People
Principal Investigator
Carolyn B. Mervis, Ph.D.
Distinguished University Scholar and Professor
Graduate Students
Myra Huffman, M.S.
Experimental PhD Student
Holley Pitts, M.S.
Experimental PhD Student
I am a graduate student in the Experimental Psychology Ph.D. program with a concentration on developmental psychology. I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of South Carolina. I am currently working on my dissertation which focuses on inhibitory control (the ability to overcome impulses) in early school-aged children who have Williams syndrome. I am evaluating how a child’s ability to manage his or her own actions, thoughts, and emotions are related to a child's everyday living skills, social skills, school achievement, persistence, and attention problems.
Marinie Joseph
Experimental PhD Student
I am a graduate student in the Experimental Psychology Ph.D. with a focus on neurodevelopmental disorders. I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto, Canada with a specialization in Neuroscience and Genome Biology. My current research interests include genotype-phenotype relations in the cognitive and behavioral characteristics of children with Williams syndrome.
Caroline Greiner de Magalhaes
Experimental PhD Student
I am a graduate student in the Experimental Psychology Ph.D program. I completed my Master’s degree in 2017 in Developmental Psychology about Phonological processing and its role in reading and math disabilities. I graduated in 2014 from the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil with a degree in Psychology. My current interests include studying mathematics achievement in children and adolescents with Williams syndrome.
Staff
Research Associates
Angela M. Becerra, Ph.D.
Research Associate, Senior
I graduated from the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogota, Colombia with a degree in Psychology. I received my doctorate from the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Louisville. My interest as a developmental psychologist include early language and gestural development in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. I’m currently studying the developmental trajectory of gestural, lexical and grammatical abilities and how these trajectories affect later cognitive and behavioral characteristics in children with Williams syndrome.
Research Analysts
Savannah Neace
Research Analyst
Adam Moseley
Research Analyst
Undergraduate Researchers
Rachel Cummings
Transcribers
Current Undergraduates: Nicole Sparling, Jilian Winn, Lynsey Crumbie, Bayley Amburgey
Lab Alumni
Danielle Henderson, Ph.D. 2017
- Dissertation: Interaction Style of Mothers of Young Children with Williams Syndrome and Relations with Child Expressive Vocabulary
Angela Becerra, Ph.D. 2016
- Dissertation: Patterns of Early Lexical and Gestural Development in Children with Williams Syndrome
- Current Position: Research Associate, Neurodevelopmental Sciences Lab, University of Louisville
Nicole Zelli, Ph.D. 2013
- Dissertation: Anxiety in children with Williams syndrome: Association with negative reactivity, self-regulation, and sensory modulation
Angela John-Thurman, Ph.D. 2011
- Dissertation: The Regulatory Function of Social Referencing in Preschoolers with Down Syndrome or Williams Syndrome
- Current Position: Assistant Professional Researcher, Laboratory on Language Development in Neurodevelopmental Disorders, MIND Institute, University of California Davis
- website: http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/mindinstitue/research/abbeduto_lab/
Ovsanna Leyfer, Ph.D. 2007 (Committee co-chaired with Janet Woodruff-Borden, Ph.D.)
- Dissertation: Anxiety Disorders in Children with Williams Syndrome, Their Mothers, and Their Siblings:
- Implications for the Etiology of Anxiety Disorders
- Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, Boston University
- website: http://www.bu.edu/anxiety/
Melissa "Missy" Rowe, Ph.D. 2007
- Dissertation: Mastery Motivation in Young Children with Williams Syndrome or Down Syndrome
Jamie Edgin, Ph.D. 2003 (Denver University; Committee co-chaired with Bruce Pennington, Ph.D.)
- Dissertation: The Role of Executive Functions and Long-Term Memory in the Cognitive Profiles of Mental Retardation Syndromes: Evidence from Down Syndrome and Williams Syndrome
- Current Position: Research Associate, Department of Psychology, University of Arizona-Tucson
- website: http://psychology.arizona.edu/
Bonnie Klein-Tasman, Ph.D. 2000 (Emory University)
- Dissertation: Distinctive Personality and Behavioral Characteristics of 8-, 9-, and 10-Year-Old Children with Williams Syndrome
- Current Position: Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
- website: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/Psychology/faculty/klein.html