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Meet the Team
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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Sarah Kim

Doctoral Student

​Research Interests: How children and adolescents disclose adversity/victimization; technology and media influence on adolescent victimization; improving community and policy responses to vulnerable youth
Fun fact: I’ve been dancing since I was 3 years old.

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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

Elliot Kim

Grace Kenyon

Hugo Herrera

Jack Rockwell

Jessica Kwan
Jocelyn Gomez

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Kiara Kuriakose

Lauren Finkel

Lindsay Tran

Rajas Aathavan

Sammy Hwang

Vlad Kondakov

Zoya Sheikh

 

View Adolescent and Childhood Experience Lab alumni here.

University of California, Irvine

Adolescent and Childhood Experience Lab

Dr. Jodi Quas

Last Edited: August 2025

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