Graduate Students

Ilana Huz, M.A.

Ilana is a PhD candidate in Developmental Psychology with a focus on Children, Families, and Cultures. She also applies this expertise as a part-time Research Scientist at Child Trends. Prior to graduate school, she received a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and Education Studies from Brandeis University and supported clinical research trials regarding treatment for mood and anxiety disorders. Her doctoral research is centered on understanding:

Ilana's Master's thesis examined the intersection of temperament and the early non-maternal child care context on social skill development. Currently, she is working on her Dissertation project, which is focused on trajectories of loneliness from adolescence to emerging adulthood and the individual and contextual factors that predict continuity and discontinuity in these longitudinal patterns.

Meredith Karam, M.Ed., M.A.

Meredith is a Ph.D. candidate in Developmental Psychology with a focus on Children, Families, and Cultures, as well as a research and teaching assistant at the Catholic University of America. Her professional and research experiences center on relationship processes within early childhood education. These experiences include conducting numerous observations of preschools and Pre-Kindergarten programs as an undergraduate at Georgetown University, obtaining a M.Ed. in Elementary Education from Marymount University, and interacting extensively with parents and young children as a Pre-Kindergarten teacher prior to coming to Catholic. 

Meredith’s Master’s thesis explored the joint effects of parent and teacher caregiving on social development in children ages 3-5. In other research at Catholic, she examined teacher and parent practices of racial ethnic socialization across diverse groups, reflecting her commitment to incorporating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) concepts into her work.  Meredith is currently working on her dissertation project, which brings together her previous experiences and research by exploring how parent-child, teacher-child, and parent-teacher relationships simultaneously and jointly influence early social development across a diverse sample.

Judy McDonald

Judy is a second-year Ph.D. student in Catholic University's Clinical Psychology program. Prior to coming to CatholicU, Judy worked as a lab manager and research assistant at the Infancy Studies Lab of Rutgers University - Newark, where she aided in EEG and behavioral studies examining infant brain and language development. She hopes to continue learning about human development—both physiological and social emotional—through her research and clinical experiences. She is incredibly excited to begin applying what she's learned in the program thus far through her work in the Positive Development Lab and her practicum in the CUA Counseling Center. 

Vanessa Ribeiro, MA

Vanessa graduated in January 2024 from the Psychological Sciences MA program. She received her BA in Psychology at San Francisco University. Vanessa's research interests include: 

Elisabeth Harris

Elisabeth is a Master's student in the Psychological Sciences program at the Catholic University of America.  She has an interest in mindfulness-based interventions for stress reduction with diverse populations. She also is interested in the field of somatic psychology. She currently contributes to the TOTS and Physio projects in the lab, and is Lead for the Mother-Child Discussion team.  Fun fact - Elisabeth is a certified yoga and fitness instructor, and often uses breathwork intervention techniques with both her students and the teen therapy group she works with!

Ashley Adamo

Ashley is a second-year student in the Psychological Sciences MA program.  She works as the Graduate Assistant for the University's rowing team, coming from a successful athletic and academic background at Rutgers University - New Brunswick. Ashley worked as a Research Assistant with The Sports Health Institute, collecting data on the mental health challenges of collegiate student-athletes, to create a study abroad program designed for athletes. She also worked at the Rutgers School of Public Health in the Center for Health, Identity, Behavior and Prevention Studies (CHIBPS). She has her BA in Health Administration. 

Mwela Lufumpa, MS

Mwela Lufumpa is a second-year Master's student in the Psychological Sciences program. She also has a BS in Community Health and an MS in Biomedical Science. Prior to coming to Catholic, Mwela worked at the Springfield Department of Health and Humans Services to address substance abuse issues within the community. Her research interests include: personality, regulation, psychophysiology, behavioral genetics, and internalizing disorders. 

Melvin Elvira-Contreras

Melvin is a 2nd-year student in the Psychological Sciences MA program. His research interests focus on issues important to the Latine/x community, including children's resilience and biopsychosocial development, parent-child relationships, and emotion regulation. Beyond the research lab, Melvin works with youth experiencing a variety of psychological disorders and trauma. 

Safa Farhoumand

Safa is a student in the Psychological Sciences MA program.

Kaleigh McDonald, BA

Kaleigh is finishing her last year of the 4+1 BA/MA Psychology program! She is also a Graduate Assistant for the CUA Golf team.