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.…
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…
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…
Dr. Michael Vazquez is a Teaching Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also serves as Associate Director of the Parr Center for Ethics. His research centers on ethics, education, and the cultivation of moral and intellectual virtues across the lifespan. He leads and collaborates on interdisciplinary…
Mohammadreza Khodaei is a postdoctoral research fellow in the DSN Lab in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina and the Winston Center on Technology and Brain Development. He earned his Ph.D. from the Virginia Tech–Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, where he trained in the Laboratory for…
Jimmy Capella is a Research Scientist in the DSN Lab and within the Winston Center on Technology and Brain Development. He is returning to the lab after receiving his Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at UNC Chapel Hill, and completing his postdoctoral research under the direction of Dr. Eva Telzer. Jimmy’s research examines how individual differences…
Angelica Carranza is a postdoctoral fellow in the DSN Lab within the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina. She received her Ph.D. in Human Development from the University of California, Davis under the mentorship of Dr. Johnna Swartz. Angelica’s research focuses on how environmental factors and social contexts shape brain development and…
Anthony is a research assistant professor in the department of psychology and neuroscience at University North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research uses neuroimaging methods to understand the sentimental emotions induced by media and technology. Anthony’s work examines the types of emotional states induced by media, such as fear-of-missing-out, nostalgia, ambivalence, and envy, as well…
Dr. Andrea Pelletier-Baldelli’s program of research investigates social motivation during adolescence and how different social behaviors both online and offline can increase risk for challenges to mental health. In her work, she uses functional MRI to study how the brain influences (and is influenced by) these various social processes to identify how mental illness onsets…