Current Students
Laura Taouk
(she/her/hers)
Laura is a 6th year PhD student in the Stress and Emotion Lab. She received her BS in Psychology from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where she worked on a multisite (UCSD-UCLA) study examining positive and negative valence domains in anxiety and depression. Her thesis project examined heightened risk perceptions and stress-is-harmful mindsets during pregnancy as possible risk factors for elevated (prenatal or postpartum) anxiety and depression symptoms. Laura’s research interests generally relate to cognitive and other latent factors that may increase or decrease vulnerability to emotional disorders. Her dissertation explores demographic, contextual, and mental health correlates of perceived (identity) invisibility, as well as potential sources of risk and resilience, among Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Americans.
Feven Fisseha
(she/her/hers)
Feven is a current 5th year PhD student in the Stress and Emotion Lab. She graduated with her BA in Psychology from Cornell University. She worked as a research assistant at the Cornell Research Program on Self-Injury and Recovery and the Child Stress and Emotion Lab at the University of Maryland, College Park and Neuroimaging Research Program at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine. Her thesis used multilevel modeling in order to investigate how gender and depression moderate the relationship between poor sleep and social behaviors. Her doctoral dissertation focuses on exploring first generation college students' experiences and responses to stressors.
Diana Cox
(she/her/hers)
Diana is a current 3rd year PhD student in the Stress and Emotion Lab. She received her BS in Psychology from the College of William & Mary in 2018. Her undergraduate research focused on the effects of stereotypes, prejudice, and implicit bias, as well as stress in at-risk youth. Diana’s graduate research interests include studying stress as a risk factor for both psychological and physical conditions, and the effects of stress mindsets and minority stress on long-term health outcomes. Her dissertation project examines the efficacy of an expressive writing intervention for improving the mental health outcomes of LGBTQ+ youth.
Alice Cohen
(she/her/hers)
Alice is a current 1st year PhD student in the Stress and Emotion Lab. She received her BA in Political Science from Carleton College. Her thesis project explores the impact of interpersonal goals on social anxiety, and the efficacy of a brief meditation intervention in increasing compassion for others. She has also conducted research on the role of autonomous interpersonal styles in individual behavior during the COVID-19 public health crisis. Her current research interests include developing interventions to increase healthy stress mindsets and exploring effective interpersonal coping strategies.
Natalia Provolo
(she/her/hers)
Natalia is a current 2nd year master's student in the Stress and Emotion Lab. Before AU, she received her BA in Psychology at Mount Holyoke College and was a research assistant at the Yale School of Public Health. Natalia successfully defended her master’s thesis on the moderating role of age beliefs on the the relationship between menopause symptoms and distress, specifically depression and irritability. She is broadly interested in how cognitions affect stress resilience, emotion regulation, depression, anxiety, and social relationships.
Jacquie Lee
(she/her/hers)
Jacquie is a current 2nd year Psychology Master’s student at American University. This is her 2nd year working in the Stress and Emotion lab where she’s assisting with a study on how sleep impacts social functioning. Jacquie has a BA in Journalism and Arab World Studies from American University and was a health policy reporter for several years before pursuing psychology. In 2022 she completed a research internship at the National Institutes of Health that focused on the progression of cerebral edema following brain injuries. Her research interests broadly include suicide, addiction, and interpersonal relationships.
Tu Do
(she/her/hers)
Tu is a current 1st year Master’s student in psychology. She received her BA in Psychology from University of Minnesota in 2021. Before going to AU, she worked on research on international students’ mental health and research on adolescents with autism. Her research interests broadly include stress and coping mechanisms of international students.
Jennifer Meigs
(she/her/hers)
Jennifer Meigs is a current research assistant in the the Stress and Emotion Lab. She graduated from Loyola University Maryland in 2020 with a BA in Psychology and Studio Art and completed a two-year postbaccalaureate fellowship at the NIMH. Her research interests involve examining how transdiagnostic mechanisms of symptomatology (i.e., sleep-related problems, irritability, inhibitory control) impact psychopathology in youth. She has a particular interest in leveraging mobile technology to investigate these relationships.