Meet the Team
Jodi A. Quas, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology, Social Behavior, and Nursing Science
Research Interests: Memory development, effects of stress on memory; consequences of legal involvement on youth victims and witnesses; development and testing of methods to improve identification of and interventions for high-risk children and adolescents.
Fun Fact: I am late to the airport almost every time I travel, and I miss at least one flight per year.
Rachel Dianiska, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Research Interests: contribution of cognitive and developmental processes to interviewing and disclosure, credibility assessment, and the development of false memories; improving identification, interviewing, and responses to adolescent victims and witnesses.
Fun fact: I will travel internationally for concerts, and I don’t have a single artistic talent myself but I collect ceramics and stained glass.
Nan Xiao, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Research Interest: I study how social exclusion and adversity affect development longitudinally, and create community-based, tech-assisted interventions to support children’s relationships. My work spans peer victimization, media use, residential childcare, and home–school connections (My Website).
Fun fact: I’m a huge cat lover… but sadly, I’m allergic to cats.
Emma Simpson
Doctoral Student
Research Interests: How children and adolescents (particularly those with histories of maltreatment or exploitation) remember, disclose, and respond in legal contexts; improving community and policy responses to vulnerable youth
Fun fact: I love word games -- crosswords, scrabble, bananagrams, etc.
Ashley Zieper
Project Manager
Research Interests: How children and adolescents encode, store, and retrieve memories under situational and contextual stress, and how this understanding can inform decision-making and services provided to youth in various educational, legal, and community-based mental health settings.
Fun fact: I love traveling and have been to 14 different countries.
FALL 2025 UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANTS
Cas Sherrill
Cassandra Pignataro
Cathy Chang
Elliot Kim
Grace Kenyon
Hugo Herrera
Jack Rockwell
Jessica Kwan
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Jocelyn Gomez
Kiara Kuriakose
Lauren Finkel
Lindsay Tran
Rajas Aathavan
Sammy Hwang
Vlad Kondakov
Zoya Sheikh​
View Adolescent and Childhood Experience Lab alumni here.