Human Development Graduate Students

Xiang (Caroline) Cheng is a doctoral student in the Human Development area within the Department of Educational Psychology. She is a member of the Mathematics Education Learning and Development lab with Dr. Percival Matthews.

Moon Evans is a doctoral student in the Human Development area within the Department of Educational Psychology. Moon is a member of the Enright Forgiveness lab and her research focus is on the moral-virtue sense of forgiveness in children, and their social awareness (healthy emotional and social skills development).

Ashley Ezpeleta is a doctoral student in the Human Development area working with Dr. Haley Vlach in the Learning, Cognition, and Development Lab. Before starting graduate school, Ashley attended Miami University and received her B. A. in Psychology and a minor in Linguistics. She was also the lab manager for Dr. Edward Hubbard’s Educational Neuroscience Lab (also here at UW). Ashley’s current research interests lie in understanding how lower (e.g. biological)- and higher (e.g. meta)- memory processes influence young children’s language learning, with the goal of applying her work to educational settings.

Maria Katiskathas is a doctoral student in the Human Development area within the Department of Educational Psychology and studying with Dr. Amy Bellmore. Maria is interested in examining adolescent peer relationships and educational outcomes through a sociocultural lens. She hopes her research will contribute to a deeper understanding of how teens’ social relationships and educational experiences, both in school and social media contexts, influence their social and emotional development.

Ginnie Kim is a doctoral student in the Human Development area within the Department of Educational Psychology working with Dr. Sarah Short. She received her B.S. in Brain and Cognitive Science from University of Rochester. Prior to coming to UW-Madison, she worked as a full-time research assistant in a neuroimaging lab at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH. She continues to utilize neuroimaging at UW-Madison to explore the effects of early adverse experiences on children's brain development, academic achievement, and well-being. She is also affiliated with the Center for Healthy Minds and is excited to integrate her research with mindfulness program.

Judith Korn is a doctoral student in the Human Development area within the Department of Educational Psychology and is advised by Dr. Robert Enright. Judith has a masters degree in both Clinical Psychology and Education. She has spent the last decade teaching math in the Madison area. Judith's research interests are in evaluating the effects of a well-designed SEL curriculum that incorporates moral development. She is particularly interested in the impact the study of forgiveness can have on mental health and in turn academic outcomes in our schools.

Lyndsay Le is a doctoral student in the Human Development area within the Department of Educational Psychology. She is studying with Dr. Amy Bellmore. Lyndsay's research focuses on the impact of bullying on adolescents' perceptions of peer relationships, the coping mechanisms they employ, and their emotional and social development. She also explores how parents can support their children throughout this process. Through her work, she hope to provide valuable insights for adolescents facing difficulties in peer and parent-child relationships, as well as for parents seeking effective ways to help their children navigate these challenges.

Pema Lhamo is a doctoral student in the Human Development area within the Department of Educational Psychology. Her research focuses on promoting the well-being of adolescents by studying the positive impacts of social competence skills. She is particularly passionate about exploring sustainable approaches to strengthen and build a compassionate community.

Yan Li is a doctoral student in the Human Development area within the Department of Educational Psychology. Her research interest aims at understanding how to engage educational and cultural forces to promote virtue development, like the development of forgiveness.

Roy Luo is a doctoral student in the Human Development area within the Department of Educational Psychology. He works with Dr. Edward Hubbard in the Educational Neuroscience Lab. His research broadly explores developmental changes in brain networks underlying higher-order cognitive functions, particularly executive functions and numerical cognition.

Sam Macksey is a doctoral student in the area of Human Development within the Department of Educational Psychology. She works with Dr. Haley Vlach in the Learning, Cognition and Development Lab. Samantha received her B.A. in Psychology (minor in mathematical modeling of complex systems) from Northeastern Illinois University. Her research interests involve the examination of how children’s understanding of science and math can predict how likely they are to go into STEM careers. Her objective is to enhance the early-stage development of the educational system.

Robby Quintana is a doctoral student in the Human Development area within the Department of Educational Psychology. He is working in the Mathematics Education and Learning Lab with Percival Matthews. Robby is interested in the relationship between spatial ability and mathematics.

Yi Tong is a doctoral student in the Human Development area within the Department of Educational Psychology. She is a member of the Learning, Cognition, and Development lab with Dr. Haley Vlach.

Priscilla Tovar-Perez is a doctoral student in the Human Development area within the Department of Educational Psychology. Priscilla is part of Dr. Amy Bellmore’s research team, which focuses on school-based peer relationships during adolescence. Her current interests include the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on adolescent well-being and understanding how teens use social media to cope with stressful events.

Anna Veenendall is a doctoral student in the Human Development area within the Department of Educational Psychology. She works with Dr. Christy Starr. She earned her BS in Neurobiology and Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she also worked as a research assistant in Dr. Judith Harackiewicz's PULSE lab. Before starting her graduate studies, Anna served as a research specialist under Dr. Andy Garbacz in School Psychology at UW. Her research interests center on the barriers and costs that adolescents and college students face in pursuing careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.