Research Team
Katherine Stavropoulos, Ph.D.
Principle Investigator
Katherine Stavropoulos, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Special Education in the Graduate School of Education at UC Riverside. She completed her Postdoctoral work at the Yale Child Study Center, received her PhD in Experimental Psychology from University of California, San Diego. Dr. Stavropoulos conducts translational studies to explore the reward system in ASD, as well as how anxiety contributes to social deficits in ASD. She plans to investigate school-based interventions for children with ASD, and how those interventions affect neural activity, behavior, and school performance. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and is the assistant director of the the UCR SEARCH Center.
Elizabeth Baker, M.A.
Elizabeth Baker, M.Ed., is a doctoral student in the School Psychology program at UCR. She earned her B.A. in sociology and psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research interests include measuring adaptive behaviors in individuals with ASD, identifying anxiety in children with ASD, and quantifying neural correlates of social communication & social reward. She is also interested in developing ways to integrate qualitative research, such as stakeholder perspectives, to further inform her work.
Tricia Choy, M.A.
Tricia Choy, M.Ed., is a doctoral student in the School Psychology program at UCR. She earned her B.A. in Psychology from University of California, Los Angeles. Her research interest focuses on underlying neural correlates related to social skills, emotion regulation, and empathy development and how the family unit impacts socialization in youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Cameron Alexander, B.S.
Cameron Alexander, B.S., is a doctoral student in the School Psychology program at the University of California, Riverside. He holds a B.S. in Human Development, with minors in Education and Psychology, from the University of California, Davis. Prior to joining UCR, Cameron served as a research coordinator and lab manager for an Institute of Education Sciences grant at the UC Davis School of Education and MIND Institute Collaborative Autism Research in Education (CARE) Lab. His research interests include utilizing biomarkers and neurological activity as tools for the early detection of autism in young children. He is also interested in the use of biomarkers to better understand and measure emotion regulation in children with varying neurodevelopmental disabilities.
Johanna Diaz is a fourth year neuroscience major. She was born and raised in Orange County, California. She wishes to pursue a career researching different mental illnesses and disabilities.
Sarah Touati is a fourth year Psychology major on the Bachealors of Science track and minoring in education. After graduating from UCR, she hopes to get her Ph.D. in School Psychology and pursue a career focused on children’s psychopathology. Sarah is currently working as a Behavior Interventionist and practicing Applied Behavior Analysis Therapy and was a teacher assistant for a kindergarten Special Education class when she was a senior in high school. Her research interests are in the development of anxiety in children with and without ASD which led her to join the SCDN lab as a research assistant in her third year. Sarah is passionate about educating herself and others about the importance of diversity and awareness of different mental disabilities and disorders.
Thaniya Shankar (she/her) is a fourth year Neuroscience major, interested in pursuing a career in the health field. She became a Research Assistant for the SCDN Lab because of her dedication and passion for the neurodiverse community. She is committed to educating herself through different research opportunities to continuously advocate for and support autistic individuals. Thaniya was born and raised in San Jose, CA and enjoys playing with her dogs in her free time.
Tolou Safari is a bachelor student in the College of Natural and Agriculture Sciences at UCR. She is a first year as a Neuroscience major and wants to become a psychiatrist in the future. During summer she has worked as a Behavioral Therapist with autistic children and hopes to learn more about ASD in this research.
Lab Alumni
Jordan Dagan- M.A. at UCR Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Program
Jasmine Banh
Mithila Mahale
Vivian Lij
Giselle Colmenares