Anna Shafer-Skelton

Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Psychology

Outcomes & Data

Anna is a postdoctoral fellow in the Psychology Department at the University of Pennsylvania. Working with Dr. Russell Epstein, her research aims to understand when/how we form integrated representations of our 3D environments through navigation and visual exploration. Before joining the Epstein lab, she completed her PhD with Dr.’s Tim Brady and John Serences at UCSD and was a lab manager with Dr. Julie Golomb at Ohio State. She is passionate about making careers in science more accessible and demystifying the “hidden curriculum” of academia.

ashafers@sas.upenn.edu

Arielle Keller *

Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Psychiatry

Outcomes & Data

Arielle is a Neuroengineering and Medicine post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. Her current research in the Penn Lifespan Informatics and Neuroimaging Center explores how early life experiences shape the development of brain networks that support cognition. Previously, she earned her PhD in Neurosciences from Stanford University and a concurrent BS/MS in Neuroscience from Brandeis University where she also majored in Psychology and earned a minor in English. Outside of lab, Arielle enjoys reading, baking, skiing, and teaching kids about the brain.

arielleskeller@gmail.com

Twitter: @ArielleKeller

Clara Raithel

Graduate Student, Department of Psychology

Communications & Outreach

Clara is a 5th-year PhD candidate in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. She previously earned a B.Sc. in Psychology from Marburg University, Germany, and obtained a M.Sc. in Cognitive Neuroscience from Maastricht University, The Netherlands. Her current research at Penn focuses on olfactory navigation in humans. As an international scholar, Clara is excited about making grad school more accessible to a diverse set of students with varying cultural backgrounds.

raithelc@sas.upenn.edu

Emily Perkins

Postdoctoral Fellow, MindCORE

Admissions, Programming Development

Emily is a MindCORE postdoctoral fellow appointed in the Department of Psychology. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Georgetown University and her master’s and PhD in clinical psychology from Florida State University. She completed her doctoral clinical internship in clinical and forensic assessment at the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department in Houston, TX, where she worked with adolescents facing severe felony charges. Emily studies the individual, interpersonal, and larger institutional processes and systems that contribute to the development and maintenance of chronic behavior problems. She is also broadly interested in the interface between clinical psychology and public policy. Emily is committed to mentorship and passionate about exposing the ‘hidden curriculum’ of academia so that more voices can contribute to science.

perkinse@sas.upenn.edu

Twitter: @EmilyRPerkins

Feiyi Wang

Graduate Student, Departments of Psychology and Marketing

Programming Development

Feiyi is currently undertaking a dual doctoral program in Psychology and Marketing at the University of Pennsylvania. She previously completed her Bachelor’s degree, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Consumer Psychology and Statistics, at the same institution. She primarily works with Dr. Sudeep Bhatia and Dr. Barbara Mellers. Her research focuses on the cognitive foundations that underpin human judgment and decision-making processes. By merging psychological theories with computational modeling, she seeks to gain deeper insights into consumer behavior.

feiyiw@sas.upenn.edu

Frida Galaviz Huerta

PennPREP Research Student, Department of Psychology

Admissions, Logistics

Frida is a second year PennPREP student in the School of Medicine. She has a BA in Psychology from New York University and works in the Thompson-Schill Lab. Her passions outside the lab include board games, art, and squash.

fridag2010@gmail.com

Jaime Castrellon *

Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology

Admissions, Programming Development

Jaime is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience from Duke University after earning a BA from the University of Southern California and spending time as a post-bac researcher at Vanderbilt University and UCLA. Jaime uses brain imaging to study how humans integrate complex social information to support motivated behaviors in daily life and how rewards guide decision making. He is passionate about progressive practices in mentoring and specifically mentoring scholars from underrepresented backgrounds in science.

jaimejfc@sas.upenn.edu

Twitter: @jjfcastrellon

Jinyi Kuang

Graduate Student, Department of Psychology

Communications & Outreach

Jinyi is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. She has a BS in Agricultural Economics from the University of Maryland, College Park. After graduation, she went on to work as a research specialist at the Center for Social Norms and Behavioral Dynamics. Jinyi is interested in how people mentally represent collective others, assign agency to groups, and make inferences about collective behaviors. She hopes to contribute to creating a more inclusive and diverse scientific community, where individuals from all backgrounds have equal opportunities to thrive and succeed.

jkuang@sas.upenn.edu

Kelli Williams

Graduate Student, Department of Biomedicine

Programming Development, Communications & Outreach

Kelli is a 1st-year Epidemiology PhD student with an interest in social epidemiology. She has a BS in Biological Sciences from Georgia State University, and a MPH from Morehouse School of Medicine. She has worked in lupus, cancer, chronic disease, and rural health research. She hopes to cultivate spaces and opportunities to diversify the representation at every level in science, so that researchers look like their research population.

kelli.williams1@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Liz Siefert

Graduate Student, Departments of Psychology and Neurosurgery

Data & Outcomes

Liz is a PhD student in the Neuroscience Graduate Group at the University of Pennsylvania. She has an Sc.B. in Cognitive Neuroscience from Brown University where she worked in the Aging and Cognition lab (PIs: Dr. Bill Heindel, Dr. Elena Festa) examining the role of noradrenaline in memory retrieval. After graduation, she worked as a research assistant at UPenn with Dr. Anna Schapiro, studying the importance of sleep for memory consolidation. As a graduate student, co-advised by Dr. Anna Schapiro and Dr. Brett Foster, she is interested in how fluctuations in arousal states drive memory transformations. Liz also loves soccer and printmaking.

Elizabeth.Siefert@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Twitter: @lizsiefert

Marissa Lopez

Administrative Assistant, Department of Biology

Logistics, Communications & Outreach

Marissa works as an Administrative Assistant in the Department of Biology and volunteers at Penn Museum. She has a BA in Anthropology from the University of Maine and moved to Philly in May 2021. Her passions include ancient Egypt, lists, and karaoke.

malope@sas.upenn.edu

LinkedIn: marissa-lopez-wonder-woman

Twitter: @queenrissa

Michaela Flum *

Research Specialist, Departments of Psychology

Logistics, Programming Development

I am a current Research Specialist in the University of Pennsylvania’s Emotion, Development, Environment, & Neurogenetics (EDEN) Lab. I graduated from Columbia University’s Quantitative Social Sciences Master’s program in 2022, and in 2021 graduated from Barnard College of Columbia University. I will be returning to NYC in the fall to begin a PhD in Clinical Psychology at Long Island University (Brooklyn).

flum@sas.upenn.edu

Rishi Krishnamurthy

Research Specialist, Departments of Psychology

Admissions

Rishi is a research specialist at the University of Pennsylvania. They received their BA in Psychology from Reed College and work in Dr. Anna Schapiro’s lab on research concerning abstract structure learning and the role of sleep in memory consolidation. Rishi is especially interested in how these processes differ among neurotypical and neurodivergent populations, both behaviorally and neurally, and will pursue PhD programs in this area. They believe that science and society are best served by a diverse group of scientists and participants, and enjoy mentoring and learning from others.

rishikr@sas.upenn.edu

Twitter: @RishiKr64]

LinkedIn: rishikrishnamurthy

Rista Plate *

Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology

Programming Development, Admissions, Outcomes & Data

Rista is a postdoctoral fellow with MindCORE at the University of Pennsylvania. She has a BA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She spent 2 years doing at a post-bac at the National Institute of Mental Health before returning to UW-Madison to complete her PhD in psychology. Rista studies social and emotional development and how mechanisms that promote learning help individuals understand and make predictions about social information. She is passionate about supporting students interested in graduate school and promoting diverse perspectives, which strengthen scientific fields.

rplate@sas.upenn.edu

Russell Richie

Associate Director, Cognitive Science and MindCORE

Admissions, Outcomes & Data

Russell is the Associate Director of MindCORE and the undergraduate program in Cognitive Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned a BA from Bates College, and spent 2 years doing at a post-bac at Temple University before completing a PhD in psychology at University of Connecticut. He then worked as a postdoc for four years at Penn, and worked for one year as a data scientist at CHOP before returning to Penn for his current position. Russell’s interests lie in machine learning, natural language processing, and computational modeling. He is also active in local, state, and federal politics and advocacy.

drrichie@sas.upenn.edu

Twitter: @drussellmrichie

Sandy LaTourrette

Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology

Admissions, Logistics

Sandy LaTourrette is a post-doctoral fellow in Psychology and Linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania. He dabbled in biology, English literature, and philosophy before ultimately majoring in Psychology and receiving his B.A. in 2014 from Williams College. He continues trying to study all those questions at the same time, completing his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology 2020 at Northwestern University. At Penn, he works with Drs. John Trueswell and Charles Yang to study linguistic and cognitive development across the lifespan. He enjoys teaching and mentoring undergraduates and encourages them to bring their own perspectives to questions about language learning and its relationship to cognition.

alatour@sas.upenn.edu

Sarah Lee

Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Linguistics

Admissions

Sarah is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania, working with Dr. Anna Papafragou in the Language and Cognition Lab. She received her PhD in Linguistics from University of Southern California. Before USC, she received her BA and MA from Seoul National University in South Korea, where she studied English Literature & Languages and Linguistics. At Penn, she studies the relationship between language and cognition. She is passionate about teaching and mentoring and is a strong believer in the importance of diversity and inclusion in science.

sarahhl@sas.upenn.edu

Sarah Solomon *

Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology

Admissions

Sarah is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. She has a BA, BS, and MA from the University of Delaware where she studied cognitive science, psychology, and philosophy. She worked as a research assistant in a lab in the Psychology department at Penn for two years before completing her PhD in Psychology at Penn, with a focus on Cognitive Neuroscience. Sarah studies the acquisition and representation of semantic memory and conceptual knowledge, and is interested in how these concepts are expressed in language and represented in the brain. She strongly believes that science improves with the diversification of ideas, experiences, and backgrounds of the scientists themselves, and strives to support future scientists in pursuing their academic, research, and career goals.

sarahsol@sas.upenn.edu

Seth Koslov

Postdoctoral Scholar, Departments of Neurosurgery & Neuroscience

Admissions, Logistics

Seth is a postdoctoral researcher working with Dr. Brett Foster in the Neurosurgery department at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his BA (Plan II Liberal Arts Honors degree) from The University of Texas at Austin. Seth also completed his PhD at UT Austin in the Cognitive Neuroscience area of Psychology, working with Dr. Jarrod Lewis-Peacock to investigate how people remember to perform future intentions. Seth’s current research focuses on using a combination of functional neuroimaging and invasive electrophysiology to study decision-making and memory processes. Seth enjoys mentoring aspiring scientists, and is committed to improving access and inclusion in research.

seth.koslov@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Tyler Knowlton

Postdoctoral Scholar, MindCORE

Admissions

Tyler is a postdoctoral fellow with MindCORE at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned his BA in Cognitive Science from Johns Hopkins University in 2015 and his PhD in Linguistics from the University of Maryland in 2021. His research focuses on the meanings of logical expressions like “every” and “most”, how they relate to non-linguistic cognition, and how children acquire them. At Penn, he works with Anna Papafragou, John Trueswell, and Florian Schwarz. He was born in Philadelphia and is a huge Philly sports fan. He also loves mentoring, and sharing his excitement about Cognitive Science with students from diverse backgrounds.

tzknowlt@sas.upenn.edu

Vaida Rimeikyte

Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology

Communications & Outreach, Logistics

Vaida is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. She received her BA in Psychology from Harvard University. She worked as a full-time Research Assistant between Harvard Business School and Harvard Psychology departments for a year before completing a Ph.D. in Human Development at Cornell University. She is interested in motivated behaviors and studies and how people make decisions about leisure and labor for themselves and for others. Vaida is passionate about ensuring equity of opportunity and access to mentorship and education to all students. She also believes that the goal of making generalizable claims about the human mind can only be achieved by a diverse body of scientists in the field. 

vaida@sas.upenn.edu

* indicates committee lead