Reyyan is a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the Lifespan Developmental Psychology program at NC State University. She has been teaching Positive Psychology since Fall 2022. Reyyan worked as a school counselor for three years in a rural part of Türkiye, where she supported diverse student populations to foster well-being. She completed her dual Master’s degree, an M.Ed. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling, at Ohio University. Her research focuses on well-being, happiness, views of aging, and the factors that shape positive outcomes across the lifespan. 

Kathryn E. Swaim is a third-year PhD student in the Lifespan Developmental Psychology Program at NC State University. Before beginning her doctoral studies, she completed her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Her research focuses on daily control beliefs, well-being, and physical symptoms in older adults with chronic conditions. She is passionate about understanding the daily experiences of those with chronic conditions such as cancer. 

Shalini (she/her) is a third-year PhD candidate in the Lifespan Developmental Psychology program at NC State University. Before starting her doctoral studies, she completed a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Master of Science in Health Psychology at the University of Hyderabad in India. She’s passionate about studying subjective aging, health, and well-being, and is also interested in exploring human-animal and human-plant interactions.

Michael is a Ph.D. student in Lifespan Developmental Psychology at NC State. His Master's research in neuroscience and physiology focused on investigating the association between inflammation and depressive-like behavior following early-life stress in guinea pigs. He plans to extend this work by exploring how environmental and genetic factors interact throughout development to affect health outcomes and well-being, with a particular interest in the neurobiological mechanisms of stress.

Jayma is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Lifespan Developmental Psychology Program at NC State University. Before starting her doctoral studies, she completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Winthrop University and her Master of Science degree in Applied Clinical Psychology from the University of South Carolina Aiken (USCA). Her master's thesis investigated yearning as the explanatory variable between attachment styles and reactions to death loss. She plans to extend this work by exploring grief in response to death loss through daily dairy designs. 

Allison Martinko is currently a senior at NC State double majoring in Psychology and Sociology with minors in Biology and Anthropology. She plans on pursuing her Master's in clinical mental health counseling to become a licensed therapist. She has presented at the NCSU Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium in Spring of 2024 and Spring of 2025 as well as the State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium in Fall of 2024. 

Ashley Clemmer is a senior majoring in Psychology, planning to attend a Master’s Program in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. As a mental health advocate and peer educator, she is the founder and president of Pack Pals, a student organization created in response to campus suicides. Through the lab she has presented a poster at the State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium in December of 2024. Her research interests are interpersonal relationships, effective parenting strategies, abnormal psychology and treating trauma. In addition to her work in research, she is a Mental Health Ambassador via Prevention Services, a Volunteer Counselor for Crisis Text Line, and a member on the NAMI NC Next Gen Advisory Council. 

Sophie Southerland graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in May 2024. She started as a research assistant with UNC Chapel Hill in January 2025 working with VA facilities concerning moral injury and exercise wellness programs in retirement communities. Her research interests concern aging, dementia and wellness. 

Lyndsey was a doctoral student in the Lifespan Developmental Psychology program at NC State. She earned her BS in Psychology from Liberty University, and her MS in Human Development and Family Science from East Carolina University. Lyndsey is also a Certified Child Life Specialist, and hopes to contribute to the field through her research in stress and coping.

Victoria completed her Ph.D. in Lifespan Developmental Psychology at NCSU in 2022. She earned her M.A. in Experimental Psychology from Radford University, and before that, she earned her B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Women’s and Gender studies from UNC Wilmington. Her research interests include how chronic illness can influence various psychosocial outcomes including how one copes with these diagnoses.

Xianghe (/C-i-ung H-ə/) completed her Ph.D. in Lifespan Developmental Psychology at NC State University in 2021. She earned her BA in Psychology from the University of Washington-Seattle, and her MA in Psychology (Psychometrics and Human Resource Management) from Beijing Normal University. While conducting psychological assessment and selection during her master’s, she developed an interest in intra-individual variability as well as inter-individual differences. She focuses on daily well-being of older adults, particularly in the relationship between subjective attitudes and perceptions about aging and cognitive functioning.

Emily L. Smith, Ph.D.

Emily completed her Ph.D. in Lifespan Developmental Psychology at NC State University in 2020. She is a graduate of Utica College in New York State where she completed her B.S. in Psychology.  Her research interests include daily and long term stress and coping mechanisms and their effects on deviant behavior.

Ling-Rui Zhang, M.S.

Ling-Rui completed Master's in Lifespan Development Psychology at NC state University in 2018. She completed her BS in psychology at Beijing Normal University in China. Her research interests focus on the dyadic daily stressors and coping in couples or people in relationship and their impact on people's daily well-being. She is also interested in the difference between Chinese and Americans.

Jennifer A. Bellingtier, Ph.D.

Jennifer completed her PhD in Lifespan Development at North Carolina State University in 2017. Her research interests focus on individual’s attitudes, beliefs, and feelings about their own aging, as well as how those beliefs develop and impact well-being. She is currently a postdoctoral research associate at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany.