Lab Alumni

Still Active In The Lab

Kaitlin Essex (graduated 2024)

Area(s) of Interest: Counselling Psychology, Clinical Psychology

Honours Project Topic

The Patterns and Predictors of Loneliness in Undergraduates - supervised by me.

Life After The Lab

Kaitlin is continuing to collect data on loneliness in undergraduates and we hope to publish that work in the near future. She is beginning preparation of her applications to graduate programs while she takes some time to work and earn money.

Bethany Schober (graduated 2023)

Started in the Lab: March 2020, part way through her second intro psych course

Area(s) Of Interest: Counselling psychology; School psychology

Projects As Lead Investigator:

Meaning Salience and Burnout in Students

Honours Project Topic:

It’s a Family Thing: Examining How Family Values Impact Undergraduate Students’ Career Choices - supervised by Dr. Ines Sametband.

Life After the Lab:

Since graduation, Bethany has been working with children with various developmental difficulties, writing up her research for publication, and planning her applications to graduate programs.

Meaghan Peters (graduated 2022)

Area(s) of Interest: Forensic Psychology

Honours Project Topic

Dark Tetrad Associations with Mate Retention Tactics and Self-Defeating Interpersonal Style - supervised by Dr. Tony Vernon and me.

Life After The Lab

Meaghan is currently working as a clinic administrator for a children’s psychology clinic and plans to pursue a master's degree in forensic psych.

Lauren Brunet (graduated 2021)

Started In The Lab: part way through her second intro psych course

Areas Of Interest: Forensic psychology

Projects as Lead Investigator:

Changes in Perceptions of Psychopathic Characteristics Over Time
Attractiveness of Dimensions of Psychopathy

Honours Project Topic

An Exploration of Gender Biases and Perceptions of Sexual Consent in Statutory Sexual Assault Cases - supervised by Dr. Evelyn Field

Ongoing Lab Work

Data collection is ongoing for the project on the attractiveness of psychopathy dimensions. We hope to have data collection finished and be working on publication later this year or early next year.

Life After The Lab

Lauren completed her Master's in Forensic Psychology at Carleton University, with a research focus on Dark Tetrad traits and Intimate Partner Violence. She now works as a Data Specialist at Luna Child and Youth Advocacy Centre, an organization that works with children who have experienced abuse. At Luna, she helped launch a new centralized database used by policing, health, and children's services partners. She is currently analyzing novel trends to help equip partners with an understanding of patterns arising in child abuse cases.

Brianna Davison (graduated 2021)

Started In The Lab: beginning of her third year

Areas Of Interest: Social psychology

Projects As Lead Investigator :

Self-Monitoring and Conflict in Interpersonal Relationships

Ongoing Lab Work

Brianna's project has reached the end of data collection and we are in the process of analyzing and writing it up for publication.

Life After The Lab

Brianna completed her master’s degree at York University in 2023 and is now attending The University of Calgary for her doctoral degree. She is also currently working as a User Experience (UX) Researcher for IBM.

Maria Ramirez (honours thesis; graduated 2020)

Areas Of Interest: Quantitative methods, Educational psychology

Honours Project Topic

Math Anxiety, Perceived Math Competence, and Attitudes Toward Math - supervised by me

Life After The Lab

Maria is currently working in a role in which she supports adults with complex needs. She is planning to pursue a graduate program in data science and analytics soon. We hope to write up and submit her thesis work for publication in the near future.

Julie Porter (graduated 2019)

Started In The Lab: second half of her second year

Areas Of Interest: Clinical Psychology

Projects As Lead Investigator :

Fidget Spinner Effects on Attention and Memory

Honours Project Topic

How perceived meaningfulness of online interactions predicts online self-disclosure- supervised by Dr. Malinda Desjarlais.

Ongoing Lab Work

Julie is writing up the results of the fidget spinner study for publication.

Life After The Lab

Julie is currently working as a manager in a local company.

Robyn Shields (graduated 2017)

Started In The Lab: in her first year

Areas Of Interest: Clinical Psychology

Projects As Lead Investigator :

Empathy, Burnout, and Symptoms of PTSD in Canadian Paramedics. This morphed into her honours project, co-supervised by Dr. Douglas Murdoch and me.

Honours Project Topic

see above

Ongoing Lab Work

Robyn's honours thesis produced a rich set of data from which we hope to produce two papers. One paper reports on how screening of paramedics for PTSD is affected by an update to one of the common screening scales. The other looks at predicting empathy in paramedics based on knowledge of burnout and symptoms related to PTSD. Robyn is busy working on writing both of those.

Life After The Lab

After graduation, Robyn worked for two years as a positive behaviour support coordinator, facilitating the development of healthy behaviours in clients with various forms of impairment. She has now headed to the University of Regina, where she is pursuing a Masters degree in clinical psychology. She continues to research issues related to PTSD in first responders.

Moved On

Natalie McCallum (graduated 2024)

Date Joined: August 2022, after completing PSYC 2213 - Research Methods I

Area(s) Of Interest: Counselling psychology

Life After the Lab:

Natalie is pursuing a Master's of Science in Counselling at the University of Calgary.

Britney Garratt (graduated 2024)

Date Joined: July 2022, after taking PSYC 2213 - Research Methods I

Area(s) Of Interest: Counselling psychology, Psychopathology, Trauma; Child development

Life After the Lab:

Britney is working with Wood's Homes.

Morgan Gillies (graduated 2023)

Date Joined: January 2019, while taking PSYC 2213 - Research Methods I.

Area(s) Of Interest: Clinical Neuropsychology; Clinical Social Work

Projects as Lead RA:

EEG lab development

Honours Project Topic:

The Impact of Self-Compassion on University Students’ Perceived Stress, Student Burnout, Self-Efficacy, Personal Wellbeing, and the Role of Mindfulness - supervised by Dr. Mitch Clark

Life after the lab:

Morgan is currently working as a case manager at a place-based supportive housing facility managed by The Alex, supporting individuals exiting homelessness who are experiencing concurrent disorders or have other complex needs. She will be applying for graduate programs in the near future.

Katherine Holland (graduated 2023)

Started in the Lab: January 2021, after her first intro psych course

Area(s) Of Interest: Psychological Health in Space; Behavioural and Personality Psychologies

Projects As Lead Investigator:

Gistification of Memory

Honours Project Topic:

The Relationship Between Attachment Style, Mental Toughness, and Tripartite Perfectionism in Post-secondary Students - supervised by Dr. Nancy Ogden and Dr. Dan Devoe

Life After the Lab:

Following graduation, Katherine took a position in the research office of the Calgary Counselling Centre.

Jennifer Lohin (graduated 2022)

Area(s) of Interest: Cognitive Psychology, Social Psychology

Honours Project Topic

The Role of Cognitive Flexibility in Mediating the Relationship Between Positive Affect and Moral Disengagement - supervised by me.

Life After The Lab

Jen spent time post-graduation as a paid research assistant at Mount Royal University and also worked with school-aged children encouraging interest in STEM subjects. She is currently attending a Masters program at Toronto Metropolitan University where she is involved in the Toronto Metropolitan Auditory Research Cluster (TMARC) and the SMART Lab (Science of Music, Auditory Research, and Technology).

Katharine Elliott (graduated 2021)

Started In The Lab: at the beginning of her third year

Areas Of Interest: Clinical psychology, School Psychology

Projects As Lead Investigator:

Semantic Fluency and Individual Differences in Anxiety
Semantic Fluency and Individual Differences in Extraversion

Honours Project Topic

Family Therapy During the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Therapeutic Relationships are Impacted by Online Therapy - supervised by Dr. Ines Sametband

Life After The Lab

After finishing her degree, Katharine worked as a research coordinator for a lab conducting research on child care. She is currently completing a Masters degree in School Psychology at the University of Calgary.

Melissa Van de Geer (graduated 2021)

Started In The Lab: following her second intro psych course

Areas Of Interest: Developmental psychology

Life After The Lab

Melissa has moved on to pursuing an after-degree in education at the University of Alberta, specializing in special education.

Stephanie Bell (honours thesis; graduated 2019)

Areas Of Interest: Quantitative Methods in Psychology

Honours Project Topic

Relationships between attention deficits, alexithymia, and impaired processing of facial expressions of emotion - supervised by me

Life After The Lab

Stephanie has completed a Master's degree in Quantitative Psychology at York University and is now pursuing her PhD there.

Hannah Storrs (graduated 2019)

Started In The Lab: second half of her first year

Areas Of Interest: Clinical Psychology

Projects As Lead Investigator :

Daily Fluctuations in Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression

Honours Project Topic

Technoference in the parent/child relationship and its associations with bullying, anxiety, and depression - supervised by Dr. Nancy Ogden.

Ongoing Lab Work

The data from the fluctuations-in-anxiety/depression study are being further analyzed, and Hannah will be writing the results up for publication.

Life After The Lab

After graduation, Hannah worked with Distress Centre Calgary as the Crisis Team Lead - Covid Response. She is currently working with Talk Suicide, a national organization, and will be starting a master's degree in clinical psychology at Lakehead University in Fall 2023.

Carly Barton (graduated 2018)

Started In The Lab: in her second year

Areas Of Interest: Clinical Psychology

Projects As Lead Investigator :

Body Image Concerns and Perfectionism

Honours Project Topic

Influence of social media on romantic relationship satisfaction - supervised by Dr. Malinda Desjarlais

Ongoing Lab Work

The data from Carly's dysmorphic concern project are being analyzed and we anticipate her writing the results up for publication in the near future.

Life After The Lab

After graduation, Carly secured a job as a full-time research assistant/coordinator in a lab at the University of Calgary.

Bailey McCafferty (graduated 2018)

Started In The Lab: second half of her first year

Areas Of Interest: Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Clinical Neuroscience

Projects As Lead Investigator :

Impact of mindfulness meditation on false memory susceptibility
Predictors of client distress at intake to counselling

Honours Project Topic

Warmth and perspective-taking effects on helping behaviour toward refugees - jointly supervised by Dr. Leah Hamilton and me.

Life After The Lab

After graduation, Bailey worked for three years as a clinical rehabilitation coordinator for people with concussions and other brain injuries. She is currently working as the Quality Assurance Team Lead for Distress Centre Calgary.

Jenna Brazier (graduated 2017)

Started In The Lab: beginning of her second year

Areas Of Interest: Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Social Psychology

Projects As Lead Investigator :

Eye-tracking the Romantic Red Effect (2 studies).

Honours Project Topic

Procrastination and counterfactual thinking - supervised by Dr. April McGrath

Life After The Lab

After finishing her degree, Jenna worked for 2 years in the Human Resources department of the Bethany Care Society. She then completed a Masters program in Organizational Psychology at a university in the Netherlands. These days, she's working for a top human resources firm as a senior consultant in Human Capital, Organization Design.

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