Which lab are you representing and what is your position in the Lab?
– I’m a graduate student in the Behavioral and Affective Dysregulation: Course and Outcomes (BADCO) Lab, working with Dr. Jeffrey Burke.

Can you tell us more about the study you’re currently involved with?
– My dissertation project is called the “UConn Feelings in Families Study” (IRB # H18-180). We are trying to understand how children and parents cope with and talk about their emotions. In our study, we ask parents and kids to play computer games and answer questions that help us learn about frustration, anger, and irritability. Now we are learning how these families are coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, with support from the UCONN Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP)!

At what stage are you in your current degree & what degree were you awarded previously?
– I’m a 6th year doctoral candidate in Child Clinical Psychology at UConn, and I got my Bachelor’s degree in psychology at SUNY Geneseo near Rochester, NY. I’m spending this year working at NewYork- Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center for my predoctoral internship.

What is your favorite topic to study?
– My favorite topic to study is how kids’ and parents’ emotions and behaviors impact each other. Since I am also a mental health clinician for kids and families, I conduct research to understand how to better help children and parents struggling with anger and irritability.

What do you like to do in your free time?
– I love to cook (and eat)! My favorite at-home activity this spring has been taking long walks at dusk and photographing all the flowers and trees in my neighborhood.

Link to the Behavioral and Affective Dysregulation: Course and Outcomes (BADCO) Lab website:
https://badco.uconn.edu