People

Helena Cao '26

Helena (Hailin) Cao is a psychology and anthropology double major. She likes tea tasting and exploring recipes from different restaurants at home. Her fun fact is that she can hold two pens with her jaw. 

Wenhan Xue '26

Wenhan is an MAS major and Psychology minor from Shenzhen, China. She enjoys taking a nap whenever she can.

Emily Shi '27

Emily is an Economics Major from Beijing.

Ella Chen '27

Ella (she/her) is a Psychology and Economics double major from Beijing, China. She went to high school in Southern California and loves dancing, baking, and trying new restaurants.

Sherry Sze '27

Sherry is a sophomore double majoring in Psychology and Philosophy. She's from the South Shore of Massachusetts and enjoys exploring new restaurants, collecting trinkets, and making matcha lattes. 

 Julie He '27

Julie (she/her) is a Psychology/Economics major who lives in Boston and Toronto. She enjoys reading, hanging out with friends, walking around Lake Waban, and napping in her dorm!

Emily Shang '27

Emily (she/her) is a Psychology/Biology major from Brookline, MA. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, gardening, drinking coffee, and spending time with friends!

Audrey Liang '27

Audrey is a junior at Wellesley College double-majoring in Data Science and Psychology. She is currently living in New York. She loves wandering around Boston and taking random photos of streets, skies, and everyday moments.

Tina Zhang '28

Tina is a freshman interested in majoring in Psychology and Sociology. She is from Beijing, China, but her family is now living in North Carolina. In her free time she enjoys writing, dancing, and city walking.

Alisa Zhao '28

Alisa is a sophomore double majoring in Economics and Chemistry. In her free time, she enjoys exploring Boston, drinking matcha and milk tea, and spending time with her friends.

Marie Kung '27

Marie Kung is a Biological Sciences major from the class of 2027. She is from Short Hills, NJ, but her family recently moved to Massachusetts. She loves to run, play with her mini goldendoodle, and watch The Office!

Jane Pak '16

Since graduating, Jane has explored various paths: working in People Operations, earning a Master's in Behavioral Science, and becoming a solopreneur as a life coach. They've lived in cities across the U.S. and abroad while engaging in personal healing through therapy, meditation, psychedelics, and more. 

At Wellesley, Jane supported the AAPA Undergraduate Consortium and fondly remembers attending Dr. Chen's initial presentation, inspired by his earnest approach before his lab even officially began.

  Cordelia Zhong  '17

After completing a YenChing Fellowship at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Cordelia returned to Boston, working in clinical research at Massachusetts General Hospital, the Wellesley Centers for Women, and the Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute. Currently, Cordelia is a second-year doctoral student in counseling psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University.

While at Wellesley, Cordelia collaborated with Dr. Chen and Karen Shih on an implementation trial of the AWARE intervention, presenting their work at the 2017 Ruhlman Conference.

Michelle M. Wang '17

After two years as a lab manager at Stanford, Michelle began her Ph.D. at New York University, where she studied children’s reasoning about social categories, focusing on gender stereotypes.

During Michelle's time at Wellesley, she contributed to the Family Development Project and enjoyed recruitment day in Boston’s Chinatown with the team and decorating the lab with Emily before graduation.

Xue Fang Deng '21

After graduating, Xue Fang completed a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Taiwan before starting a Ph.D. in Applied Developmental Psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She focuses on the positive development of underrepresented immigrant youth and families. 

Xue Fang joined the lab during the final stages of the Family Development Project and enjoyed coding calibration meetings with UC Berkeley collaborators for the "Love and Care" study.

  Jenna Hua '22

Since graduating, Jenna has worked with education non-profits dedicated to systems change, ensuring access to engaging learning from youth. She began in fundraising and grant writing, and now supports nationwide high school transformation efforts at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. She hopes to explore global education outside the US next!

While working in at CAFE, Jenna developed interview protocols. With support from Prof. Chen and Dr. Karen Shih, she piloted a transitional program for AAPI first-years at Wellesley and presented her findings with Prof. Chen at the Society for Research on Adolescence in 2024.

  Hailing Ding '23

Hailing works as the lab manager at the Yale Child Study Center’s Affective Youth Lab led by Dr. Wan-Ling Tseng, studying childhood irritability.

One of Hailing’s favorite memories from the lab was when the lab launched the CAFE Study in the Summer of 2022 and celebrated their first few milestones together with cupcakes and a fruit tart! It was a steep learning curve to administer interviews to families, but she really appreciated the support from her lab mates and Professor Chen.

 Saskia Vanderwiel '24

Saskia has been working at the Behavioral Health Network in the ED Diversion Program, supporting youth who have visited crisis services and connecting them to long-term services. She is also volunteering for the Trevor Project; helping out at an animal sanctuary while playing with goats, donkeys, and alpacas; and learning circus tricks on aerial silks.

While at Wellesley, Saskia completed her honors thesis under the supervision of Dr. Chen, exploring the novel construct Regulatory Theo-Ego Distress. She presented her findings at both the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Convention and Ruhlman 2024.