THE TEAM
DEBBIE MA
Debbie Ma is a Professor in the Psychology Department. She is originally from Denver, CO and attended the University of Colorado at Boulder. She holds dual Master's degrees in English Literature from SUNY Buffalo and Experimental Social Psychology from University of Chicago where she also earned a PhD. She has been on faculty at CSUN since 2011. In research funded by the National Science Foundation, Professor Ma examines social categorization, stereotyping and prejudice, face perception, and mental representations of multiracial individuals. She has conducted research examining police officers' decision to shoot and the cross-race effect. More recently, she has begun researching how intersected individuals conceive of their multiple identities.
JUSTIN KANTNER
Justin Kantner is an Associate Professor of Psychology in the Psychology Department at California State University Northridge. His specializations are in memory and cognition, particularly at the intersection of memory and decision making. He is also interested in applying multidimensional scaling techniques to questions of mental representation.
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STEPHANIE BERNAL
Stephanie Bernal is an undergraduate student majoring in Psychology at California State University, Northridge. Her interests involve research pertaining to cognition, memory, and behavior. She loves to learn about the different subfields in psychology with a particular interest in cognitive and clinical psychology. She plans to continue her education and earn a Ph.D in Clinical Neuropsychology.
MELANIE BRASILE-STEWART
Melanie Brasile-Stewart is currently an undergraduate student pursuing Psychology at California State University, Northridge. She transferred from Los Angeles Valley College with an AA-T in Psychology and an AA in General Studies: Social and Behavioral Sciences. She is interested in learning about mental disorders and how to help them succeed in an educational setting. After graduating, she plans on pursuing her masters in psychological research.
DANIEL CAL FADAVI
Daniel Cal Fadavi is an undergraduate student at California State University, Northridge majoring in Psychology. He is primarily interested in psychopathology but is curious about all the subfields of psychology. In the long-term, Daniel would like to pursue a PsyD or Phd in clinical psychology.
TANISHA GUNBY
Tanisha Gunby plans to pursue psychology as her major in college. Her current research interests are social psychology as well as learning and behavior. She is curious about human behavior in society and is working on finding methods to overcome implicit and explicit biases. She is also interested in understanding stereotyping and prejudice, especially affecting multiracial individuals.
ANNA KHODA
Anna Khoda transferred with her AA in Psychology from Santa Monica College and recently graduated from CSUN. She is interested in the interdisciplinary field of social cognitive neuroscience. Her primary goal is to get into a graduate program and continue researching intergroup relations relating to anxiety, prejudice reduction, discrimination, and conformity.
MELANIE MACHORRO
Melanie Machorro is a graduate student in the Psychological Science M.A. program at California State University, Northridge. She is interested in brain plasticity and the use of psychosocial interventions for patients of traumatic brain injuries and neurodegenerative diseases. She loves learning, especially being able to extend that knowledge to serve others. She plans to continue learning and growing in a Ph.D. Clinical Neuropsychology program.
JAKE MARKARIAN
Jake is a graduate student in the Psychological Science program at CSUN. He is interested in aging adults, gerontology, and clinical neuropsychology. Specifically, he is interested on interventions that promote healthy aging and mental health in the aging adult population. After he graduates, he plans on applying to Clinical Neuropsychology and Clinical Psychology Ph.D programs.
CONSTANZA PEREZ ROMERO
Constanza Perez Romero is an undergraduate student in her senior year. She is a Psychology major who is interested in social psychology. She is drawn to topics such as intersectionality, prejudice, and discrimination in education. In addition, she is part of a research training program called BUILD PODER funded by the National Institutes of Health which supports students from diverse backgrounds to thrive in research careers.
KAYLEEN VARGAS
Kayleen Vargas is an undergraduate student majoring in Psychology with a minor in Biology at California State University, Northridge. Her current research interests are in Social and Neuropsychology in which she plans to pursue graduate school to expand on these interests. She enjoys learning new concepts and techniques in order to better understand humans and the world we live in.
SOME SIP LAB ALUM
NALLELY DE LA ROSA
Nallely graduated from the CSUN with a BA in CADV in 2023. She is currently working toward a PhD in Social Psychology from NYU under the mentorship of Professor Emily Balcetis.
ERIC ELIAS
Eric completed his BA in Psychology at CSUN in 2022 and is currently enrolled in the Social Psychology PhD program at the University of Colorado at Boulder where he is training with Professor Joshua Correll.
DANITA HOHL
Danita graduated in 2022. Together, we investigated political attitudes. Her thesis examined attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine and we co-authored a paper on the perception and racial categorization of Kamala Harris within the context of the 2020 US Presidential election. Danita works as a data analyst at Material.
JONATHAN BENITEZ
Jonathan completed his thesis in 2020 examining multiracial face categorization and the potential role that novel labels might play in higher rates of concordant multiracial classifications. He now works as a quantitative analyst.
STEPHANIE DUNN
Stephanie completed her thesis in 2020 examining individual differences in mental representations of multiracial individuals using INDSCAL procedures.
Denise is a PhD student at University of Delaware where she works with Jasmin Cloutier and Jeni Kubota. She studies visual and knowledge-based indicators of social categorization, as well as how perceiver attributes (e.g., endorsement of social beliefs about minorities, subjective social status, etc.) moderate impression formation and person perception.
Ryan completed his thesis in 2018 and is a PhD student at Boston University studying under Liane Young. His research focuses on moral judgment and he also has an interest in the intersection between technology and psychology.
Tannie completed her Master's thesis in 2017. Tannie is a doctoral student in Social Psychology at the University of Michigan under the advisement of Isis Settles. Her research focuses on intersectionality and the Black woman experience.
Elle completed her thesis in 2016 and went on to UCONN to complete a PhD under the co-advisement of Colin Leach and Felicia Pratto. She is current a Post-doctoral Fellow at NYU working with Maureen Craig and is expected to start an Assistant Professor position in the Psychology Department at Tufts University. Her work examines how disadvantaged group members perceive, cope, and respond to information about inequality.
Kolina earned a PhD in Information Studies at the University of Texas at Austin under the advisement of Kenneth R. Fleischmann. She is now a post-doctoral scholar at the University of Washington Center for an Informed Public (CIP). Her work focuses on decision making within the context of social media with a focus on misinformation and debates regarding the safety of vaccines.
Heather completed her Master's Degree in 2015 and is a doctoral student at UC Davis where she works with Jeff Sherman. Her work examines various facets of stereotyping and prejudice using various statistical modeling procedures.
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Tawaun earned a PhD in Neuroscience from Stanford University. His work examines the role of peripheral glia in immune responses and inflammation. He is currently a post-doc at Genentech.
Kathy completed her degree in 2013 and went on to earn a PhD in Social Psychology from UCSB under the advisement of Brenda Major. She completed a teaching post-doc at Wake Forest University and is now an Assistant Professor at Western Oregon University