and dark stimuli" Advisor: Dr. Stella Lourenco
Lim, Chaeyeon "Black American Mothers' Preterm Births and Children's Attention Outcomes: Understanding the Moderating Effects and Environmental Enhancers" Advisor: Dr. Patricia Brennan
Mandell, Ally "Functioning Improves During an Acute Course of Electroconvulsive Therapy for patients with Treatment-Resistant Depression" Advisor: Dr. Vanessa Brown
Olivier, Madi "Reporting and Misreporting of Sex-Dependent Effects in Psychology and Neurosciencee" Advisor: Dr. Donna Maney
Oshins, Katie "Individual and Developmental Differences in Appetitive and Aversive Extinction Learning" Advisor: Dr. Alexandra Cohen
Ren, Joy "Psilocybin Enhances Experiences of Connectedness: Insights from an Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) Protocol" Advisors: Drs. Roman Palitsky and Peter Hitchcock
Shi, Emmy "Investigating the Syntactical and Acoustic Control of Repeated Syllablesin the Bengalese Finch" Advisors: Drs. Sam Sober and Daniel Dilks
Yamato-Chang, Tyler "Evidence of Distinct Race and Gender Categories in Face Perception" Advisor: Dr. Stella Lourenco
Yisrael, Isaiah "Exploring the Differential Impact of Language Proficiency and Usage on Spanish-English Bilingual Children's Inhibitory Control" Advisor: Dr. Brianna Yamasaki
Zhou, Dolores "Preliminary Findings on the Association Between Psychotropic Medication and Symptom Profile Changes in Youth at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis" Advisor: Dr. Elaine Walker
Cognition & Development
- Hoffman, Ana Maria "Bouba, Kiki, and Beyond: Exploring the Flexibility of Sound Symbolism Across Language" Advisor: Dr. Lynne Nygaard
- Aberizk, Katrina "Heterogeneity in Temporoparietal Brain Connectivity and Longitudinal Trajectories of Hippocampal Volume in Youth on the Psychosis Spectrum" Advisor: Dr. Elaine Walker
- Barbee, Nia "Racial Discrimination and Neurodevelopment: Identifying Protective and Risk Factors for Black Children" Advisor: Dr. Patricia Brenann
- Espana, Roberto "The Relations among Cannabis, Stress, and Symptom Severity in Individuals at Clinical High-Risk of Psychosis" Advisor: Dr. Elaine Walker
- Guest, Ryan "Cortical Underpinnings of Cognitive Trajectories Associated with Psychosis-Risk" Advisor: Dr. Elaine Walker
- Lawlor, Victoria "Making Meaning of Psychotherapy using Natural Language Processing" Advisor: Dr. Michael Treadway
- Nutor, Chaella "Maternal Prenatal Depression and Child Autism Traits: Assessing Potential Risk and Protective Factors" Advisor: Dr. Patricia Brennan
- Robbins, Brittany "Understanding the Links Between Self-Compassion, Emotion Regulation, and Internalizing Symptoms in Adolescents" Advisor: Dr. Linda Craighead
Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience
- Antoun, Angelle "Sequences, meaning, and compositionality in primates: Cognitive processes relevant to the interaction of syntax and semantics" Advisor: Dr. Benjamin Wilson
- Nasarini, Jad "Metacognition, cognitive effort, and comparisons of avian and primate working memory" Advisor: Dr. Robert Hampton
We are proud to announce that Alexa Kondas has been granted the 2025 Dr. William A. and Courtney C. Gentry Award. Congratulations!
This award is given to a graduating senior psychology major who is enrolling in a graduate program in psychology or a related field. Recipients have maintained outstanding academic records and performance at Emory and have a strong potential for making an impact on the direction of psychology through their future careers.
Ms. Kondas has absolutely embodied the tennants of this award throughout her academic career at Emory. She is a Psychology BS and NBB double major and conducted her honors thesis research in the lab of Dr. Negar Fani at Emory's School of Medicine at Emory University. Her research has already resulted in a 1st author publication in the journal Psychiatry Research, and it is no surprise that she received Highest Honors for her thesis. In addition to her honors thesis project, she is a powerhouse in the lab, and has been conducting another independent project examining how different types of trauma disrupt function of brain networks. For this project, she recently finished data collection and is in the process of writing another manuscript for publication. Her research uses psychology, neural, and computational approaches - making her a well-rounded young scholar. For an undergraduate to finish their undergrad career with two 1st author publications is extremely unusual. In addition to her stellar research work, Alexa was also co-president of our Psi Chi Honor Society.
Lastly, Alexa not only excels in academics, but she has also been a student athlete at Emory and competed in shot put and discus on the women's track and field team. Dr. Aubrey had this to say about Alexa's achievements: "I genuinely believe Alexa is a young rising star in the field of psychology and I eagerly look forward to following her career trajectory as she begins a clinical psychology PhD program at The Ohio State University in Fall 2025."
Congratulations from everyone at Emory Psychology, Alexa! We cannot wait to see what you'll achieve!
Emory Psychology is so proud to announce Dr. Chaela Nutor and Dr. Patricia Brennan on being granted the Eleanor Main Graduate Mentor Award. Congratulations!
Thoughts from Our Graduates
Parting Words...
"To my fellow graduates, there is no 'one' path. Don't fall into the pressures of those around you, rather focus on the purpose that has been placed in your heart. It is never too late to switch paths, it is all about your mindset toward that change that would uplift you or discourage you. To my professors, I am forever grateful for all the wisdom you have shared with me throughout my 4 years, I hope you are able to impact others, just as you have impacted me! Lastly, I am thankful to God for seeing me through these 4 years!!”
-- Isabella Acquaah, Class of 2025
" I had such lovely mentors within this department. Dr. Johnson always gave me wonderful career advice and helped cement my post-graduate plans. Dr. Barber was always so spirited and kind-hearted. I was worried about joining Atlanta's Psychology Department after transferring from Oxford but they made me feel at home."
-- Aida Delony, Class of 2025
If I had to describe my experience with Emory Psychology..."...Eye-openings ... Challenging but rewarding! ... Inspiring and Enlightening!...Fun and informative! ... Inspiring... Supportive and fascinating ... Rewarding, supportive, prepared me well for my next steps ... Meaningful... Insightful and Rewarding... Intuitive, Thought-Provoking, Inclusive, Meticulous ... Thought provoking, fun, motivating... Transformative ... Bridge-building"
Looking back..."Thank you to Emory Psychology for fostering such a supportive and intellectually rich environment. I’m especially grateful for Dr. Ali Cohen, the LUMeN Lab, and the many professors who have inspired me. To my fellow graduates -- it’s been an privilege to learn and grow alongside you. Wishing everyone the very best in their journeys ahead!"
--Kate Oshins
Class of 2025"I am so grateful for the mentorship I've found in the Psychology department, especially to FGLI faculty including Dr. Andy Kazama and Dr. Sara Botto, for encouraging me to reach my dreams."
--Ella Akridge
Class of 2025"I am thrilled that after four incredible years studying in Emory’s Psychology Department, I am pursuing my Master of Education in Counseling and Clinical Psychology on the Mental Health Counseling track at Columbia University."
--Maya Singer
Class of 2025"To Dr. Nowicki: Hello and goodbye those are two of the moment I learnt we should always cherish and thank you for being an amazing mentor hope to revisit you 10 years later!! Take care! To Dr.Wolff: Thank for you for believing in me and being the best boss and mentor!! To Dr. Berns: I loved your classes."
--Yiou He
Class of 2025"I am so grateful for the incredible teaching and mentorship of the Emory Psych community -- special thanks to Dr. Botto, Dr. Barber, and Dr. Yamasaki. At a p-value < .001, there's a statistically significant chance I will value these lessons for life!"
--Lillian Bluestein
Class of 2025