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The PLaTo (Psychology and Law at Towson) Lab consists of Master's and undergraduate students who share an interest in using psychological science to improve the criminal legal system. Since 2014, PLaTo students conduct research on a wide range of topics and frequently present their work at national conferences. For a full list of student projects, see the "Conferences" tab.
I am always open to accepting new students. See here for information about Towson's M.A. programs in psychology, or e-mail me for more info.
Current Students:
Oluwafunmilayo Dada, B.S.
Funmi is a first-year student in the Counseling Psychology M.A. program. She earned her B.S. in psychology with a minor in criminal justice from Stevenson University (2022). She won a 2023 SEPA Research Award for her project on how victim-offender relationships predict motivations for murder in life and death sentence cases. She is currently interested in post-release outcomes for formerly incarcerated people, including the interactive effects of race and offender status on discrimination, as well as predictors of mental health and recidivism.
Kateryn Reyes-Fuentes, B.S.
Kat is a first-year student in the Experimental Psychology M.A. program. She earned her B.S. in psychology and criminal justice at Towson University (2023), where she also completed the Clinical Area of Focus program. Her undergraduate Honors thesis was a field experiment that examined discrimination against formerly incarcerated individuals seeking mental health treatment, and she is now conducting a follow-up study to better understand the root cause of discrimination against exonerees.
Cecelia Stewart, B.S.
Cecelia is a first-year student in the Experimental Psychology M.A. program. She earned her B.S. in psychology and criminal justice from Mercer University (2021). Her undergraduate Honors thesis sought to identify effective strategies for defense attorneys to use in cases involving dubious confessions. She is currently interested in how cognitive biases can undermine evidence collection and interpretation, including especially how facial identification technology can result in misidentifications.
Recent Alumni:
Heather Applegarth, M.S.
Heather is a graduate of the Human Resource Development M.S. program. Her thesis found evidence of hiring discrimination against exonerees and other formerly incarcerated individuals.
Maggie Biller, M.A.
Maggie is a graduate of the Experimental Psychology M.A. program. Her thesis used eye-tracking technology to examine how cognitive bias influences the visual analysis of forensic science evidence. She is now a full-time Lecturer at Towson University.
Kelly Deegan, M.A.
Kelly is a graduate of the Experimental Psychology M.A. program. Her thesis investigated whether non-blind proficiency tests underestimate error rates in judgments of forensic science evidence. She is now a research analyst with Dubin Research & Consulting.
Lola Famulegun, B.S.
Lola earned her B.S. in Psychology at Towson University, where her undergraduate Honors thesis examined how stereotypes influence juror evaluations of medical expert testimony. She is now a Master's student in Human-Computer Interaction at Georgia Tech University.
Anthony Garove, M.A.
Anthony is a graduate of the Experimental Psychology M.A. Program. His thesis examined the role of just world beliefs in innocent criminal suspects' decision-making. He is now a Ph.D. student in Survey and Data Science at the University of Maryland, and an adjunct instructor at the University of Baltimore.
Nicole Golabi, B.S.
Nicole earned her B.S. in Psychology at Towson University, where her undergraduate Honors thesis explored how verbal labels and false confessions affect public attitudes toward exonerees. She is now a first-year student in Towson's Experimental Psychology M.A. program.
Lauren Grove, M.A.
Lauren is a graduate of the Clinical Psychology M.A. program. Her thesis tested whether juror perceptions of the same interrogation depend on the suspect's age. She has since earned her Ph.D. from Montclair State University, including an internship at the D.C. Superior Court's Child Guidance Clinic.
Ashley Horodyski, M.A.
Ashley is a graduate of the Clinical Psychology M.A. program. Her thesis was the largest-ever study of risk and protective factors for mental health among wrongly incarcerated individuals. She is now a Ph.D. student in Clinical Psychology at Northern Illinois University.
Andrea ("Andy") Norr, M.A.
Andy is a graduate of the Experimental Psychology M.A. Program. Her thesis investigated how racial bias and crime stereotypicality affect lay perceptions of police interrogations.
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