Undergraduate Research Assistants

Savannah Sheldon

Savannah is a senior majoring in psychology and minoring in social work and criminology. She plans to attend graduate school in clinical psychology and aspires to become a clinical psychologist. Her specific research interests include childhood stress, socio-emotional development, and coping techniques for PTSD and depression. She is especially motivated by a desire to better understand how early life stressors shape long-term mental health outcomes and how evidence-based interventions can foster resilience. In addition to her academic pursuits, Savannah values opportunities to contribute to research that addresses pressing mental health challenges and promotes equity in access to care. Overall, she believes this lab is conducting research that has the potential to benefit many populations, and she is grateful for the chance to learn, contribute, and grow as part of this important work.

Disha Chhaya

Disha is a senior majoring in psychology with a minor in cognitive science. After completing her undergraduate education, she would like to work toward a graduate degree leading to a career as a mental health counselor. Throughout her career, she aims to focus on maximizing people’s mental health by helping them deal with daily stressors and increasing their adaptability to everyday living. By being a part of the team at the MISHRA Lab, she hopes to gain new insights into the various biopsychosocial forces in our lives as well as interventions that can enhance the mental well-being of people from all backgrounds and identities. She also looks forward to experiences that will not only amplify her academic journey at NC State University but also prepare her for the meaningful work she aspires to undertake in the future.

Emma Linnea Hughes

Emma is a senior majoring in Human Biology, set to complete her Bachelor of Science degree in December 2025. She is currently in the process of applying to medical school, with the goal of attending an MD/DO program after finishing her undergraduate studies. With extensive experience in clinical psychiatry and crisis/emergency mental health counseling, Emma’s professional interests focus on understanding and treating mental health at both the individual and systemic levels. She is grateful for the opportunity to further explore her passion for mental health through research at the MISHRA lab, bridging her local clinical observations from Raleigh, NC, with data sets representing broader national and international health outcomes across diverse populations. Emma’s research interests center on the impact of life-course adversity and stressors on long-term health, quantified through biomarkers such as altered DNA methylation patterns and other epigenetic shifts in the genome.

Sydney Leake

Sydney is a Junior majoring in psychology with minors in French and biology. Her current program area of interest is school psychology, and after completing her undergraduate degree, she plans to attend graduate school in psychology to continue extending her research horizons. Sydney’s research experience began with investigating the effects of environmental contaminants on mast cells in the brain at the Duque-Wilkens lab, where she still works. Sydney’s current research interests revolve around the connections between biomarkers, epigenomic markers, inflammation, and mental health disorders. Being able to see biological connections and trends for psychological disorders captivates her, which is why she is thankful to be able to expand on her research within the biopsychosocial context of the MISHRA lab. She hopes that all of her current research endeavors can ultimately help advance the resources available to those living with mental health disorders.

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