Social Psychology and Law Laboratory 

Jess Besca ’24 is a psychology major and philosophy minor from New York City. Her primary interests include clinical and forensic psychology, with a focus on the intersections between sexual based violence, juvenile justice, legal reform, and trauma informed care. After graduating from Kenyon, Jess hopes to go to grad school and pursue a career helping people heal from trauma, as well as working to reform the criminal justice system and advocate for those that are wrongfully incarcerated. She is Co-President of the Sexual Respect Peer Alliance at Kenyon and member of the Owl Creek Singers, an acapella group here on campus. 

Lee Nah is a second-year Kenyon Educational Enrichment Program (KEEP) Scholar at Kenyon College double majoring in Psychology and Women's and Gender Studies and minoring in Studio Art. Originally from Chicago, she served on the 2021-2022 Mayor’s Youth Commission where she advocated for mental health equity and public safety reform to increase access to care and promote dialogue between City of Chicago leadership and youth. Last summer, she interned at the Chicago Department of Public Health’s Office of Mental Health and assisted in the expansion of the Trauma-Informed Centers of Care (TICC) Network, a community-based clinical network of organizations that provides a range of behavioral health services. This summer, she is returning to the CDPH to work at the intersection of mental health equity and public safety reform by bridging CDPH’s access to trauma-informed, mental health networks with various city departments serving justice-involved youth of color. After Kenyon, Lee Nah is committed to pursuing a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology and studying minority mental health and the effectiveness of culturally-informed interventions. 

Christian Picot ‘25 is a psychology major and French and history double minor from Davidson, North Carolina. His interests include social psychology and social/cognitive neuroscience, particularly how psychology can positively influence how children are treated in the legal system. He intends to pursue law school and ultimately a career involved in helping child victims. 

Tiana Pham '24 is a Psychology major and Integrated Program of Human Studies (IPHS) concentrator at Kenyon College. Her interests include writing, social justice, social psychology, and forensic psychology. She hopes to make a difference in the world whether that means writing books about important issues that delve into the heart of humanity or learning about and doing research that may reveal more about human nature in our current society. After graduating from Kenyon, law school or graduate school for forensic psychology may be in the cards. 

Hi everyone! My name is Gabby Rachman, I am a psychology major from New York City, and I am a junior at Kenyon College. I love music, and some of my extracurriculars at Kenyon involve playing the flute in the symphonic wind ensemble, and being the president of the Kenyon Pep Band. I am also one of the chief editors for Lyceum, which is Kenyon’s science art literary magazine. I also love to bake, and I have an instagram account where I post my creations (@gabbybakesthings_, give me a follow!) I have two adorable pets: a dog named Freddie and a cat named Kobe. I also have a little brother who is going into his sophomore year in high school. I miss all of them very much. I wanted to work with Stevenson because I consider her research to be very interesting and important for helping create change. Thank you for reading! 

Marissa Sun is a second-year student at Kenyon college where she is majoring in Psychology and minoring in Biology. Her primary research interests lie in social justice issues like racial equality, feminism, etc. Pursuing research on these intersecting topics is fundamental because learning the underlying psychological causes allows us to have an insight on how to tackle these injustices and make a real impact. Marissa has been a research assistant in Dr. Stevenson’s lab since Fall 2021 where she has worked on jury transcription, developed her own research study for a summer studies program, aided Dr. Stevenson and Dr. Jessica Greenlee in developing a new study on Autism, and with the help of Dr. Stevenson, wrote a newsletter for APA Division 37 on Child Maltreatment.

Aidan Constant ‘23 is a psychology major on the pre-medical track from Queens, New York. His interests include social psychology and its intersection with interactions between individuals. After Kenyon, he intends to pursue medical school and ultimately a career in medicine

Grace Cox ‘23 is a Psychology and Spanish double major and Environmental Studies concentrator from Denver, Colorado. Her interests include social and clinical psychology, including the ways in which the field of psychology can interact with and positively impact society-at-large through systems such as the criminal justice system, education, healthcare, etc. She intends to pursue graduate school after Kenyon and ultimately a career in social or clinical psychology. 

Stefano De Maria '22 is a student of Psychology and Spanish at Kenyon College who is originally from Maryland. His interests in research are focused on cognitive, environmental, and personality psychology. Stefano has researched ASL pedagogy in the context of cognitive psychology. In his downtime, he enjoys reading, walking outdoors, and learning languages.

"Viet Dang '24 is a junior majoring in Psychology and Statistics at Kenyon College, coming from Hanoi, Vietnam. His interests include social psychology, cognitive psychology, and the application of psychology in the legal system. After Kenyon, he wants to combine his interests and knowledge in technology, data, and the social sciences to make an impact. 

Stephanie Kaufman (she/her) is a psychology/neuroscience double major, class of '23, from Park City, Utah. She is interested in studying forensic psychology and criminal behavior after Kenyon College.

Yan Wang, or Happy, is a senior at Kenyon College. She is a psychology major and an English minor. She is interested in forensic and behavioral psychology. She became attracted to psychology due to her interests in animal behaviors, and extended this interest onto humans. As an international student from Shanghai, China, she is also interested in cultural differences and how it influences human psychology, behaviors, and communities. She is working in Dr. Stevenson’s lab as an assistant. Currently she is working on a project about COVID Vaccination being a predictor of anti-chinese hate crime in legal judgment with Dr. Stevenson as her mentor. She won the AP-LS BRIDGE Committee AP Award 2022, and got admitted to Summer Legal Scholar 2022.