Cognition Across Development Lab

Assistant Professor, Psychological and Brain Sciences

Gorana graduated from the University of Florida with a B.S. in Psychology and is a first year graduate student in the CAD lab. She's interested in children's conceptualization of racial categories, the development of racial identity, and racial privileges.

Jordan graduated from Wesleyan University with a B.A. in Psychology and a Minor in Education Studies. Before Jordan joined the CAD Lab in 2020, he completed a year teaching English to elementary school students in Taiwan on a Fulbright scholarship. He is interested in how essentialist thinking develops across various social categories, specifically in minority populations.

Jenna Rubin is a sophomore psychology major at UMass with an interest in psychopathology and early social cognition. She hopes to pursue clinical psychology after graduating, particularly with children and adolescents. She is excited to further explore her passion for developmental psychology in the CAD Lab!

Henry is a Junior at UMass Amherst, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Jazz (Vocal). His long term goal is to pursue a career as a researcher in Psychology. Through his research he hopes to help promote peace, justice, and equality, and combat violence, hatred, and prejudice. He is eager to take his first step on this journey in joining the CAD lab!

Nai is a junior at UMass and is majoring in Psychology, minoring in art history, and working towards a social work and welfare certificate. She wants to pursue clinical psychology and eventually open up a community center that offers support for lower-income families and individuals. She looks forward to joining the CAD lab team!

Seda is a junior psychology major at UMass and is very excited to join the CAD lab! After completing her associate’s degree in psychology, she became more curious about research and can’t wait to learn more! While unsure about if she wants to do clinical work or research, she is very passionate about the relationship between social psychology and developmental science.

Aarti is from Acton, Massachusetts. She’s a current rising senior in high school interested in pursuing clinical psychology. She’s super excited to work with the CAD lab and to do more research in the future.

Amulya is from Naperville, Illinois and is a rising senior in high school. Amulya's passion for psychology stemmed from her mental health advocacy and interest in learning more about the relationship between social factors and human behaviors. Therefore, she is very excited to be a part of the CAD Lab as it perfectly aligns with her areas of interest!

Ben is a rising senior at Lenox Memorial High School, who plans to pursue psychology and public policy in college. He is passionate about finding a deeper understanding of how humans perceive and interact with each other and applying that research to real-world problem-solving.

Laya is a sophomore biology major at UMass and is super excited to join the CAD lab! She hopes to attend medical school after graduating and wants to become a pediatrician. She is very passionate about health equity and inequity between different groups of people and in the future aims to be able to find ways to bridge these gaps in having access to proper healthcare.

Nandini is a rising junior at Natick High School. She has an interest in neuroscience and developmental psychology. She has been developing her knowledge about the subject through a self-paced HarvardX course on neuroscience and aspires to research about different facets of psychology and neuroscience. She is also an avid member of the NHS Speech and Debate team and has represented Natick High at State level.