Ryan is a cognitive and developmental psychologist with a focus on aging research. He has bachelor's degrees in psychology and biology from the University of Delaware and completely his graduate work in cognitive psychology at Florida State University. After receiving his PhD in 2016, he completed postdoctoral research positions at the University of Zurich (2016-2019) and the RAND corporation (2019-2021) prior to joining the Lifespan Developmental Psychology faculty at West Virginia University.

His research is broadly focused on adults’ perceptions of gains and losses and how these perceptions and other aspects of cognitive aging influence goals and decision-making throughout adulthood into old age.

Farima is a second-year graduate student at WVU. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Tehran in September 2020. Her research interest is mainly focused on the psychological pathways of regular physical activity on cognitive aging. Currently, she is working on her master's thesis proposal and teaches Intro to Development (PSYC 241) at WVU.

Laken is a first-year doctoral student in Dr. Best’s lab. She graduated with her Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from St. Lawrence University in May of 2023. Her research interests include cognitive degeneration, decision making, and the effects of musical intervention on cognitive degenerative diseases.  

George is a junior majoring in Psychology and English. His current research interests are college age alcohol abuse as a social problem as well as the psychology of trust. 

Jacob is a senior undergraduate student from Hurricane, West Virginia. He is majoring in Psychology, and his main research interests are in human-factors and cognitive psychology. He is currently working on his research capstone investigating how people react to winning or losing gambles, and whether that makes them more or less likely to take bigger risks in the future. In his free time, he enjoys cooking and playing video games and board games.

Lane is a senior majoring in Psychology at West Virginia University. He has experience working in a clinical setting with both children and older adults administering neuropsychological evaluations. His research interests lie primarily in different changes of cognitive function in elderly/aging populations.

Anthony is interested broadly in personality psychology and cognitive psychology. Specifically, he is interested in thinking styles and their impact on life outcomes.