William Malone (he/him/his) is a Project Coordinator in the DSN Lab and funded on projects in the Winston Center on Technology and Brain Development. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Fall 2025 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Japanese. His research interests revolve around social media…
Maddie Valentino (she/her) is a lab manager for the Social Environments & Adolescence Lab and a project coordinator in the Winston Center. In May 2025, she graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a B.S. in Psychology and a Certificate in Social Work & Social Welfare. Maddie is interested in how technology and media…
Laura Claire (LC) Walker (she/her) is a Project Coordinator for the North Carolina Phones and Tech in Schools Study (NCPTS). She graduated from Temple University in 2025 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in digital media technologies. LC is broadly interested in the application and ethical implications of technology in psychological research. She…
Gabriella Gómez Saxon (she/her) is a Project Coordinator for Project SuperBrain. She graduated from Wake Forest University in 2023 with a B.A. both in Psychology and Spanish. As a former high school English teacher in Spain, Gabriella is passionate about bilingual education and loves working with Spanish speaking populations. Her research interests are education, social…
Aiste Abeciunaite (she/her) is a Project Coordinator for Project SUPERBrain. Originally from Lithuania, she graduated from Pomona College in May 2025 with a B.A. in Psychological Science. Her research interests center on protective factors for child and adolescent mental health, with a particular focus on how social connectedness can buffer against anxiety and mood disorders.…
Sarah Isenhour (she/her) is a Project Coordinator for The FACES Project and SYNCED. She graduated from NC State in May 2024 with B.A.s in Psychology and Criminology, as well as minors in Cognitive Science and Political Science. Sarah is interested in the intersection of psychology, the law, and social media/technology, particularly when it comes to…
Lance Adkins (he/him) is a BRAIN-STEM / GenAI Project Coordinator at the Winston Center. He is a 2024 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.A. in Psychology. Lance is interested in how adolescents navigate the digital world and how digital media impacts the brain. Lance plans to pursue his…
Caroline Cahill (she/her) is a Project Coordinator at the Winston Center. She graduated from Binghamton University in 2024 with a B.S. in Integrative Neuroscience. Caroline is interested in how reward and threat sensitivity impact adolescent social media experiences, and how these processes are associated with risk of internalizing psychopathology. She plans to continue studying these…
Lexi Bendl (she/her) is a Project Coordinator at the Winston Center. She is a 2024 graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Sociology. Lexi is interested in the effects of social media and other advancing technologies on how adolescents communicate with others and plans on pursuing this…
Sophia (Sophie) is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on the role of social media in body image and mental health, with a focus on adolescent girls and LGBTQ+ youth. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina and her B.A. in psychology…