Post-Baccalaureate Program Alumni

Bryan earned his Bachelor’s degree in Music at UCLA in 2010, where he studied cello performance and music composition. During his time in the post-bacc program, he worked in Dr. Jacqueline Chen’s Social Cognition & Intergroup Perception Lab (and later in Dr. Paul Piff's Social Hierarchy, Inequality, and Emotion lab) as a research assistant, and he took courses in Introduction to Psychology, Statistics, Abnormal Psychology, Research Design, Social Psychology, and Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination, as well as auditing a graduate-level Prosocial Behavior course. He presented posters at the 2016 UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference and the 2017 Society for Personality & Social Psychology (SPSP) conference in San Antonio, TX, and he attended the religion preconference at 2016 SPSP conference in San Diego.  Bryan was subsequently accepted to Social Psychology Ph.D. programs at the University of Minnesota (with a $20k guaranteed minimum stipend for 5 years, plus a full tuition waiver) and Cornell (with full funding), and he decided to attend Cornell (which he started in Fall 2017).  Most recently (in October 2020), Bryan earned a master's degree (en route to the Ph.D.) and successfully passed his comprehension/qualifying exams at Cornell; he has now officially advanced to Ph.D. Candidacy.

Belinda graduated from Vanderbilt University with a B.A. in Economics. During her time in the post-bacc program, she took courses in Abnormal Psychology, Cognitive Science, Adolescent Development, Clinical Neuroscience, and Addiction, and she presented a poster at the Anxiety and Depression Conference in San Francisco; outside of UCI, Belinda worked as a (paid) part-time research assistant in two labs in the Anxiety and Depression Research Center at UCLA. In March 2017, the Principal Investigator at this UCLA center offered Belinda a (paid) full-time RA position, so she decided to leave the post-bacc program to accept this exciting opportunity at UCLA.  After working in this position for over two years, Belinda applied to graduate school, and in Winter 2020, she was accepted to the Clinical Ph.D. programs at UCLA and the University of Kentucky.  She accepted the offer at UCLA, and she started this program in Fall 2020.  Most recently (in April 2022), Belinda was awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, a highly competitive and prestigious award (given to only 114 psychology students in the whole country) that provides three years of graduate funding.

Max graduated from Brown University in 2015 with a degree in Physics and English. He worked in the Department of Astronomy at University of California - Berkeley for two years before becoming a freelance journalist writing about culture, science, and the environment. During his time in the post-bacc program, he worked as a research assistant in Dr. Angela Lukowski's Memory & Development Lab, where he conducted research on sleep, memory, and development), Max also completed courses in Lifespan Developmental Psychology, Health Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Adolescent Development, Advanced Research Methods, and Clinical Psychology, and he presented a poster at the Western Psychological Association conference in Pasadena, CA. In March 2019, Max was accepted to the University of Pennsylvania for their Clinical Ph.D. program, and he began this program in Fall 2019.

Diane graduated from the University of California, Davis with a B.A. in English literature and minor in Political Science, with an emphasis on political theory. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked in Dr. Zinger and Dr. Ditto's research labs, and she took courses in Abnormal Psychology, Statistics, Applied Statistics, Research Design, Social Psychology, and Prejudice, Stereotyping, & Discrimination, as well as a graduate-level course in Interpersonal Processes & Health. She presented posters at the 2016 Association for Psychological Science conference in Chicago, the 2016 UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, and 2017 Society for Personality & Social Psychology (SPSP) conference in San Antonio, TX, and she attended the 2016 SPSP conference in San Diego.  After completing our program, Diane earned her master's degree in Developmental Psychology from UC Santa Barbara and then spent some time working as the Director of Education at the Turner Foundation.  In Winter 2020, she was accepted to the Education Ph.D. programs at USC, UC Davis, and UC San Diego, and she accepted the offer from USC.  She began this Ph.D. program in Fall 2020.

Naomi graduated from the University of California - Irvine in Spring 2021 with a B.A. in Psychological Science and a B.A. in Criminology, Law, & Society. During her undergrad, she interned at a diversion program at the United States Pretrial Services - Southern District. This internship - along with some of the courses she took at UCI (including Attachment Relationships, Developmental Psychopathology, Psychology and the Law, and Advanced Research Methods) - helped further develop her research interests in the influence of familial and social relationships on adolescent delinquency. Additionally, as an undergraduate student, she worked as a research assistant for Dr. Reiter’s Prison Pandemic Lab (on The COVID-19 in California Prisons project) and in Dr. Borelli’s Health, Relationships, and Intervention Lab (on The Enjoying Memories study); she was also awarded a research grant from the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) and gave a poster presentation at the 2021 UROP conference.  During her time in our program, she was a lead research assistant for the Enjoying Memories study in Dr. Borelli's lab and she joined Dr. Cauffman’s Development, Disorder, and Delinquency Lab, resulting in poster presentations at the 2022 Western Psychological Association conference in Portland and the 2022 Association for Psychological Science conference in Chicago.  In addition, she completed courses in Deviance and Applied Statistics.  After completing our program, she worked for several months as a part-time, paid research assistant in Dr. Cauffman's lab and then as a volunteer study manager in Dr. Belinda Campos' Culture, Relationships, and Health Lab. Most recently (in March 2024), she was admitted to the Developmental Psychology Ph.D. program at UC Riverside, and she will begin this program in Fall 2024.

Danielle earned her B.A. in Theatre Arts from The University of San Diego (USD) in 2012. During her time in the program, she worked in Dr. Piff’s Morality, Emotion, and Social Hierarchy lab and she completed courses in Psychology of Inequality, Research Design, Applied Statistics, Advanced Research Methods, Political Psychology, and Global Poverty & Inequality.  Danielle presented at several different conferences during her time in the post-bacc program, including two poster presentations at the 2018 Society for Personality & Social Psychology conference in Atlanta, GA and oral presentations at the 2018 UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA and at the 2018 Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues conference in Pittsburgh, PA.  Upon completion of the post-bacc program, Danielle worked as a (paid) part-time research assistant in Dr. Piff's lab - and then in Winter 2019, she was accepted to the Personality and Social Contexts Ph.D. program at the University of Michigan and to the Social Psychology Ph.D. program at Tulane University.  She began the University of Michigan program in Fall 2019, and she was awarded the Jenessa Shapiro Graduate Research Award from the Society for Personality & Social Psychology in October 2020.

Amanda became gravitated toward the field of psychology through her time spent working and living in an orphanage in Mexico before starting her B.A. in psychology at UC Riverside. During her undergraduate studies, she worked with foster youth and interviewed their significant others in the Adaptation to Aging Out lab; she also contributed to a Social and Cognitive Processes Lab to explore the accuracy of eyewitness testimonials after a traumatic event. During her time in the post-bacc program, Amanda worked with Dr. Quas and Dr. Cauffman, conducting field interviews to at-risk youth and their families, and she volunteered at the Omid Institute, where she helped to support the clinical team and worked with Dr. Sayyedi (the CEO of the institute) on some research studies regarding multiculturalism.  In addition, she completed courses in Developmental Psychopathology, Applied Statistics, and Advanced Research Methods, and she served as a Learning Assistant for Professor Dent's Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology course.  She also presented two posters at the 2018 Association for Psychological Science conference and presented a talk (as part of the Young Investigator Symposium) - and won an "Outstanding Research Presentation in Developmental Psychology" award for this presentation - at the 2018 American Psychological Association conference.  In January 2019, Amanda accepted a full-time (paid) Survey Researcher position in Dr. Jen Skeem's Risk-Resilience Lab at UC Berkeley (in the School of Social Welfare), where she has been conducting interviews with patients and staff and Napa State Hospital who are part of an intervention to reduce violence among hospital units.  Most recently, Amanda was accepted to the Ph.D. programs at UC Riverside (Developmental Psychology), UC Davis (Social-Developmental Psychology), FIU (Legal Psychology), and ASU (Psychology & the Law), and she began the program at UC Riverside in Fall 2021.

Jennifer holds a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics, with a minor in Philosophy, from the University of Washington, Seattle, and she is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries.  During her time in the post-bacc program, she completed courses in Clinical Neuroscience, Psychodynamic Studies, Human Memory, Applied Statistics, Brain Disorders, and Research Design, and she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Martin's Behaviors, Emotions, and Affective Neuroscience lab.  In March 2017, she attached the Cognitive Neuroscience Conference in San Francisco, CA, and in May 2017, she gave an oral presentation at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) conference in Irvine, CA.  In February 2018, Jennifer was accepted to UC Berkeley's Cognitive Neuroscience Ph.D. program (with full funding + a Berkeley Fellowship, which increases her funding above their standard stipend and reduces her teaching assistant requirement).  She began this program in Fall 2018.

Rebecca graduated in Spring of 2018 from the University of California, Irvine with a degree in Psychology & Social Behavior. In Summer 2018, Rebecca began working in Dr. Michael Yassa’s Translational Neurobiology lab (in the UCI Department of Neurobiology and Behavior), where she worked on studies that examined the etiology and effects of mood disorders on memory, assisted with MRI scans for studies involving age, Alzheimer’s Disease, and grief.  She continued working in Dr. Yassa's lab during her time in the post-bacc program, while also completing courses in Biological Psychology, Safety & Ethics, Developmental Psychopathology, Matlab Programming, Advanced Research Methods, Applied Statistics, and Research Directions in Psychology & Social Behavior.  In January 2019, she accepted a paid, part-time Junior Research Specialist position in Professor Bornstein's lab (in the Department of Cognitive Sciences), and in February 2019, she presented a poster at the Society for Personality & Social Psychology Conference in Portland, OR.  After completing the Post-Bacc program, Rebecca was admitted to the University of Arizona for their Cognition & Neurosystems Ph.D. program, Syracuse University for their Cognitive Psychology Ph.D. program, and the University of Texas at Austin for their Cognitive  Science Ph.D. program.  She has accepted the offer from Syracuse University, and she began their program in Fall 2020.

Ramona received a BA in Political Science and a minor in Sociology from Loyola Marymount University, and MSc in Social and Cultural Psychology from the London School of Economics. During her time in the post-bacc program, Ramona worked as a research assistant in Dr. Charles’ Emotion Research Lab and in Dr. Zalta’s research lab; she also collaborated with Dr. Lukowski to write a chapter about developmental psychology, and she was a Tobis Fellow at the UCI Ethics Center.  In addition, Ramona presented a poster at the 2019 Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference in Portland, OR, and she attended the 2019 Diversifying Psychology weekend at the Miami University of Ohio.  After completing the post-bacc program, Ramona spent a year working as a full-time (paid) research assistant position in Dr. Zalta's lab, and she presented a poster at the 2019 Society for Research in Psychopathology in Buffalo, NY.  In Winter 2020, Ramona was accepted to five Social/Personality Ph.D. programs (all with full funding): University of North Carolina, Ohio State, the University of Buffalo, University of California - Riverside, and Purdue University.  She began the Ph.D. program at UC Riverside in Fall 2020, and she earned her M.A. in psychology (en route to the Ph.D.) in Spring 2022.  As a graduate student, Ramoma was awarded the Jenessa Shapiro Graduate Research Award from the Society for Personality & Social Psychology (which provides assistance to graduate students from an underrepresented background with the cost of conducting research in personality and/or social psychology), and she received a grant from the Network for Emotional Well-being: Science, Practice, and Measurement (funded by the National Institutes of Health) to complete an research project entitled, "The Genomic and Well-Being Impacts of an Extraverted Behavior Intervention: Assessing the Moderating Roles of Dispositional Introversion and Shyness".

Jacob graduated from Portland State University in 2015 with his Bachelors of Science in Philosophy.  During his time in the post-bacc program, Jacob was a research assistant in Dr Martin's Behaviors, Emotions, and Affective Neuroscience lab (in the Department of Psychological Science) and in the Dr. Jaeggi's Working Memory & Plasticity lab (in the School of Education).  He completed undergraduate courses in Research Design, Basic and Applied Statistics, Clinical Neuroscience, and Advanced Research Methods, as well as a graduate course in Theories of Learning and Cognition.  In May 2019, he attended the Social & Affective Neuroscience Society conference in Miami, FL and he presented a poster at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA. Since completing the program, he has been working part-time as an accountant at Best Buy Auto Equipment (while also taking care of his wife and baby).  In Winter 2020, he was accepted to UC Irvine's Cognitive Psychology Ph.D. program and to Indiana University's Complex Networks and Systems (CNS) National Research Traineeship (NRT) dual PhD program (with Cognitive Science) - and he has decided to accept the offer from Indiana University.  He started this program in Fall 2020.

Gillian earned her Bachelor’s degree in English from UC Irvine in 2011. During her time in the post-bacc program, she was a research assistant in Dr. Goldberg's Family Lab, she took courses in Psychology Fundamentals, Research Design, Abnormal Psychology, Applied Statistics, and Developmental Psychology, and she completed a Field Study Internship at the Waymakers Youth Shelter in Laguna Beach.  In the first two years after completing our program, Gilly worked full-time as a Youth Specialist at her field study site and part-time as a research assistant in Dr. Goldberg's lab.  In February 2017, Gilly was admitted to the master's programs at Cal State San Marcos, San Francisco State, and Cal State Northridge, and she decided to accept the offer at Cal State San Marcos, where she worked directly with Professor Bufferd on an NIH-funded project that aimed to find predictors of depression in preschool-aged children.  Gilly earned her master's degree in Spring 2020, and she spent the next two years working paid positions as a Youth Specialist at the Waymakers Youth Shelter and as a study coordinator in Dr. Borelli's Health, Relationships, and Interventions Lab at UC Irvine.  In May 2022, she accepted a full-time, paid Lab Coordinator position at the University of Michigan for the Developmental Psychopathology and Neuroscience Labs with Drs. Luke Hyde and Christopher Monk, and most recently (in March 2024), she was accepted to the Developmental Psychology Ph.D. program at the University of Denver.  She will begin that program in Fall 2024.

Nick received his B.A. in Psychology from California State University, Los Angeles. While at CSULA, he was involved in research focused on learning and cognition, as well as research on personality traits and anxiety - and prior to joining the post-bacc program, Nick spent a year volunteering as a Research Assistant at The Health and Human Performance Foundation, a non-profit that studies breath practices for physiological and psychological outcomes. Nick has also been a music educator for the last 12 years for various performing arts groups in Northern and Southern California.  During his time in the post-bacc program, Nick worked with Professor Dana Garfin and Dean Adey Nyamathi in the School of Nursing, and he completed courses in Human Stress, Clinical Sports Psychology, Applied Statistics, Social Epidemiology, and Advanced Research Methods.  In addition, he co-authored a paper published in Qualitative Health Research (entitled, "Engaging the Community in Designing a Hepatitis C Treatment Program for Individuals Experiencing Homelessness"), he gave an oral presentation at the 2021 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference, and he gave a poster presentation at the 2021 Association for Psychological Science conference.  After completing the post-bacc program, he spent a year working as a part-time (paid) research assistant in the School of Nursing (where he got three more co-authored publications (including one in Global Qualitative Nursing Research and two in Public Health Nursing), and in Winter 2023, he was admitted to the Preventive Medicine Ph.D. program at USC.  He began the Ph.D. program at USC in August 2023.

Silas graduated from the University of Oregon in 2013 with a B.S. in Cultural Anthropology and a minor in Geography - and then decided to pursue a second bachelor’s degree (in psychology) at Washington State University (WSU), which he earned in July 2018. During his time in the post-bacc program, Silas worked as a Research Assistant in Dr. Karen S. Rook’s research lab on an investigation examining the correlates of patients' motivation to manage their chronic illness (specifically, type 2 diabetes), with the goal of understanding why some patients report low motivation. He also completed courses in Social Psychology, Applied Statistics, Human Stress, and Health Psychology.  Outside of UCI, Silas volunteered for the Immune Deficiency Foundation, where he often met people who manage the stress of chronic illness successfully, and he was moved by their capacity for resiliency and their ability to make meaning from adversity.  In August 2019, Silas presented a poster at the American Psychological Association conference in Chicago, IL, and in September 2019, he accepted a full-time (paid) research assistant position working with Dr. Rook and her colleague in the School of Medicine, Dr. Sorkin.  Most recently, Silas was accepted to Penn State for their Social Psychology Ph.D. program and to the University of Utah for their Developmental Psychology (with a cross-area emphasis in Health Psychology) program; he began the Ph.D. program at the University of Utah in Fall 2020.

Colleen earned her Bachelor’s Degree in German Studies from California State University, Long Beach in 2014; following graduation, she completed an International Parliamentary Fellowship (IPS) at the German Bundestag in Berlin. During her time in the post-bacc program, Colleen worked in Dr. Cauffman’s Development, Delinquency, & Disorder Lab and completed courses in Abnormal Psychology, Statistics, Violence in Society, Applied Statistics, Advanced Forensic Psychology, Research Design, and Lifespan Developmental Psychology.  She also worked part-time as a Human Resources Manager at Hudson Tool Steel, and gave presentations at the 2018 Western Psychological Association conference in Portland, OR, the 2018 Association for Psychological Science conference in San Francisco, CA, and the 2018 UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA.  After completing our program, Colleen got a first author publication in Psychology, Public Policy, and Law (with her mentors as co-authors), and she was accepted to the Ph.D. programs at UC Irvine (Developmental Psychology Ph.D. program with a concentration in Psychology & Law), Arizona State University (Law & Psychology Ph.D. program), and the University of Southern California (Developmental Psychology Ph.D. program).  She accepted the offer from UC Irvine, and she started our graduate program in Fall 2019.  Most recently (in January 2023), Colleen was awarded a Research to Enhance the Impact and Diversification (REID) of Psychology & Law Research Grant from the American Psychology-Law Society (with her mentor, UCI Psych Science Professor Beth Cauffman), which she will use to help fund her dissertation research.

Ellen earned her B.A. in Sociology from UC Riverside in Summer 2016. During her time in the post-bacc program, Ellen worked in Dr. Cauffman’s Development, Disorder, and Delinquency Lab, and she completed courses in Personality, Abnormal Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Principles of Public Health; she also worked for a few months as a full-time, paid Mental Health Clinic Care Coordinator at Didi Hirsh Mental Health Services in Los Angeles.  In addition, she presented posters at the Western Psychological Association conference in Sacramento, CA in April 2017 and at the Association for Psychological Sciences conference in Boston, MA in May 2017, and she gave an oral presentation at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA in May 2017.  In Summer 2017, she left the post-bacc program to focus on volunteering as a research assistant in Dr. Adam Leventhal's addiction lab at USC's Keck hospital, and since then. she participated in the University of Delaware's (all expenses paid) Clinical Science Visit Day (an opportunity for prospective applicants from underrepresented groups to learn more about doctoral training in clinical science and about the Clinical Science Program at the University of Delaware), completed a 20hr/week internship with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, and accepted a (paid) research-oriented position as a Program Assistant at the Keck School of Medicine (where she helps with data entry, IRB approvals and amendments, manuscript writing and editing, data analysis, and data collection out in the field on a study involving smoking and other nicotine products, including how smokers feel about the new tobacco policies taking effect in the Los Angeles community).  Finally, in Winter/Spring 2019, Ellen was admitted to the Ph.D. program in Preventive Medicine at USC, which she began in Fall 2019.

Debra earned a Bachelor of Psychological Science from the University of Queensland in Australia, where she developed a passion for social and cognitive psychology.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Debra completed courses in Advanced Research Methods, Psychology of Inequality, and Applied Statistics, as well as graduate seminars in Social Psychology and Research Directions in Psychology & Social Behavior.  She worked as a research assistant in Dr. Ditto's Hot Cognition lab, and she presented a poster at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA in May 2017.  She attended the Western Psychological Association conference in Sacramento, CA in April 2017 and the Association for Psychological Science conference in Boston, MA in May 2017.  In March 2018, she was accepted to the Social Psychology Ph.D. program at UC Davis (to work with Professor Nicholas Christenfeld); she began this program in Fall 2018.

Summer graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2016 with a B.A. in Psychology. During her undergraduate career, she volunteered as a research assistant in both emotion regulation and sports psychology research labs. Additionally, she had the opportunity to conduct a full-spectrum research project via the summer research internship program provided by the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Institute. During her time in the post-bacc program, Summer was a research assistant in Dr. Borelli’s lab (where she explored the effects of relationships), and she worked with Dr. Kuhlman (in the Department of Psychological Science) and Dr. Rao (in the Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior).  In addition, she completed courses in Advanced Research Methods, Human Stress, Developmental Psychopathology, and Applied Statistics, and she presented a poster at the 2019 Western Psychological Association conference in Pasadena, CA.  Upon completing the post-bacc program, Summer worked as a full-time (paid) research/study coordinator in Dr. Rao's Biobehavioral Research on Adolescent Development lab, where she was the primary coordinator for the brain development - adolescent depression & maltreatment study.  In Winter 2020, she was admitted to the Clinical Ph.D. programs at USC and the University of Denver; she accepted the offer at the University of Denver, and she started that program in Fall 2020. Most recently (in Spring 2022), she got a second-author publication (entitled, "Women with lower systemic inflammation demonstrate steeper cognitive decline with age: Results from a large prospective, longitudinal sample") in Brain, Behavior, & Immunity - Health) based on the work she did in Dr. Kuhlman's lab and she earned her master's degree (en route to the Ph.D.).

Ellie earned her bachelor's degree in French Horn Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.  She attended the Brevard Music Center in the summers of 2017 and 2018, she toured Spain with the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra in 2017, and she participated in the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra's European tour in 2019.  After graduating, she taught private lessons in piano and horn and worked as a freelance musician. Prior to joining our post-bacc program, she took psychology courses including Human Growth & Development, Abnormal Psychology, and Psychology of Women, which led to her interest in studying the effects of childhood trauma on health throughout the lifespan. During her time in our program, she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Kuhlman's Teen Resilience Lab and in Dr. Garfin's Resilience, Epidemiology, and Community Health Lab, leading to poster presentations at the 2022 UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA and the 2022 Association for Psychological Science conference in Chicago, IL.  In addition, she completed courses in Research Design, Clinical Psychology, Statistical Analysis, Advanced Research Methods, Child Health Psychology, Applied Statistics, and Biological Psychology.  Outside of UCI, she worked part-time at Headway, a mental health startup based in New York City.  Since completing our program, she has been working as a paid, part-time research assistant in Dr. Kuhlman's lab (while also continuing her work at Headway), and she got a co-authored publication in Research on Child & Adolescent Psychopathology.  Most recently (in February 2023), she was admitted to the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program in our department (at UCI), and she began our program in Fall 2023.

Precious earned her bachelor's degree in Psychological Science from UC Irvine in June of 2020. During her years as an undergraduate student, she volunteered at the Rio Hondo College Health and Psychological Services Center, served as a board member for various campus organizations, developed a web-based off-campus resource directory for the student community, worked as an HR assistant at Greenhouse Agency Inc., and completed an internship at Karate For All. During her time in the post-bacc program, Precious joined Dr. Zalta's Trauma and Resilience Lab and Dr. Borelli's Health, Relationships, and Interventions Lab as a research assistant, and she completed courses in Advanced Research Methods, Developmental Psychopathology, Applied Statistics, Neuroscience of Cognition, and Human Sexuality.  In addition, she gave an oral presentation at the 2021 UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference, and she presented a poster at the 2021 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies conference.  Since completing the post-bacc program, she worked paid positions as a Behavioral Interventionist/Technician at Behavioral Frontiers and as a Research Assistant in Dr. Zalta's lab.  In October 2021, she was offered a spot at Harvard University's Prospective PhD and RA Event in Psychology and in February 2022, she was admitted to the Developmental Psychology Ph.D. program at UC Irvine (with a Graduate Opportunities Fellowship and a Psychological Science Merit Fellowship) and to the Master of Applied Psychology Program at USC.  She started our Ph.D. program in Fall 2022 - and in March 2023, she got a co-authored publication (with Dr. Zalta) in Psychiatry Research (entited, "Sleep timing, chronotype, and posttraumatic stress disorder: An individual participant data meta-analysis").

Diane received her B.A. in Math from Dartmouth College and her M.B.A. with concentrations in healthcare and finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. After graduate school, she moved to Southern California and worked for an employee benefits consulting firm as a health solutions consultant. Diane also spent many years working part-time as a fitness instructor, and she completed UCI’s Fitness Instructor’s Certificate Program. During her time in the post-bacc program, Diane worked in Dr. Quas’ lab (which focuses on improving protocols for law enforcement officers and attorneys when questioning adolescent sex trafficking victims) and Dr. Zalta's lab (which studies resilience to trauma), and she  completed courses in Health Psychology, Applied Statistics, Social Epidemiology, Clinical Neuroscience, Research Design, and Clinical Psychology.  In addition, she presented a poster at the 2021 American Psychological Association conference and attended the 2021 American Public Health Association conference, and she was awarded a scholarship from the UC Irvine Division of Continuing Education.  After completing our program, she was accepted to Master of Public Health (MPH) in Epidemiology programs at Harvard University and Boston University and to the Health Psychology Ph.D. program at UC Irvine; she decided to accept the offer at Harvard, and she began that program in Fall 2022.  Diane also accepted a part-time position as an ACES Coordinator at the Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) - and because the Harvard program is a low-residency program designed for working professionals, she was able to continue working at CHOC (and volunteering as a research assistant at UC Irvine) while completing her MPH program.  Most recently (January 2024), Diane has been working part-time as an Assistant Specialist in Professor Kim's Stress, Coping, and Stress in Context Lab at the UC Irvine School of Medicine.

Jessenia earned her B.S. in Criminal Justice, Criminology, and Emergency Management from California State University, Long Beach in 2010.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Jessenia had the pleasure to work as a research assistant in Dr. Cauffman's Development, Disorder, and Delinquency Lab, and she presented a poster at the Association for Psychological Science conference in Chicago and a talk at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine in May 2016.  She also completed courses in Advanced Research Methods, Psychology & the Law, Applied Statistics, and Social Relationships, and she completed a Field Study Internship at Shortstop (a juvenile crime diversion program).  In September 2016, Jessenia accepted a (paid) on-call position as a Youth Specialist II at the CSP Youth Shelter in Laguna Beach & Tustin; she was initially offered a full-time position at the Laguna Beach location, but she asked to instead be given an on-call position (for now), because it is more flexible (on-call is like being a "substitute" when other staff call in sick or they need extra staff at the last minute). This flexibility allowed her to work as a paid, part-time research assistant position in Dr. Cauffman's lab.  In Spring 2017, Jessenia was accepted to the master's in clinical psychology program at Columbia University and in April 2018, she was accepted to USC's dual MSW/Ph.D. in Social Work program.  She earned her Ph.D. from USC in August 2023, and she is currently working as a consultant.

Lauren earned her B.A. in Music and Economics from UC Berkeley in 2014. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Heckhausen’s Life-Span Development and Motivation Lab and in Dr. Lukowski’s Memory and Development Lab. She also completed courses in Abnormal Psychology, Research Design, Life-Span Development, Applied Statistics, and Health Psychology, and she interned with the CSP Youth Shelter in Laguna Beach. She presented her research at the 2017 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference at UCI and at the 2017 Association for Psychological Science conference in Boston, and she gave an oral presentation at the 2017 Cognitive Development Society conference in Portland, OR.  In October 2017, she accepted a (paid), part-time position as a post-bacc alum research assistant in Dr. Lukowski's lab; outside of UCI, she worked as a (paid) part-time guest artist manager for a symphony in Orange County and she volunteered as a crisis counselor for the Crisis Text Line.  In Winter 2018, Lauren was admitted to the Child Psychology PhD program (on the Developmental Psychopathology & Clinical Science track) at the University of Minnesota, to the Counseling Ph.D. program at Virginia Commonwealth University, and to the Counseling Ph.D. program at the University of Maryland.  She accepted the offer at the University of Minnesota, and she began that program in Fall 2018.  While in grad school, she got a second-author publication in Memory (based on research that she completed while a post-bacc student in Dr. Lukowski's lab), and in Summer 2023, she succesfully defended her dissertation (entitled, "Children’s Media Use, Family Psychological Functioning, and Parental Media-Based Racial Socialization during the Dual COVID-19 and Whiteness Pandemics").  She is currently completing her pre-doctoral clinical internship at the University of Minnesota Medical Center.

Branislav received his B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and his M.S. in Radio-Frequency and Analog IC design from Columbia University. After working at Apple for five years as a Senior. Hardware Engineer, Branislav decided to take a career break, where he re-evaluated his professional interests, personal values, and overall life purpose. He spent three years traveling and exploring his passions in machine learning, linguistics, and clinical psychology – which led to him applying to this post-bacc program.  During his time in our post-bacc program, he worked as a research assistant in Dr. Garfin’s Resilience, Epidemiology, and Community Health lab (in the School of Nursing) and in Dr. Silver's Stress & Coping Lab (in the Dept. of Psychological Science).  In addition, he also took  courses in Psychology Fundamentals, Abnormal Psychology, Developmental Psychopathology, Clinical Child Psychology, Applied Statistics, Clinical Neuroscience, Violence in Society, Clinical Health Psychology, Advanced Forensic Psychology, Attachment Relationships, Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Psychosis, Personality Disorders, and Lifespan Developmental Psychology, and he gave poster presentations at the 2022 Western Psychological Association conference and the 2022 UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference.  After completing the program, he spent some time working as a (paid) part-time research assistant in Dr. Silver's lab.  Most recently (in March 2024), he got a first-author publication (with Dr. Garfin) in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders, and he was admitted to the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. programs at the University of Maryland - Baltimore County, the University of Maryland - College Park, and Drexel University (with a Graduate College Doctoral Fellowship).  He has accepted the offer at Drexel and will begin that program in Fall 2024.

Deborah earned her B.A. from California State University, Fullerton in 2019, where she studied Psychology and Spanish. During this time, she volunteered as a research assistant in the Culture and Social Action (CSA) Lab, and she was an Undergraduate Course Assistant for a Developmental Psychology course and a Learning & Memory course. After graduation, she worked as a Behavioral Technician helping children from diverse backgrounds by implementing different strategies to improve their social and intellectual abilities.  During her time at UC Irvine, she participated in Dr. Klemfuss’s Child Narratives Lab, Dr. Lukowski’s Infants, Children, and Families Lab, and Dr. Kroll's Bilingualism, Mind, and Brain Lab, which resulted in a poster presentation at the 2021 Western Psychological Association conference, a poster presentation at the 2021 Association for Psychological Science conference, a poster and an oral presentation at the 2021 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) conference, and a co-authored publication in Behavioral Medicine with Dr. Lukowski's lab.  In addition, she completed courses in Bilingual Mind & Brain, Acquisition of Language, Applied Statistics, and Advanced Research Methods. In Spring 2021, Deborah was accepted to several events design to help students prepare for the graduate application process (including the Pipeline to Graduate School Bootcamp at UC Berkeley, the Developmental Discovery Days, and the Northwestern Sneak Peak Program), and outside of UCI, she worked part-time as a Research Associate at Opinion Matters.  Since completing the post-bacc program, Deborah has been working as part-time (paid) research assistant in Drs. Lukowski & Klemfuss' labs, and in February 2021, she was admitted to the Developmental Psychology Ph.D. program in our department (with a Psychological Science Merit Fellowship); she began our Ph.D. in Fall 2022. 

Emily graduated from Claremont McKenna College in May of 2015 with a B.A. in Science and Management (Biology and Economics dual major, cum laude).  During her time in the post-bacc program, Emily worked as a research assistant in Dr. Elizabeth Cauffman's Development, Disorder, and Delinquency Lab, resulting in an oral presentation at the 2016 UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Conference in Irvine, a poster presentation at the 2016 Association for Psychological Science conference in Chicago, and a poster presentation at the 2016 Association for Psychology & Law conference in Atlanta.  She also completed courses in Abnormal Psychology, Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, Adolescent Development, Clinical Psychology, and Research Design.  After completing our program, she spent a year working as a volunteer research assistant in Dr. Nicholas Scurich's lab (which focuses on judgment and decision making in legal setting), during which time she was accepted to the Ph.D. program in Psychological Science right here at UC Irvine (with full funding for 5 years + funding to participate in the competitive edge summer program).  She earned her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from our program in June 2022, and she is currently working as a post-doctoral researcher at UCLA and as an adjunct professor at Pomona College.

Maricela graduated in 2017 from UC San Diego with a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Philosophy. During her time in the post-bacc program, Maricela worked as a research assistant in Dr. Jamner’s lab (in the Department of Psychological Science) and in Dr. Lotfipour's lab (in the School of Medicine), and she took courses in Advanced Research Methods, Biological Psychology, Applied Statistics, Clinical Neuroscience, and Human Stress.  In May 2019, she gave an oral presentation at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA.  Since completing the post-bacc program, she spent a year volunteering full-time in Dr. Lotfipour's lab, and Winter/Spring 2020, she was admitted to Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis' Addiction Neuroscience PhD program and to UC Irvine's Interdepartmental Neuroscience Ph.D. program. She decided to accept the offer from UC Irvine.  In September 2020, Maricela got a 2nd author publication (with Dr. Lotifpour) in Behavioral Pharmacology entitled, "Early Adolescent Subchronic Low-Dose Nicotine Exposure Increases Subsequent Cocaine and Fentanyl Self-Administration in Sprague-Dawley Rats" - and shortly thereafter, she began the graduate program at UC Irvine.  As a graduate student, Maricela was awarded the prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (which provides funding for three years of graduate study).

Caleb graduated from the University of Florida with a B.A. in Linguistics. A focus on neurolinguistics sparked a broader interest in brain function and a curiosity into further applications of cognition, and his current interests hinge around cognitive functioning within various neurobehavioral and neurodevelopmental disorders, as well as neural rewiring throughout various stages of physical transition in transgender individuals. During his time in the post-bacc program, Caleb worked with Dr. Lukowski in the Memory and Development Lab, and he completed courses in Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, Clinical Neuroscience, Applied Statistics, Research Design, Cultural Psychology, Lifespan Developmental Psychology, and Social Psychology. In addition, he gave an oral presentation at the 2020 UC Irvine (Virtual) Post-Bacc Research Conference, and he was awarded a scholarship from the UCI Division of Continuing Education that paid for one of his courses in the program. Since completing our program, Caleb has been working part-time as a (paid) research assistant in Dr. Lukowski's lab, and he gave poster presentations at the 2021 Budapest CEU Conference on Cognitive Development and the 2021 Western Psychological Association  (which were both held virtually due to COVID-19).  In April 2021, Caleb admitted to the Developmental Psychology Ph.D. program in our department, and he accepted our offer.  He began our program in Fall 2022.

Justine earned her B.S. in Forensic Chemistry and B.A. in Biotechnology from SUNY Buffalo State College in 2019. After graduation, she accepted a staff researcher position at UCI MIND as a Tissue Repository Coordinator. She is heavily involved in research studies associated with neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. During her time in the post-bacc program, Justine took undergraduate courses in Applied Statistics, Health Psychology, Clinical Neuroscience, Neuroscience of Cognition, Research Design, and Clinical Psychology, and she completed a graduate course in Human Neuropsychology.  In Summer 2021, she began the COPE Scholars Program (where she gained first-hand experience in a variety of healthcare settings, impacting patients' lives, and becoming an integral part of the care delivery team) and she got a co-authored publication in Nature Genetics (entitled, "Single nucleus chromatin accessibility and transcriptomic characterization of Alzheimer's disease").  After completing the post-bacc program, Justine continued working full-time in her research position at UCI MIND and got a publication (as a second author) in Alzheimer's & Dementia (entitled, "Amyloid Futures in the Expanding Pathology of Brain Aging and Dementia"), and got accepted to the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Ph.D. program at UC Irvine and to the Neuroscience Ph.D. program at UC Riverside.  She began the UC Irvine program in Fall 2023.  

Elaine has a B.S. in Architectural Engineering from the University of Aleppo, Syria, where she is originally from. During the war in her hometown, she volunteered with the Jesuit Refugee service and was trained to help internally displaced children, adolescents, and women affected by violence through psychosocial support. After migrating to United States, she worked in the architectural and construction fields while trying to find a way back to psychology. Elaine is interested in biological psychology, children’s psychological development in war situations, PTSD intervention and prevention, and the psychological effects of the built environment.  During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Garfin's Resilience, Epidemiology, and Community Health Lab (in the School of Nursing), Dr. Piff's Morality, Emotion, and Social Hierarchy Lab (in the Dept. of Psychological Science), and the UCI Center for Stress and Health (while also completing courses in Introduction to Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, Health Psychology, Research Design, Social Epidemiology, Clinical Psychology, and Applied Statistics).  In addition, she gave a poster presentation at the 2021 Association for Psychological Science conference and at the 2022 American Thoracic Society conference in San Francisco.  In February 2022, she was admitted to the Health Psychology Ph.D. program at UC Irvine, and she began our program in Fall 2022.

Mai-Lan (Lychee) earned her bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of Washington.  During her time in the post-bacc program, she conducted research in Dr. Kuhlman's Teen Resilience Lab and she completed courses in Human Stress, Applied Statistics, Developmental Psychopathology, Clinical Psychology, and Advanced Research Methods.  In May 2019, she presented a poster at the Association for Psychological Science conference in Washington DC, and since completing the post-bacc program, she has been working part-time as a (paid) research assistant in Dr. Kuhlman's lab (while also applying to clinical psychology doctoral programs).  In February 2021, Lychee was accepted to the Clinical Ph.D. program right here at UCI, and she began our program in Fall 2021.

Francesca graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2017 with a BA in Psychology and minor in Applied Developmental Psychology.  During her time in the post-bacc program, she completed a course in Advanced Research Methods and worked with Dr. Jaeggi in the Working Memory and Plasticity Laboratory on an investigation of the efficacy of combined cognitive and motivational interventions in children with ADHD.  In January 2018, she was offered a full-time, paid lab manager position in Dr. Jaeggi's lab, and with withdrew from the post-bacc program to focus on her paid position.  In April 2019, she was admitted to the Clinical Ph.D. Program at the University of Colorado - Boulder, and she began this program in Fall 2019.

Nate graduated from Trinity College in 2018 with a BS in Economics. During his time at Trinity, Nate was captain of the golf team and served on the Student Athlete Advisory Council; he also served as Sports Editor for the Trinity Tripod for three semesters. As a senior, Nate conducted an honors thesis in Economics entitled "Using Institutional Characteristics to Estimate Return on College Education." During his time in the post-bacc program, he worked in Dr. Borelli's Health Relationships & Interventions Lab (where he pursued research interests in behavioral lifestyle interventions and their impact on physical and mental health) and in Dr. Mednick's Sleep and Cognition Lab (which aims to understand who we are as humans by investigating how we form memories), and he completed courses in Clinical Sports Psychology, Developmental Psychopathology, Applied Statistics, Health Psychology, Organizational/Industrial Psychology, and Research Design.  In addition, he gave a poster presentation at the 2021 Association for Psychological Science conference and an oral presentation at the 2021 UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference, and he attended the 2021 SLEEP conference. After completing the post-bacc program, Nate accepted a full-time (paid) 2-year position as a Clinical Research Coordinator in the Integrated Brain Health Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, and in March 2023, he was accepted to the Clinical Psychology P.D. programs the University of Arizona, Drexel University, University of Vermont, Boston University, and University of Colorado at Denver, and he began the program at the University of Arizona in Fall 2023.

Erika graduated magna cum laude from University of California, Irvine with Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Studio Art.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Erika worked as a research assistant in Dr. Susan Charles’ Emotion Research Lab and completed courses in Advanced Research Methods, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Human Stress, Clinical Health Psychology, and Child Health Psychology. Upon completing the post-bacc program, Erika worked full-time at a market research organization (in addition to working as a paid part-time research assistant in Dr. Charles' Lab).  In March 2017, Erika was accepted to the Social Psychology Ph.D. program at Arizona State University to work with Dr. Shiota in her SPLAT Lab (Shiota Psychophysiology Laboratory for Affective Testing); she started this program in Fall 2017.  She earned her master's degree (en route to the Ph.D.) in Spring 2019, and she is on track to earn her Ph.D. in Spring 2024.  Most recently (in December 2023), she accepted a tenure-track faculty position (as an Assistant Professor) at Whitman College, and she will begin that position in Fall 2024.

Jay earned his B.S. in Communication from Boston University and his M.S. in Mass Communications and Advertising from Virginia Commonwealth University. After 15 years as an advertising art director, he changed paths to pursue a career in psychology (with research interests in mindfulness, trauma, resilience and meta-analysis). During his time in the post-bacc program, Jay was a research assistant in Dr. Dana Garfin’s Resilience, Epidemiology, and Community Health Lab and in Dr. Amy Dent’s Educational Psychology Lab, leading to poster presentations at the 2022 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies conference in Atlanta, GA and the 2022 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference at UC Irvine.  In addition, he completed courses in Research Design, Abnormal Psychology, Statistical Analysis, Applied Statistics, Clinical Psychology, and Lifespan Developmental Psychology, and he completed a field study internship at Project Kinship.  Outside of UCI, Jay worked part-time as a freelance graphic artist, selling his artwork online.  After completing our program, he continued his work as a freelance artist while also volunteering as a peer tutor for Dr. Dent's Statistical Analysis course and as a research assistant in Dr. Dent's lab and in Dr. Zalta's lab, and in October 2023, he got a first-author publication (entitled, "Associations between mindfulness and mental health after collective trauma: Results from a longitudinal, representative, probability-based survey") in Anxiety, Stress, and Coping.  Most recently (in March 2024), he was admitted to UC Santa Barbara for their Counseling Psychology Ph.D. program, and he will begin that program in Fall 2024.

Meryl graduated from Mills College in 2012 with a B.A. in Studio Arts.  In the years following graduation, she lived abroad in Seoul, South Korea, where she developed an interest in psychology.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Meryl worked on research examining the psychological and health benefits of yoga with Lisa Conboy, Sc.D. (at Harvard Medical School) and in Dr. Pressman's lab (at UC Irvine), and she completed undergraduate courses in Advanced Research Methods, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Clinical Psychology, Health Psychology, Applied Statistics, and Positive Psychology; she also completed a graduate course in Interpersonal Processes and Health.  Meryl presented at several conferences during her time in the program: In October 2017, she gave a presentation at a pre-conference meeting of the Symposium on Yoga Research in Stockbridge, MA in April 2018, and in May 2018, she presented posters at the Association for Psychological Science conference in San Francisco and at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA.  In Winter 2019, Meryl was admitted to the Clinical Psych Ph.D. programs at the University of Kentucky and Arizona State University and the School Psychology Ph.D. program at University of Maryland; she started the Arizona State University program in Fall 2019.  Most recently (in May 2022), she earned her master's degree (en route to the Ph.D.); the title of her master's thesis was, "Does Negative Emotion Differentiation Buffer the Effects of Pain? An Examination of Trait Negative Emotion Differentiation as a Moderator between Pain and Stress."

Tara earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2014, where she worked as a research assistant for the UCLA Anxiety and Depression Research Center.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Tara worked as a Research Assistant in Dr. Lukowski’s Memory & Development Lab, resulting in oral and poster presentations at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) conference in May 2016 and poster presentations at the Western Psychological Association conference in Long Beach in April 2016 and the Association for Psychological Science conference in Chicago in May 2016.  She also worked as a Clinical Outcomes Volunteer at the UCI Health Child Development School and as a post-bacc teaching assistant for Dr.  Zinger's Psychology Fundamentals C course, and she completed courses in Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Advanced Research Methods, Applied Statistics, and Child Health Psychology.  In June 2017, Tara accepted a full-time, paid position at Stanford University as an Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator for a cancer survivorship research lab, and in March 2019, she was accepted to the Clinical Ph.D. programs at DePaul University and at the University of Arizona.  She began the University of Arizona program in Fall 2019.

Sara graduated summa cum laude from Scripps College with a B.A. in Honors English Literature and Gender/Women’s Studies. She moved to Malaysia not long after, where she spent three years with Fulbright and two years with an educational therapy organization. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked with Professor Gloria Mark (in the School of Information and Computer Science) on using machine learning to analyze language use as relates to moral foundations theory and political polarization, and she completed courses in Clinical Psychology, Research Design, Abnormal Psychology, Applied Statistics, Health Psychology, Child Psychology, Infant Development, and Industrial/Organizational Psychology. In Summer 2018, Sara moved to the bay area for a full-time, paid position as a coordinator of a youth development program (where she is able to apply the research skills, statistical knowledge, and theory that she learned at UCI to drive program improvements and funding), and in June 2019, she attended the American Evaluation Association summer conference in Atlanta, GA.  Most recently (in March 2022), Sara was accepted to the School Psychology Ph.D. program at the University of Arizona, and she began that program in Fall 2022.

Pauline earned her B.A. in Psychology from Swarthmore College in 2014. In her senior year, she engaged in collaborative research on the relationship between character traits, GPA outcomes, and classroom satisfaction, which led to the opportunity to present a poster at the Society for Research in Child Development conference. During her time in the post-bacc program, she was a research assistant in Dr. Martin's Behaviors, Emotions, and Affective Neuroscience Lab, and she completed undergraduate courses in biological psychology and applied statistics, as well as graduate courses in self-regulation and affective neuroscience.  She also presented a poster at the 2019 Society for Research in Psychopathology conference in Buffalo, NY.  Since completing the post-bacc program, she has been working part-time as a (paid) lab manager in Dr. Martin's lab. In Winter 2020, she was accepted to the Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience Ph.D. program at Rice University, and she began that program in Fall 2020.

Rammy earned a bachelor's degree in Government and Near Eastern Studies (with a minor in International Relations) from Cornell University in 2010.  During his time in the post-bacc program, Rammy worked in Dr. Peter Ditto’s Hot Cognition Lab, which focuses on understanding human judgement and decision-making, and in Dr. Paul Piff's research lab,  which focuses on how social hierarchy, inequality, and emotion shape relations between individuals and groups; these research experiences resulted in oral and poster presentations at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference and a poster presentation at the Association for Psychological Science conference in Chicago in May 2016.  In addition, Rammy took courses in Personality, Basic & Applied Statistics, Research Design, Social Psychology, Violence in Society, and Advanced Forensic Psychology.  The summer after completing the program, he participated in a summer research internship in Dr. Daniel Gilbert's lab at Harvard University (while also studying for the GRE), and in November 2016, he accepted a paid, part-time research assistant position in Dr. Ditto's Hot Cognition lab and a paid, part-time learning assistant position in Dr. Novaco's Violence in Society course.  Rammy was accepted to the Ph.D. program in Social Psychology at UC Santa Barbara, which he began in Fall 2017.  He is also working as a adjunct professor at Santa Barbara City College while finishing his degree.

Cecilia graduated from UCLA in June 2015 with a B.A. in Sociology and minor in Anthropology.  During her time in the program, Cecila conducted research in Dr. Lukowski's Memory and Development Lab and completed courses in Adolescent Development, Advanced Research Methods, Applied Statistics, Clinical Psychology, Addiction, and Clinical Neuroscience.  She also completed field study internships at the UC Irvine Infant and Toddler Center and at Pathways Community Services, and she presented posters at the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference at UCI and at the SoCal Symposium on Cognition & Language at UCLA in May 2017.  In August 2017, Cecilia was invited to attend the University of Delaware's Clinical Science Visit Day (an all-expenses paid visit day where research-oriented prospective students from underrepresented groups can learn more about doctoral training in clinical science and about the Clinical Science Program at the University of Delaware), and in April 2018, she was accepted to the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  She began this program in Fall 2018, and she earned her master's degree (en route to the Ph.D.) in August 2020.

Kimia graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 2016 with a B.A. in Psychology and minor in Gender and Sexuality Studies. During her time in the post-bacc program, Kimia worked as a research assistant with Professor Klemfuss in the Child Narratives Lab, with Education Professor Jaeggi in the Working Memory and Plasticity lab, and with Cognitive Sciences Professor Sarnecka in the Cognitive Development lab, and she completed courses in Cognition & Learning in an Educational Setting, Human Development in a Cross-Cultural Perspective, and Positive Psychology (while also working part-time as a nanny).  In May 2018, Kimia attended the SoCal Memory conference in Irvine, CA.  Shortly after completing the post-bacc program, Kimia was hired as a full-time (paid) lab manager in Dr. Jaeggi's lab, and in January 2019, she was admitted to the University of Nebraska - Lincoln for their Developmental Psychology Ph.D. program.  Kimia began in this Ph.D. program in Fall 2019, and in January 2021, she got a co-authored publication in Memory with some of her mentors from UCI (Dr. Klemfuss and graduate student Emily Slonecker).  Kimia earned her Ph.D. from this program in Spring 2024, and her dissertation was entitled, "Investigating the Links Between Parent Math Anxiety, Parenting Behaviors, and Child Math Achievement and Math Anxiety in Middle Childhood."

Sonia earned her bachelor's degree in drama with minors in English and philosophy from Trinity College at the University of Toronto. During her time in the post-bacc program, She worked as a research assistant in Dr. Quas' Child Development Lab; in this lab, in addition to help Dr. Quas on ongoing studies, she also designed, executed, and wrote up the results of her own independent research study, which is now in the "revise and resubmit" stage in Child Maltreatment (a well-respected, peer-reviewed journal)!  Sonia presented a poster at the Association for Psychological Science conference in Chicago and a talk at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine in May 2016, and she will be presenting this results of her Child Maltreatment study at the American Psychology-Law Society conference in Seattle in March 2017.  In addition, while in our program, Sonia took courses in Abnormal Psychology, Lifespan Developmental Psychology, Statistics, Applied Statistics, Research Design, and Advanced Research Methods, and she volunteered as a grief counselor at OUR HOUSE Grief Support Center in Los Angeles. After completing the program, Sonia was accepted to Ph.D. in Counseling programs at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, University of Missouri - Kansas City, SUNY Buffalo (with a Schomburg Diversity Fellowship), and the University of Kansas, and she decided to attend the University of Nebraska - Lincoln.  She began this program in Fall 2017 and completed it in Summer 2023.  She is currently working in a Post-Doctoral Fellowship position with the Los Angeles VA specializing in trauma treatment and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) organizational work.

Alex graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and Biology in 2018. During his time in the post-bacc program, he was a research assistant in Dr. Ilona Yim’s laboratory, researching anxiety, the stress response, and pregnancy, and he completed courses in Human Stress, Lifespan Developmental Psychology, Positive Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Psychodynamic Studies. In addition, he presented a poster at the 2019 Association for Psychological Science (APS) conference in Washington DC and at the 2019 UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA. After completing the post-bacc program, Alex accepted a part-time, paid position as Assistant Research Coordinator in Professor Borelli's lab at UCI, and he went on to give an oral presentation at the 2020 UCI Psych Science Post-Bacc Research Conference and posters presentations at the 2021 Society for Personality & Social Psychology conference and the 2021 APS conference.  In addition, he was a co-author on two papers that were (or will soon be) published in JMIR (Journal of Medical Internet Research) Research Protocols ("Assessing the Mental Health of Emerging Adults Through a Mental Health App: Protocol for a Prospective Pilot Study" and "Using Multi-modal Assessments to Capture Personalized Contexts of College Student Well-being in 2020: A Case Study").  Most recently, in Winter 2021, he was admitted to the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. programs at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Oregon Health & Science University, and the University of Southern Florida, and he accepted the offer at the University of Southern Florida; he began this program in Fall 2021.

Miranda’s lifelong interest in psychology led her to earn a bachelor’s degree in pre-counseling, designed to prepare students for graduate clinical programs. After completing an internship with a private adoption agency, she was offered and accepted a full-time position at this agency. For nearly two years, she worked in a variety of roles with expectant mothers, adopting families, and orphaned children. During her time in the post-bacc program, Miranda worked in Dr. Pressman’s STEP Lab, which studies how positive psychological factors and social relationships benefit health and improve the stress response, and she completed courses in Human Stress, Biological Psychology, Applied Statistics, Human Neuropsychology, Research Design, Attachment Relationships, and Child Development.  She also presented a poster at the 2019 Association for Psychological Sciences conference in Washington DC.  Shortly after completing the post-bacc program, Miranda accepted a part-time (paid) lab manager position in Dr. Pressman's lab, and she presented a poster at the 2020 Parenting & Family Dynamics Preconference (at the Society for Personality & Social Psychology conference).  In January 2020, Miranda was accepted to the Developmental Psychology Ph.D. program at UC Riverside and to the Applied Developmental Psychology program at Colorado State University, and she decided to accept the offer from Colorado State.  She began this program in August 2020.

Sanam graduated from UC Davis in June of 2015 with a B.A. in Political Science, Psychology, and Spanish (Cum Laude). During her time in the post-bacc program, Sanam worked as a research assistant in Dr. Elizabeth Cauffman's Development, Disorder, and Delinquency Lab, resulting in an oral presentation at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference and a poster presentation at the Association for Psychological Science conference in May 2016.  She also took courses in Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Science, Basic and Applied Statistics, Adolescent Development, Advanced Research Methods, Violence in Society, and Advanced Forensic Psychology.  Shortly after completing our program, Sanam was accepted to the Clinical Ph.D programs (with a forensic emphasis) at Simon Fraser University (with full funding + a  major entrance scholarship worth $84,000 to be distributed over her first 4 years in the program) and the University of Nebraska - Lincoln (with full funding).  She began the Ph.D. program at Simon Fraser University in Fall 2017, and she earned her master's degree (en route to the Ph.D.) in October 2019.  Most recently (in February 2024), she was matched with Patton State Hospital for her pre-doctoral internship, and she will begin working full-time at this facility in August 2024.

Stephanie graduated from Hamilton College in May 2016, earning a B.A. with a neuroscience major and a mathematics minor. She worked in Dr. Cauffman's Development, Disorder, and Delinquency lab during her time in the post-bacc program, and she completed courses in Forensic Psychology, Violence in Society, Advanced Forensic Psychology Seminar, and Abnormal Psychology.  In addition, she gave poster presentations at the 2017 Western Psychological Association conference in Sacramento and at the 2017 Association for Psychological Science conference in Boston, and she gave an oral presentation at the 2017 UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine.  Upon completing the post-bacc program, she worked as a part-time (paid) post-bacc alum RA in Dr. Cauffman's lab, and she received admission offers from the Clinical Psych Ph.D. programs at the University of Alabama, the University of North Texas, the University of South Florida, Florida State University, and Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.  She accepted the offer to work with Dr. Edelyn Verona at University of South Florida, where they offered her their Presidential Fellowship (which includes complete tuition remission along with a $25,000 stipend per year for at least five years).  She began this program in Fall 2018, and she earned her master's degree (en route to the Ph.D.) in Summer 2021.  The title of her master's thesis was, "Measuring State Empathy: Exploring the Efficacy of a Film Clip Task and Examining Individual Differences in Empathic Responding."

Ashe graduated from Duquesne University in 2006 with a Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance and a minor in Piano. After graduation, she established a dynamic career with involvement in almost every aspect of music – as a performer and educator, and in arts management for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. During her time at UCI, Ashe was a research assistant in Dr. Pressman’s Stress, Emotion, and Physical Health Lab and Dr. Zalta’s Post-Traumatic Stress Lab, and she completed courses in Basic and Applied Statistics, Biological Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Complementary & Alternative Medicine, Research Methods, and Clinical Psychology.  In April 2019, Ashe attended the University of Virginia's Diversifying Psychology Visit Day, and in May 2019, she presented a poster at the Association for Psychological Science conference in Washington DC and gave an oral presentation at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA.  After completing the post-bacc program, she moved to North Carolina, and where she gave private music (piano and flute) lessons for music schools within the Research Triangle (which also conducting research remotely with UCI grad student Zoe Eng).  In February 2021, Ashe was accepted to the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program at the University of Utah, and she began that program in Fall 2021.

Benjamin earned his Bachelor’s degree in Urban Planning from CSU Northridge in 2010.  During his time in the post-bacc program, Ben worked in Dr. Sarah Pressman's Stress, Emotion, and Physical Health Lab and in Dr. Susanne Jaeggi's Working Memory and Plasticity Lab, and he took courses in Advanced Research Methods, Health Psychology, Clinical Neuroscience, Clinical Psychology, Applied Statistics, and Human Stress.  In addition, he presented a poster at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in May 2016 and attended the American Neuropsychiatric Association conference in San Diego in March 2016.  After completing the program, he spent a year working as a (paid) part-time research assistant in Dr. Pressman's lab and volunteering as a research assistant in Dr. Jaeggi's lab.  In Fall 2017, Ben began the Ph.D. program at the University of New Mexico (where he worked with Dr. Vincent Clark in the Cognition, Brain and Behavior area), and he completed that program in Spring 2023.  Ben is currently working as a UX and Human Factors Scientist Intern (paid internship) at Charles River Analytics.

Colleen graduated from Linfield College in 2013 with a BA in Spanish and a focus on Biochemistry. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked in Dr. Charles' Emotion Research Lab, and she completed courses in Abnormal Psychology, Personality, Statistical Analysis, Applied Statistics, Clinical Psychology, Research Design, Advanced Research Methods, and Industrial/Organizational Psychology.  In February 2018, she accepted a part-time consulting position at Gehry Partners LLP, and in May 2018, she presented a poster at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA.  Upon completing the post-bacc program, Colleen volunteered as a learning assistant in Dr. Zinger's Summer 2018 Industrial/Organizational Psychology course and worked as a (paid) part-time research assistant for Dr. Salazar Campo (a professor in the UCI School of Business) - while continuing to work as a part-time consultant at Gehry Partners.  In Fall 2018, she returned to Gehry Partners as an executive assistant, and in Winter/Spring 2019, she was accepted to the Ph.D. program in Applied Social & Organizational Psychology at Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis and to the master's degree program in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Cal State Long Beach.  She earned her master's degree from Cal State Long Beach in May 2021, and she is currently working full-time as a Employee Research Consultant at Mercer.

Jessica graduated from California State University, Fullerton in 2018 with a B.A. in Psychology. During her last two years of undergraduate career, Jessica was accepted into the NIH-funded Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) program. During her two years as a MARC Scholar, Jessica worked under Dr. Iris Blandón-Gitlin and investigated how face recognition of previously-seen disguised faces is affected by identification procedures. Jessica also spent the Summer of 2017 at the University of Oregon working under Dr. Dasa Zeithamova in her Brain and Memory Lab, where she studied how the formation of generalized and specific memories work together. During her time in the post-bacc program, Jessica worked as a research assistant in Professor Klemfuss’ Child Narratives Lab and completed courses in Cognitive Development, Juvenile Delinquency, Violence in Society, Advanced Forensic Psychology, and Applied Statistics.  She also attended the American Psychology & Law Society conference (in Portland, OR) and presented posters at the Association for Psychological Science conference (in Washington DC) and the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Conference (in Irvine, CA).  In February 2019, she was accepted to the Applied Cognitive Psychology Ph.D. program at Claremont Graduate University, and she started this program in Fall 2019.  While in grad school, Jessica secured a full-time job as a User Experience Researcher at McGraw-Hill - so, she left the Claremont program (after earning her master's degree) to focus on this new and exciting career opportuinty.

Regine graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in Psychobiology and a minor in Global Health, where she worked as a research assistant in two research labs and became involved with the Depression Grand Challenge as a STAND (Screening and Treatment for Anxiety and Depression) Peer.. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked as a Research Assistant - and then Lab Coordinator - in Dr. Garfin’s Resilience, Epidemiology, & Community Health Lab (in the School of Nursing) and completed courses in Advanced Research Methods, Applied Statistics, Clinical Neuroscience, Clinical Psychology, and Positive Psychology.  In addition, she gave oral presentations at the 2020 UCI Psychological Science Post-Bacc Research Conference, the 2020 Western Psychological Science conference, and the 2020 Association for Psychological Science conference, and she was a co-author on a manuscript published in the Journal of Health Psychology.  After completing our program, Regine spent a year working as a part-time Lab Coordinator in Professor Pressman’s Stress, Emotion, & Physical Health Lab, and she currently works as a full-time (paid) Clinical Research Assistant with Dr. Shannon Wiltsey-Stirman at the Fidelity, Adaptation, Sustainability, and Training Lab at The National Center for PTSD and Stanford University.  In addition, she gave poster presentations at the 2020 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies conference, the 2021 Society for Personality & Social Psychology conference, and the 2021 American Public Health Association conference.  Most recently, Regine was admitted to the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program at the University of Nevada - Las Vegas, and she will began that program in Fall 2023.

Deepali earned her B.S. in Evolutionary Anthropology and minor in Psychology from UC Davis in 2016. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked as a Research Assistant for Dr. Klemfuss' Child Narratives Lab and in Dr. Scurich's Jury Decision Making Lab, and she gave a poster presentation at the 2019 Western Psychological Association conference.  Deepali also took courses in Forensic Psychology, Juvenile Delinquency, Violence in Society, Advanced Forensic Psychology, Applied Statistics, and Advanced Research Methods.  In November 2017, Deepali accepted a volunteer position as a Crisis Counselor at the Crisis Text Line, and in March 2018, she accepted a part-time, paid position as a Public Safety Assistant in the Records Department of the Irvine Police Department. In addition, Deepali served as a Learning Assistant for Dr. Zinger's Industrial/Organizational Psychology course and as a Peer Tutor for Dr. Zinger's Psychology Fundamentals C course.  In March/April 2019, Deepali was accepted to Mississippi State for their Clinical Ph.D. program and to Widener University, La Salle University, LIU Post, and the Indiana University of Pennsylvania for their Psy.D. programs.  She began the Ph.D. program at Mississippi State in Fall 2019.  Since then, she successfully defended her master's thesis (which examined dating aggression, alcohol use, emotion regulation, and family violence), got a co-authored publication in Memory with some of her mentors from UCI (Dr. Klemfuss and graduate student Emily Slonecker), defended her dissertation (entitled, "Examining the Impact of De-escalation Training in Rural Mississippi: Using Simulation to Assess Behavioral Outcomes"), and won the Mississippi State University College of Arts & Sciences Outstanding Doctoral Graduate Student Award.  She began her pre-doctoral clinical internship at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (Palo Alto Healthcare System) in August 2023.

Justice graduated from UC Irvine in 2017 with a B.A. in English and a minor in Literary Journalism. After doing paralegal work in a law office for several years and realizing a passion for the legal system, criminology, and psychology, Justice decided to pursue a career in psychology & the law.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Justice was a research assistant in Dr. Elizabeth Loftus' Eyewitness Memory Lab (where she worked on her own independent project and assisted on several research projects directed by the graduate students in the lab), and she completed undergraduate courses in Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, Applied Statistics, Forensic Psychology, Adolescent Development, Eyewitness Testimony, and Research Design; she also completed a graduate course in Memory & the Law.  In addition, she gave an oral presentation at the UCI (Virtual) Psychological Science Post-Bacc Research Conference in May 2020.  Outside of UCI, Justice worked as a coach for the Girl’s Elite Program at the LA Galaxy OC and as a tutor at Advance Academy.  After completing the post-bacc program, Justice spent a year working part-time as a (paid) research assistant in Dr. Loftus' lab and volunteering in Dr. Martin's Behaviors, Emotions, Affect, and Neuroscience Lab, and in December 2020, she was accepted to the Social Psychology Interdisciplinary Ph.D. program at the University of Nevada - Reno.  Since beginning that program in August 2021, Justice has passed her qualifying exams (which means that she is now officially a doctoral candidate) and earned her master's degree (en route to the Ph.D.).

Adrianna earned her B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from Rice University in 2019. During her undergraduate career, she developed a passion for research through investigating potential therapies for head and neck cancers and Type II diabetes. She also had the opportunity to mentor cohorts of teenagers, which sparked her interest in adolescent mental health and well-being. During her time in the post-bacc program, Adrianna worked with Drs. Silver and Garfin as a Research Assistant (where she explored psychological responses to exposure to different types of news coverage of mass violence events), and she completed courses in Abnormal Psychology, Health Psychology, Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, Adolescent Development, Clinical Psychology, Research Design, and Applied Statistics (the latter of which was paid for by a scholarship she received from the UC Irvine Division of Continuing Education).  In addition, she gave two oral presentations at the 2020 UC Irvine Psychological Science Post-Bacc Research Conference and poster presentations at the 2020 Western Psychological Association conference and the 2020 Association for Psychological Science conference; she is also a co-author on a research paper that is currently under review. Since completing our program, Adrianna has been working part-time as a (paid) research assistant in Dr. Silver's lab, and in June 2021, she got a co-authored publication with Dr. Garfin (entitled, "Effect of a Nurse-Led Community Health Worker Intervention on Latent Tuberculosis Medication Completion Among Homeless Adults") in Nursing Research.  Most recently, she was admitted to the Clinical Ph.D. program at Miami University in Ohio (to work with Dr. Paul Flaspohler), and she began that program in Fall 2021.

Esther graduated from Skidmore College in 2012 with a B.A. in Psychology and minor in Music. During her time in the post-bacc program, Esther worked in Dr. Levine's Lab, studying emotion (and more recently, in Dr. Jackie Chen's lab, studying cultural psychology), and she gave a poster presentation at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Conference in May 2016.  In July 2016, she accepted a part-time, paid position as a Youth Specialist at the Korean American Family Counseling Center in Stanton, where she has the opportunity to mentor youths and work with parents and elders, and after completing the post-bacc program, she was offered a part-time, paid research assistant position in Dr. Levine's lab; she will work both jobs (youth specialist and research assistant) until starting graduate school.  In Fall 2017, Esther began the Ph.D. program in Developmental Psychology at North Carolina State to work with Dr. Lynne Baker-Ward, where she was offered a 4-year teaching assistantship (which includes funding for tuition & a stipend).

Neda earned a bachelor's degree in Midwifery/Obstetrics from Isfahan University, an MBA from UCI, and a dual master's degree in Public Health and Clinical Social Work at the University of Southern California (USC) within the Children and Family Track. During her time in the post-bacc program, Neda conducted research in Dr. Kuhlman's Teen Resilience Lab, Dr. Pressman’s Stress, Emotions, and Physical Health Lab, and Dr. Borelli's Health, Relationships, and Interventions Lab, and she completed courses in Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, Applied Statistics, Adolescent Development, Research Design, and Advanced Research Methods.  In addition, she got poster abstracts accepted at the 2020 American Psychosomatic Society conference and the 2020 Association for Psychological Science conference, and she received a scholarship from the UCI Division of Continuing Education.  Outside of UCI, Neda gained hours toward her social work licensure by working as a school counselor for Outreach Concern and as a clinical therapist at Hoag Hospital Mental Health Center; she also served on the Advisory board of the International Society of Children with Cancer (ISCC) and co-founded  the Teen Rise Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit to address educational equity initiatives and resource gaps for underserved communities. Since completing our program, Neda has continued her work at Hoag Hospical, ISCC, and the Teen Rise Foundation (while also volunteering in Dr. Kuhlman's lab); she also passed her Law and Ethics exam for her clinical social work license and got a first-authored publication in the Child Abuse and Neglect journal. Most recently (in Spring 2022), Neda was admitted to the Ph.D. in Positive Developmental Psychology program at Claremont Graduate University, and she began that program in Fall 2023.

Sirena earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from California State University - Long Beach in Spring of 2020. During her time as an undergraduate student, Sirena worked as both a research assistant and lab administrator in the HeART lab (a health psychology research lab directed by Dr. Karissa Miller). Her research in this lab has focused on attention bias and threat bias in anxious populations, as well as attention and health during the COVID-19 pandemic.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Sirena worked as a research assistant in Dr. Michael Hoyt’s Behavioral Medicine Research Lab, which examines biobehavioral processes related to psychological adjustment and coping in the context of chronic disease with a focus on cancer survivorship, and she completed courses in Behavioral Medicine, Health Behavior Theory, Applied Statistics, and Advanced Research Methods.  In addition, she gave a poster presentation at the 2022 Western Psychological Association conference in Portland and she served as a peer tutor in Dr. Zinger's Psychology Fundamentals course. Outside of UCI, Sirena worked part-time as a receptionist at a pilates studio and as a data analyst for a digital marketing company.  Since completing our program, she has continued working part-time at the pilates studies and the digital marketing company (while also volunteering in Dr. Hoyt's lab).  In addition, she got a co-authored publication (entitled, "High-trait anxious individuals show positive relationship between HRV and threat vigilance") in Psychophysiology (based on research she conducted in Dr. Miller's lab at Cal State Long Beach), and she was accepted to University of North Carolina - Charlotte for their Health Psychology Ph.D. program.  She decided to turn down the offer at UNC Charlotte  because it was not the right fit for her, and she will re-apply to Ph.D. programs in Fall 2023.

Ryan graduated from UC Berkeley in 2008 with a BA in English.  During his time at the post-bacc program, he worked as a research assistant in Dr. Martin's Behavior, Emotion, and Affective Neuroscience Lab, Dr. Rinehart's Sexual Victimization Lab, and Dr. Yim's Health Psychology Lab, and he completed courses in Human Stress, Personality, Clinical Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Advanced Research Methods, and Psychodynamic Studies.  In January 2018, Ryan accepted a volunteer position at the Crisis Text Line, and in May 2018, Ryan presented (on the research he has conducted in Dr. Martin's lab) at the UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA and attended the Association for Psychological Science conference in San Francisco, CA.  In addition, in Spring 2018, he served as a Peer Tutor for Dr. Zinger's Social Psychology course.  During his gap/application year, Ryan worked a part-time (paid) position as a Post-Bacc Alum Research Assistant, and in Spring 2019, he was accepted to the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. programs at the University of Detroit - Mercy and at Long Island University, to the Psy.D. program at Xavier University, and to the Marriage & Family Therapy master's programs at Cal State Northridge and at Cal State Long Beach.  He has decided to accept the offer at Xavier University, and he began this Psy.D. program in Fall 2019.

Joanna is a military veteran who served in the United States Air Force for four years; she received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Central Florida as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.  During her time in the program, Joanna worked as a research assistant in Dr. Roxy Silver's Stress and Coping Lab, and she attended the Society for Behavioral Medicine conference in San Diego in March 2017.  In addition, she completed courses in Human Stress and Behavioral Medicine.  After completing the post-bacc program, Joanna received admissions offers from the Master's in Psychology program at the University of Texas at San Antonio and the Master's in Industrial/Organizational Psychology program at Kansas State University; she started the master's program at UT San Antonio in Fall 2018, and she completed that program in Spring 2020.  During her 2nd year of her master's program, Joanna was accepted to three Ph.D. programs: the Experimental Psychology program at University of Texas at San Antonio, the Clinical program at Fairleigh Dickinson University, and the Clinical program at University of Texas at Tyler.  She began the Ph.D. program at UT Tyler in Fall 2020; the faculty member she is working with is really focused on veteran/military mental health and treatment, which is a topic that Joanna is very interested in. 

Christina received her International Business MBA from Pepperdine University, and she is a Certified Professional Coach. During her time in the post-bacc program, she completed courses in Cognitive Science, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Development in a Cross-Cultural Perspective, Clinical Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, and Research Design, and she worked as a Research Assistant in Dr. Ditto's Hot Cognition lab.  In addition, she presented two posters at the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA in May 2018.  After completing the program, Christina worked full-time as a Training and Development Specialist for the County of San Bernardino (and as Owner and Partner at English and Kim, an executive coaching firm), and in Spring 2019, she was accepted to the Clinical Ph.D. program at Biola University and to the M.S. in Organizational Development program at Pepperdine University.  She started the M.S. program at Pepperdine in Fall 2019, but the program was dissolved in 2020 due to the pandemic.  As such, she started the Ph.D. program at Biola in Fall 2020.  She is also working as Leadership & Life Development Coach at Authentria and Neuropsychology Extern at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles while going to school.

Sadaf graduated from UCLA in 2017 with a B.A in Anthropology. Her focus was primarily in cultural anthropology, and during her time in undergrad, she grew further interested in learning about social behavior. While going to school full-time, Sadaf worked several jobs to explore her interests, and she had the opportunity to work at Autumn Communications (a PR firm), where she learned some key sales and marketing tactics. Upon graduation, Sadaf worked for several years as an Assistant Buyer at Walmart eCommerce in San Francisco; amidst the pandemic, she moved to San Diego for a position as a Retail Strategist/Data Analyst with Petco. In addition to working full-time, she started taking courses at her local community college (including social psychology and abnormal psychology) and came to discover her passion for psychology, which led her to UCI.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Sadaf worked as a Research Assistant in Dr. Yim’s Community-Based Shelter Study (which primarily examines self-sufficiency, traumatic stress, and resilience in women that have experienced adversity) and in Dr. Zalta's Trauma & Resilience Lab, resulting in poster presentations at the 2022 Western Psychological Association conference in Portland and the 2022 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference at UC Irvine.  In addition, she completed courses in Clinical Psychology, Research Design, Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, Applied Statistics, and Advanced Seminar in the Science & Practice of Compassion.  Outside of UCI, she worked part-time at Destinations for Teens (a treatment facility).   In Spring 2022, she was accepted to the Developmental Psychology master's degree program at San Francisco State, and she began this program in Fall 2022.  Most recently (February 2024), she was admitted to the Ph.D. program in Human Development and Family Sciences at UT Austin, and she will likely accept their offer.

Christopher graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor's Degree in Economics, then attended the University of Illinois at Chicago to earn a Master's Degree in Accounting. He had been working in South Korea for a business consulting firm until he decided to pursue an academic career in the field of psychology. During his time in the post-bacc program, he worked as a research assistant in Dr. Linda Levine's Cognition and Emotion Laboratory, and he took courses in Psychology Fundamentals, Basic and Applied Statistics, Abnormal Psychology, Research Design, Social Psychology, and Juvenile Delinquency.  In addition, he attended the 2019 Society for Personality & Social Psychology conference in Portland, OR, he presented a poster at the 2019 UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA, and he gave an oral presentation at the (virtual) 2020 UCI Psych Science Post-Bacc Research Conference. After completing the post-bacc program, he spent some time volunteering as a research assistant in Dr. Chen's Cultural Psychology & Development lab at UCI, and he was accepted to the M.A. in Psychology program at NYU (which he began in Fall 2020).  While in his master's program, he got a co-authored publication in Frontiers in Psychology (entitled, "An Early Examination: Psychological, Health, and Economic Correlates and Determinants of Social Distancing Amidst COVID-19") with Dr. Chen and his grad students, and he was accepted to the Ph.D. program in Brain, Behavior, & Cognition at Washington University in St. Louis (to work with Dr. Wouter Kool).  He began this Ph.D. program in Fall 2022.

Mayan earned her BA in Religious Studies from Rice University.  While in the post-bacc program, Mayan was a lab manager in Dr. Elizabeth Martin's Behaviors, Emotions, and Affective Neuroscience lab, and she completed courses in Statistics, Research Design, Neurobiology of Learning & Memory, Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Disorders, Abnormal Psychology, Advanced Research Methods, and Applied Statistics for Psychology.  Shortly before to completing the program, she was accepted to UC Irvine's Ph.D. in Affective Sciences program (with a Eugene Cota Robles fellowship) and to UC Berkeley's Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology program (with a Chancellor's Fellowship) - and she decided to attend UC Irvine!  She earned her master's degree from our program in Spring 2020, and she is currently working for a local school district.

Joshua earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from San Diego State University. During his time in the post-bacc program, Joshua worked with Dr. Klemfuss (researching how individual differences in cognitive and narrative skills contribute to children's abilities to report about events they've experienced) and with Dr. Borelli (researching topics related to developmental psychopathology), and he completed courses in Personality, Applied Statistics, and Advanced Research Methods. In addition, he served as a Learning Assistant for Dr. Zinger's Winter 2020 Industrial/Organizational Psychology course and as a Peer tutor for Dr. Zinger's Spring 2020 Psychology Fundamentals C course, and he gave an oral presentation at the 2020 UCI Psych Science Post-Bacc Virtual Research Conference. After completing the program, Joshua spent some time working as a Crisis Counselor for the Montgomery County Hotline (which is connected to the National Suicide Prevention Hotline), and he presented a poster at the 2021 Society for Personality & Social Psychology conference (which was held virtually due to COVID-19). In Fall 2021, he began the Counseling Ph.D. program at the University of Southern Mississippi for their Counseling Ph.D. program, but after a year there, he realize that a Ph.D. degree was not the right fit for his career goals - so he left that program, and he is currently enrolled in the master's degree in clinical mental health program at Marymount University.

Eumie earned her bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts from The New School in 2015.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Eumie conducted research in Dr. Elizabeth Loftus' Eyewitness Memory lab and in Dr. John Hipp's Lab for the Study of Space and Crime, and she completed courses in Human Development in a Cross Cultural Perspective, Human Stress, Statistics, Positive Psychology, Research Design, as well as a graduate seminar about Memory & the Law.  She also presented a poster at the UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in May 2016.  Shortly before completing our program, Eumie was accepted to Cognitive Psychology Ph.D. programs at the University of Texas at Austin and at SUNY - Hunter.  She accepted the offer at UT Austin (working with Dr. Art Markman); she earned her master's degree from UT Austin in 2020, and then she left grad school to pursue a career in industry. Eumie currently works as a Data Scientist at ClearObject.

Bryan graduated from UC Santa Barbara with Bachelors in Psychology and a minor in Anthropology.  During his time in the post-bacc program, he worked as a research assistant in Dr. Jamner’s lab and took a course in Abnormal Psychology.  In addition, he presented a poster at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in May 2016.  In March 2016, Bryan was accepted into the Ph.D. program in biological & health psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, but he decided to decline this offer so he could focus on working and saving money.  Since leaving our program, Bryan has had several full-time, paid research positions, including as a clinical researcher in the psychiatry department of the Fountain Valley Regional Medical Hospital (where he learned super cool research techniques, such as using the EEG machine), as a Data Analyst at the UC San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, as a research analyst at Ipsos (a market research firm in Culver City), and as a Research Manager - Custom Research at YouGov.  In July 2020, he was admitted to the M.S. in Data Analytics program at Northeastern University, and he completed this graduate program in Spring 2022.  He currently works as a Senior Marketing Analyst at UMass Global.

Jake graduated from James Madison University in the Spring of 2017 with a B.A. in Philosophy and Religion. During his time in the post-bacc program, he worked in Dr. Cauffman's Development, Disorder, and Delinquency Lab (in the Department of Psychological Science) and in Dr. Jaeggi's Working Memory & Plasticity lab (in the School of Education), and he completed courses in Theories of Learning & Cognition, Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, Applied Statistics, Advanced Research Methods, and Cognitive Neuroscience. He also presented a poster at the 2019 Association for Psychological Science conference in Washington DC.  After completing the post-bacc program, he spent a year working as a (paid) part-time research assistant in Dr. Jaeggi and Dr. Cauffman's labs, and in February 2020, he was admitted to the Experimental Psychology Ph.D. program at the University of California - San Diego.  He earned his master's degree from this program in 2022 (at which time, he left UCSD to pursue full-time employment), and he is currently working full-time as a Licensing Program Analyst California Department of Social Services' Community Care Licensing Division/Children's Residential Office in San Diego.

Solveig earned her Bachelor’s degree in History and Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley in May 2014. Her interest in psychology developed from an ethnography she conducted on Sexual Addicts Anonymous meetings. After graduation, she completed an internship at Bridges Project in Musselburgh, Scotland as a Youth Worker for underprivileged young people. During her time in the post-bacc program, Solveig worked as a research assistant in Dr. Levine’s Affective Forecasting Lab, completed a field study at the Yellowstone Recovery Center, and presented a poster at the 2016 UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Conference. She also completed courses in Introduction to Psychology, Basic Statistics, Applied Statistics, Clinical Neuroscience, Human Resources Management, and Introduction to Marketing.  After completing our program, she spent two years working for the Art Nouveau Center and KUBE Contemporary Art Museum in Norway, and in Spring 2020, she earned her master's degree in Museology and Cultural Heritage at the University of Oslo (in Norway).  Subsequently, she spent some time working at the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology (where she entered into a partnership with a UK-based organization called "Reimagining Museums for Climate Action") and working as full-time research assistant position at the University of Oslo (where she assisted with three projects centered around the history of intelligence testing as a pedagogical and diagnostic tool).  In September 2021, she presented a paper at The 2051 Munich Climate Conference, and in Spring 2022, she was admitted to the Ph.D. program at the University of Oslo (where she will be conducting research on historical museology).  She began this program in Fall 2022.

Caroline graduated from Columbia University in 2019 with a degree in Creative Writing and a specific focus on Fiction. When she wasn't writing, she immersed herself in psychology courses at Columbia to satisfy an intellectual curiosity in the subject.  After graduating from college, she moved to Nashville, TN to begin her time as a Corps Member with Teach for America, where she spent two years teaching 9th grade English at Valor College Prep. During her time in our post-bacc program, Caroline worked as a research assistant in Dr. Loftus' Eyewitness Memory Lab and in Dr. Cauffman's Development, Disorder, and Delinquency Lab, resulting in a poster at the 2022 Western Psychological Association (WPA) conference in Portland, OR (where she received the Gottfried WPA Student Research Award in Developmental Psychology for her poster presentation); she was also a co-author on a poster presented at the 2022 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference at UC Irvine..  In addition, she completed undergraduate courses in Research Design, Social Psychology, Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, Forensic Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Applied Statistics, and she completed a graduate course in Memory & the Law.  Outside of UCI, she worked as a part-time tutor at the Huntington Beach Tutoring Center.  Since completing our program, Caroline has worked full-time as a Residential Counselor at Seton Youth Shelters in Virginia Beach and then as a Tutor at University Instructors, and in January 2023, she was admitted to the J.D. programs at Washington & Lee Law School (with a $50,00 scholarship) and at Drexel University (as a Courtroom Scholar) and to the Master of Public Policy program at the University of Virginia (with a $40,000 scholarship).  She began the JD program at Drexel University in August 2023.

Shayla completed her undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Biology and Political Science (with a minor in Politics, Philosophy and Economics) in May of 2017. After earning her bachelor's degree, she moved to Washington, D.C., working in intellectual property law (while also rowing with an Olympic Development Program). During her time in the post-bacc program, Shayla worked in Dr. Borelli's Health, Relationships and Interventions Lab, and she completed courses in Clinical Health Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Clinical Neuroscience, Clinical Psychology, Applied Statistics, and Research Design (the latter of which was paid for by a scholarship she received from the UCI Division of Continuing Education).  Outside of UCI, Shayla trained for rowing at the Newport Beach Training Center, coached high school rowing teams out of Newport Beach, and volunteered with 7 Cups of Tea as a Trained Listener. Upon completing the post-bacc program, Shayla spent a year volunteering in Dr. Borelli's lab, and she presented a poster at the 2021 Association for Psychological Science conference.  In July 2021, Shayla was admitted to the University of San Diego School of Law (and she received scholarships from the school and from outside sources for women in STEM law).  She began this program in Fall 2021, and she transferred to Harvard Law School in Fall 2022.

Eli earned his B.A. degree in Criminology, Law, & Society from University of California, Irvine in 2016. During his time in the post-bacc program, Eli was the lab manager of Dr. Scurich’s jury research lab, and he completed courses in Abnormal Psychology, Forensic Psychology, Deviance, Psychology of Inequality, Applied Statistics, and Hardiness.  In Spring 2019, Eli earned his master's degree in Criminology from Cal State Long Beach, and he was accepted to the Criminology Ph.D. program at Temple University.  He began this Ph.D. program in Fall 2019.

Howard graduated in 2014 from Pomona College with a bachelor's degree in molecular biology and a minor in religious studies, and prior to joining the post-bacc program, he worked as a research assistant at the City of Hope in the Division of Outcomes Research in the Department of Population Studies. During his time in our program, Howard worked in Dr. Jamner's lab studying emotion regulation and pain perception and in Dr. Silver's lab studying traumatic life experiences, and he completed courses in Lifespan Developmental Psychology, Personality, Research Design, Applied Statistics, Clinical Psychology, and Behavioral Medicine.  In February 2018, Howard got a first-author publication in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (based on research he conducted at the City of Hope), and in May 2018, he gave an oral presentation at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA.  After completing the post-bacc program, Howard applied to medical school and received offers from Johns Hopkins, Yale, Vanderbilt, University of Chicago, University of Rochester, Case Western Reserve, UC Davis, and UC Irvine.  He began med school at Johns Hopkins University in August 2019 and earned his M.D. in Spring 2023.  Howard is currently completing his residency in neurology at the Mayo Clinic in Florida.

Tiffany earned her B.S. degree in Human Biology with an emphasis on the Biomedical track and a minor in Health Care Studies from the University of Southern California in 2016. During her time in the post-bacc program, she was as a research assistant and lab manager in Dr. Chen's Socio-Cultural Research on Adolescent and Young Adult Development Lab (examining how various factors may influence children's level of conformity in social and/or stressful situations), and she took courses in Clinical Child Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Personality, Clinical Neuroscience, Applied Statistics, Ecology & Evolution, and Neuropharmacology.  She also presented a poster at the Association for Psychological Science conference in Boston, MA in May 2017.  Shortly after completing our program, Tiffany worked as the State Director for California Miss Amazing Pageant (the pageant for girls and women with disabilities), and in May 2018, Tiffany was accepted to the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O) programs at Touro University in Nevada and Des Moines University in Iowa.  She began the program at Des Moines University in Fall 2018.  While a medical student, Tiffany completed a research rotation at UCI (with Psych Science Professor Sarah Pressman), resulting in a poster presentation at the 2023 American Psychosomatic Society conference - and her poster won a "citation award" for being one of the best posters of the conference.  In addition, Tiffany was matched (as part of her residency rotation in internal medicine) at the Arrowhead Regional Medicine Center in Riverside, CA (which was one of her top three choices).  Tiffany earned her D.O. degree in June 2023.

Debbie earned her Bachelor's Degree in Public Health from UC Irvine with a focus on pre-med coursework in the Spring of 2016. After graduation, she worked as a research assistant at the Department of Developmental & Cell Biology studying Marine Biology with Dr. Bryant before working as an intern at Jiahui Counseling Foundation in Taiwan, where she discovered her profound interest in the field of Psychology. During her time in the post-bacc program, she was a research assistant in Dr. Borelli's Health Relationships and Intervention Lab, and she completed courses in Clinical Child Psychology, Psychology Fundamentals, Applied Statistics, Developmental Psychopathology, Clinical Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, and Research Design. In addition, Debbie presented posters at the 2019 Association for Psychological Science conference in Washington DC and the 2019 International Attachment Conference in Vancouver, Canada.  Since completing the post-bacc program, Debbie has been working part-time as a (paid) lab manager in Dr. Borelli's lab, and in Spring 2020, Debbie was admitted to several graduate programs, including Psy.D. programs at Kean University (with full tuition remission as a doctoral assistant), Baylor University (with full tuition remission), Roosevelt University, Long Island University (LIU), Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), and La Salle University and master's in counseling programs at Boston University and NYU.  She began the program at Kean University in Fall 2020.

Ethan earned his B.S. from the University of Toronto in June 2019 with dual majors in immunology and human biology. He then moved to Maryland, where he worked at the National Institutes of Health in Dr. Jessica Gill’s Tissue Injury Branch, where he investigated the utility of blood-based protein inflammatory biomarkers in U.S. military service members and veterans suffering from traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. He is published in Frontiers in Neurology - Neurotrauma, Brain, Behavior, and Immunity and in Frontiers in Pharmacology. While living in Maryland, he also volunteered for EveryMind’s Suicide Prevention and Intervention Hotline. As part of the post-bacc program, he worked in Dr. Alyson Zalta's Trauma and Resilience Lab, and he completed courses in Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Health Psychology, Psychosis, Brain Disorders, and Introductory Spanish.  In addition, he gave an oral presentation at the 2023 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Conference at UC Irvine and he presented at poster at the 2023 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies conference in Los Angeles.  Outside of UCI, he worked part-time (on the weekends) as a Mental Health Technician for a residential treatment center for people with various psychological disorders.  Most recently (in November 2023), he was admitted to the medical school program at the University of Maryland.  He will wait to hear back from the other schools he applied to  before he makes a decision about the Maryland offer.

Isabelle earned a Bachelor's degree in English (with a concentration in Law & Society) from Kenyon College in 2012, a Master's degree in Education and Special Education from Touro College in 2014, and a Master's degree in Crisis and Trauma Studies from Tel Aviv University in 2015.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Isabelle worked as a research assistant in Dr. Cauffman's Development, Disorder, and Delinquency lab, resulting in an oral presentation at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference and a poster presentation at the Association for Psychological Science conference in Chicago in May 2015.  She also completed courses in Abnormal Psychology, Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, Applied Statistics, Adolescent Development, and Clinical Psychology.  After completing the program, she continued to volunteer as a research assistant in Dr. Cauffman's lab, while also working as a (paid) ABA Behavioral Interventionist at ACES.  In February 2017, she was accepted to the Psy.D. program at Yeshiva University, which she started in Fall 2017.  As part of her graduate program, she completed a School Psychology Externship at Hastings-on-Hudson UFSD, a Clinical Psychology Externship at The New York Foundling, a Pre-Doctoral Psychology Internship at the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center.  She successfully defended her doctoral dissertation (entitled, "Predictors and Buffers of Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic") in October 2021, and she earned her Psy.D. degree in May 2022.  She is now working as a Licensed Clinical Psychologist at IMPACT Psychological Services (a private practice run by Dr. Tracy Prouts).

Dallen earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from California State University, Long Beach in Spring 2015.  During his time in the post-bacc program, Dallen worked as a research assistant for Dr. Lukowski’s Memory and Development Lab, and he presented a poster at UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Conference in May 2016; he also attended the Western Psychological Association in Long Beach in April 2016. Dallen took courses in Human Stress, Clinical Health Psychology, Child Health Psychology, and Advanced Research Methods, while also volunteering as a trained listener and facilitator at the Community Helpline and working as a (paid) ABA therapist at CARD.  After completing the post-bacc program, Dallen was admitted to the Psy.D. programs at Cal Lutheran and the University of Indianapolis, and he has decided to accept the offer at the University of Indianapolis.  He started this Psy.D. program in Fall 2017 and completed it in May 2023.  He is currently working as a therapist at The Center for Healthy Sex (CHS), a private practice in Santa Monica, where he is working with sex addiction and sex therapy clients (while gaining supervised hours for licensure).

Caroline earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Cal State University, Long Beach, and her primary areas of interest within the field of psychology are in Forensic Psychology and Psychology and the Law.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Caroline conducted research in Dr. Scurich’s and Dr. Loftus' labs (where she launched her first research study related to COVID-19 and how race may affect conviction rates), and she completed courses in Forensic Psychology, Eyewitness Testimony, Applied Statistics, and Deviance; outside of UCI, she worked part-time as a nanny. Since completing the program, Caroline has been completing a (remote) internship (where she is conducting research for the Michigan Justice Advocacy nonprofit) - and in March 2021, she was accepted to the Chicago School of Professional Psychology in Anaheim, CA for their Clinical Forensic Psychology Psy.D. program.  She began this program in Fall 2021.

Lina graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a B.S. in Cognitive Science with a specialization in Neuroscience. During in her time in the post-bacc program, she worked as a research assistant for two quarters in Dr. Lukowski's Memory and Development Lab, and she completed courses in Clinical Neuroscience, Abnormal Psychology, Advanced Research Methods, and Brain Disorders.  She also presented a poster at the Association for Psychological Science conference in Boston in May 2017.  Outside of UCI, she worked as a (paid) research associate and administrative assistant at the UCLA Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research, located in the Reed Neurological Research Center. In September 2017, Lina accepted a full-time, paid position as a Rehabilitation Technician at the RiverRidge Center for Brain Injury and Stroke Rehabilitation in Maine, and she left our post-bacc program to pursue this opportunity.  In December 2018, she returned to California, and she met the qualifications (and passed the certifying exam) to become a Certified Brain Injury Specialist.  She spent some time working as a full-time ABA Technician at Behavior Frontiers, and most recently, she has been working at the Concussion Sports Institute and Nexus Clinical Solutions.  In March 2021, Lina was admitted to the Psy.D. program (Neuropsychology Track) at Pacific University, and she began that program in Fall 2021.

Ryan earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of San Diego in May of 2014, with a major in psychology and a minor in philosophy. During his time in the post-bacc program, Ryan gained research experience by assisting Dr. Jamner in his research lab, and he completed courses in Clinical Neuroscience, Child Therapies, Human Sexuality, and Health Psychology.  In Spring 2015, he was accepted to the M.S. in Psychology program at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (which fulfills the educational and clinical training requirements for the state of California's Marriage and Family Therapist license), so he left our post-bacc program to pursue this graduate program.  He earned his master's degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in Spring 2017 and his Psy.D. degree from Pepperdine University in Spring 2021.  Ryan is currently a psychology fellow in the Adult Program for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis program at the Adlephi Society for Psychoanalysis and he teaches in both the undergraduate and Master's programs within the Derner School of Psychology at Adephi University.

Andrew graduated from University of California - Los Angeles with a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and a minor in Applied Developmental Psychology. During his undergraduate career, Andrew became a Peer Counselor with the Community Programs Office, and he interned for UCLA’s Infant Development Program. After graduating, Andrew began an internship with Southern California Neuropsychology Group, wherein he discovered his passion for the field of neuropsychology. The internship led to an employment opportunity, and Andrew accepted a paid position as a Psychometrician at Southern California Neuropsychology Group. During his time in the post-bacc program, Andrew worked in Dr. Nation's Vascular Senescence and Cognition Lab, and he completed undergraduate courses in Abnormal Psychology, Clinical Neuroscience, Clinical Psychology, Applied Statistics, and Research Design (as well as a graduate course in Cognitive Neuroscience of Human Development).  After completing the post-bacc program, Andrew continued to work full-time at the SoCal Neuropsychology  Group (as a Lead Psychometrist) while also volunteering in Dr. Nation's lab.  In addition, he attended the 2021 American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology conference, the 2021 International Neuropsychology Society conference, and the 2022 National Association of Psychometrists conference, and he passed the Certified Specialist in Psychometry exam in late June 2022.  Most recently (in Fall 2023), Andrew began the Clinical Psychology PsyD program at Alliant International University in Los Angeles.

Corey graduated cum laude from California State University, Fullerton with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. During his time in the post-bacc program, Corey worked as a research assistant in Dr. Susan Charles’ Emotion Research Lab and completed an internship at the NRC Research Institute.  He also completed courses in Advanced Research Methods, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Clinical Neuroscience, and Prejudice, Stereotyping, & Discrimination.  In June 2016, he accepted a paid, full-time position as an Assistant Recruitment Coordinator at his internship site, and in March 2017, he was accepted to the Psy.D. program in Clinical Psychology (Neuropsychology track) at Pacific University.  He began this Psy.D. program in Fall 2017, and he  completed it in Summer 2023.  He began a 2-year post-doctoral neuropsychology residency at the Portland VA in September 2023.

Karli graduated in Summer 2017 from Antioch University Los Angeles with a Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Studies.  She completed an undergraduate internship at La Ventana Treatment Programs, functioning as a mental health worker in the treatment of eating disorders and substance abuse, which led to her becoming a certified yoga teacher - and she continues to teach and practice yoga today.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Karli was a research assistant in Dr. Pete Ditto’s Hot Cognition Lab, and she completed courses in Social Psychology, Violence in Society, Applied Statistics, Advanced Forensic Psychology, and Adult Psychopathology, as well as a graduate-level course in Moral Psychology.  In addition, Karli attended the 2019 Society for Personality & Social Psychology (SPSP) conference in Portland, OR, and she presented a poster at the 2020 SPSP conference in New Orleans.  Furthermore, in Winter 2019, Karli generously offered a free weekly yoga class to the students in the post-bacc program. After taking courses in our program, Karli spent one year working as a part-time (paid) lab manager in Dr. Ditto's lab, and in Spring 2020, Karli was accepted to the Psy.D. program at Cal Lutheran University.  She completed one year of this program, but then decided that a master's degree program would be a better fit for her goals.  In January 2022, she was invited to interview at Utah State University, the University of Northern Colorado, Gonzaga University, Colorado State, Seattle Pacific University, and Seattle University for their marriage & family therapy master's programs - and in February 2022, she was admitted to the program at Colorado State.  She accepted the offer at Colorado State, and she began that master's program in Fall 2022.  She works part-time as a graduate student teaching assistant and a yoga teacher while going to school.

Ricardo earned his B.A. in Political Science with a double minor in Urban Regional Studies and Environmental Systems from the University of California, Los Angeles (where he interned with the Institute for Digital Research and Education).  After earning his bachelor's degree, he worked as a data analyst and community outreach coordinator for the Million Dollar Hoods (MDH) Project (a UCLA-based research initiative that focuses on the impacts of incarceration in the greater Los Angeles area), where he developed a passion for advocacy work in the criminal justice space, and he rediscovered his passion for psychology and mental health. During his time in the post-bacc program, Ricardo worked as a Research Assistant in Dr. Cauffman's Development, Disorder and Delinquency Lab, in Dr. Borelli's Health, Relationships, and Interventions Lab, and in Dr. Rao's Biobehavioral Research on Adolescent Development Lab, and he completed courses in Introduction to Psychology, Developmental Psychopathology, the Science and Practice of Compassion, the Psychology of Inequality, Abnormal Psychology, Research Design, and Applied Statistics.  In addition, he gave poster presentations at the 2020 Association for Psychological Science conference, the 2021 Western Psychological Science conference, the 2021 UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference, and the 2021 American Psychological Association conference. Outside of UCI, Ricardo served as a volunteer for the Crisis Text Line.  After completing the post-bacc program, Ricardo worked full-time as a Behavior Therapist at Behavior Frontiers, and in Winter/Spring 2022, he was admitted to the Psy.D. programd at Alliant International University, Cal Lutheran University, and Asuza Pacific University.  He has accepted the offer at Asuza Pacific and began that program in Fall 2022.

Allan earned his B.A. in English with a creative writing emphasis at Stanford University. During his time in the post-bacc program, Allan worked with Dr. Scurich (in the Department of Psychology & Social Behavior) and Dr. Lynch (in the Department of Criminology, Law, and Society) investigating conformity and other interpersonal effects in a jury setting.  He completed course in Introduction to Psychology, Basic and Advanced Research Methods, Clinical Psychology, Psychodyanmic Studies, and Health Psychology, and he completed a field study internship at the Hanmi Hope Korean Family Center.  In May 2017, he gave an oral presentation at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine.  Since completing our program, Allan got accepted to the Psy.D. program in Clinical Psychology at Alliant International University - Los Angeles (with a scholarship that covers about 50% of his tuition), and he began this program in Fall 2018.

Josie earned her BA in Business Administration from Loyola Marymount University and her MA in Counseling & Psychology from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. She is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California, and she runs her own private practice. During her time in the post-bacc program, Josie was a research assistant in Dr. Pressman's Positive Psychology, Social Relationships, and Health & Stress Lab, and she completed courses in Health Psychology and Clinical Neuroscience; she also attended the FACES Conference on Compassion, Mindfulness, and Wisdom.  In April 2015, she was accepted into the PsyD Couple and Family Therapy program at Alliant International University. She deferred her admission to the Psy.D. program for a couple of years while building her private practice and then started this Psy.D. program in Fall 2017.  While completing her doctoral dregree, Josie is also working as an Associate Director and Clinician at the Center for Stress Recovery and Resilience.

Khanam graduated from the University of Cambridge with a B.A. in French and Russian literature and a master’s degree in social anthropology. Her master’s thesis explored the survival of Islam in Central Asia through the Soviet period with a focus on collective emotion and Sufism in women’s spaces. She worked for a decade in academic book publishing; in her last role as senior commissioning editor at Oxford University Press, she managed the editorial team for the Oxford reference print and digital publishing program and commissioned trade and scholarly reference titles, in print and online, across all subject areas. A highlight of her publishing career was time spent discussing new research and book ideas with academics. She was fortunate to attend many academic conferences worldwide to engage with new research first-hand. Her research interests include the intersection of emotion and memory, cognitive development, and clinical psychology, and she completed the 40-hour Domestic Violence Counsellor Training in Summer 2022. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked in Dr. Klemfuss’ Child Narratives lab (where she gained valuable research experience) and she attended the 2023 Society for Research in Child Development conference in Salt Lake City.  In addition, she took courses in Psychology Fundamentals, Statistical Analysis, Lifespan Developmental Psychology, Addiction, Clinical Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, and Research Design, and she presented a poster at the 2023 Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program conference at UC Irvine.  After completing our program, she was admitted to the Clinical Psychology Psy.D. programs at Alliant International University (Los Angeles Campus) and the Chicago School for Professional Psychology (Anaheim campus).  She has accepted the offer from the Chicago school, and she will begin that program in Fall 2024.

Jan earned her BS in Exercise Science from BYU in 2009. She went on to receive her MS in Health Promotion and Education from the University of Utah in 2015.  Jan has been working in the fitness industry for over a decade as a personal trainer, group fitness instructor, and health coach, and she's come to recognize that health transformations first take place in the mind.  During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked as a research assistant in Professor Pressman's Stress, Emotion, and Physical Health Lab and in Professor Borelli's Health, Relationships, and Interventions Lab, and she completed undergraduate courses in Health Psychology, Research Design, Clinical Psychology, Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, Abnormal Psychology, and Social Relationships, as well as graduate courses in Psychological Well-Being & Health and Interpersonal Processes & Health.  In addition, she gave poster presentations at the 2021 & 2022 Society for Personality & Social Psychology conferences, and she was awarded an $850 scholarship from the UCI Division of Continuing Education (which paid for a large portion of her Fall 2021 course fees).  Outside of UCI, she completed Vanderbilt's Health Coaching Program and became a Nationally Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach. Since completing the post-bacc program, she has been continuing her work as a personal trainer and health coach, and she began a new position as an instructor for a program that prepares health coaches for the national health and wellness coaching board exam.  Most recently (in Spring 2023), she was admitted to the Health & Physical Activity Ed.D. program at the University of Pittsburgh (although she deferred her admission to this program while she considers all her options).

Dominique earned her Bachelor’s degree in Peace Studies, with a minor in English, from Chapman University.  Following graduation, she began working for an educational company (Franklin Educational Services), providing comprehensive academic and organizational support to students with learning and behavioral differences.  During her time in the post-bacc program, she took courses in Abnormal Psychology, Clinical Neuroscience, Research Design, Advanced Research Methods, Lifespan Developmental Psychology, and Applied Statistics.  In Fall 2016 & Winter 2017, Dominique worked as a research assistant in Dr. Lukowski’s Memory and Development Lab, investigating recall memory in children with Down syndrome in order to contribute to the development of more nuanced intervention strategies. She attended the 2017 Southeastern Psychological Association conference in Atlanta, GA, and she was a co-author on a poster that was presented at the 2017 Association for Psychological Science conference.  In Summer 2017, she completed a full-time research internship in Dr. Dan Gilbert's psychology lab at Harvard University, and in Fall 2017, she returned to Southern California to finish up the post-bacc program and resume her position at Franklin Educational Services; she also began conducting research with a professor at USC.   Since completing our program, she spent a summer working as the Educational Director for an educational summer program for children with autism, and she currently works as the Director of the Orange County site at Franklin Educational Services.  In 2019, Dominique began the online M.S. in Psychology program at Arizona State University - and in Winter 2020, she was admitted to the Ed.D. program at Johns Hopkins University.  She began this doctoral program in Fall 2020.

Carly earned her Bachelor's degree in Psychology and Social Behavior from University of California - Irvine in 2017. After graduation, she interned at Metropolitan State hospital, where she worked with long term patients who were not guilty by reason of insanity. Her experience at the hospital helped strengthen her interest in the intersection of psychology and the law, including her research interests in the rehabilitation of human trafficking victims and in mentally ill offenders' recidivism rates. During her time in the post-bacc program, she participated in Dr. Cauffman's Development, Disorder, and Delinquency lab, where she gained more knowledge of the legal processes involved in sentencing and rehabilitating juveniles. In addition, she completed courses in Applied Statistics, Deviance, Addiction, Adolescent Development, and Clinical Psychology; she also presented posters at the 2021 Association for Psychological Science conference and the 2021 American Psychological Association conference, and she gave an oral presentation at the 2021 UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Conference.  Since completing the post-bacc program, Carly has been working paid positions as a Behavior Technician at Autism Learning Partners (working with children on the spectrum to teach life skills, social skills, and adaptive skils) and as a research assistant in Dr. Cauffman's lab, and most recently (in February 2022), she was admitted to the Master of Social Work program at the University of Denver (with a $32,000 scholarship)!  She began this program in Fall 2022.

Evelyn graduated from National Taiwan University with a B.S. in Psychology in June 2022. During her undergraduate years, she was a member of Dr. Wen-Sung Lai’s Laboratory of Integrated Neuroscience and Ethology, where she carried out her own research project funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan, studying the effect of the estrus cycle on the social behaviors of female mice. She was also a member of Dr. Yee-San Teoh’s developmental and forensic psychology lab, and she earned a certificate as a Suicide Gatekeeper during her undergraduate years. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked in Dr. Jodi Quas and Dr. J. Zoe Klemfuss’ labs (which are both related to forensic psychology), and she completed courses in Clinical Psychology, Advanced Research Methods, Eyewitness Testimony, and Error and Bias. In addition, Evelyn received the Association for Psychological Science (APS) Student Travel Award (which included free registration to the conference and a $200 stipend), and she gave poster presentations at the 2023 APS conference in Washington, DC and at the 2023 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference at UC Irvine; she also attended the 2023 American Psychology & Law Society conference in Philadelphia. After completing our program, Evelyn worked as a behavior technician (working with children with autism), and she spent some time volunteering as a child advocate at the OC Child Abuse Services Team.  Most recently, Evelyn was accepted to all of the Master of Social Work programs that she applied to: the University of Pennsylvania (with a $50,000 scholarship), Boston University (with a $40,000 scholarship), the University of Washington, the University of Chicago (with a $50,000 scholarship), and Columbia University.  She accepted the offer at the University of Chicago, and she will begin this program in Fall 2024.

Amada graduated from the University of California, Irvine, with a B.A. in psychological science. During her time as an undergraduate student, Amada was in the HEART club (where she had the opportunity to tutor and mentor young children at risk of gang induction), she participated in the Winter Alternative Break volunteer program to work in environmental conservation, and she was awarded the UCI DREAM Project Fellowship. Amada’s research interests include attachment, trauma, and interventions for underrepresented minorities.  As a post-bacc student, Amada worked as a research assistant in Dr. Borelli’s Health, Relationships & Interventions lab (where she contributed to attachment-based intervention studies serving the Latino community), in Dr. Garfin's Resilience, Epidemiology, and Community Health lab (in the School of Nursing), and in Dr. Reich’s Connected Learning lab (in the School of Education), resulting in an oral presentation at the 2021 UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference and poster presentations at the 2021 Association for Psychological Science conference and the 2021 American Psychological Association conference.  In addition, she completed courses in Developmental Psychopathology, Applied Statistics, and Human Sexuality; outside of UCI, she worked part-time as a nanny.  After completing our program, she was admitted to the Master of Social Work (MSW) programs at UCLA and Cal State Long Beach, and she began the Long Beach program in Fall 2023.  In addition, in June 2023, she accepted a part-time job as a Clinical Program Assistant at the COPE Psychological Center.

Ali graduated from Stony Brook University with a Bachelor’s in Music. She taught clarinet lessons to high school students while attending graduate school at the Aaron Copland School of Music (CUNY Queens). Upon graduation, she taught third grade in an urban charter school through Teach For America. During her time in the post-bacc program, she participated in Dr. Sarah Pressman’s Stress, Emotion, and Physical Health lab and in Dr. Borelii's Health, Relationships, and Intervention lab, and she completed courses in Statistical Analysis, Applied Statistics, Abnormal Psychology, Developmental Psychopathology, Clinical Neuroscience, Research Design, and Psychology of Inequality.  In addition, she gave an oral presentation at the 2020 UCI Psychological Science Post-Bacc Research Conference, and she had posters accepted at the 2020 American Psychosomatic Society conference and the 2020 American Speech, Language, & Hearing Association conference.  She also completed a 9-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course and became a 500-hour certified yoga instructor through Modo Yoga International.  After completing our post-bacc program, Ali was accepted to the Master of Social Work (MSW) program at USC, Fordham University, and CUNY Hunter, but she decided to decline these offers and instead focus on getting additional clinically-oriented experience (incuding volunteering as a Crisis Counselor at the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services Suicide Prevention Center and as a grief counselor with Our House).  In October 2021, Ali accepted a full-time job as a Training  Supervisor at the Didi Hirsch Suicide Prevention Center, and in Winter 2022, she was accepted to the MSW programs at UCLA, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State LA, and UC Berkeley.  She began the UCLA program in Fall 2022, and she also works as a Crisis Line Supervisor at the Didi Hirsch Suicide Prevention Center while going to school.

Katie graduated with her bachelor's degree in Political Science from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (where she also discovered her love for beekeeping). During her time in the post-bacc program, she conducted research with Dr. Paul Piff, Dr. Azim Shariff, and Dr. Ray Novaco, and she completed courses in Introduction to Psychology, Social Psychology, Research Design, Adult Psychopathology, Basic Statistics, and Applied Statistics. In addition, she audited a graduate-level Helping and Cooperation course, presented a poster at the 2017 Society for Personality & Social Psychology conference in San Antonio, and gave an oral (and a poster) presentation at the 2017 UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA; outside of UCI, she worked part-time as a Project Associate at International Litigation Services.  After completing the program, Katie continued to work part-time as a Project Associate, while also working as a part-time (paid) research assistant for Drs. Piff, Shariff, and Novaco.  In Winter/Spring 2018, Katie was accepted to four Master of Social Work/Welfare (MSW) programs: UCLA, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Long Beach, and San Diego State.  She decided to accept the offer at UCLA, and she earned her master's degree from this program in June 2020.  After earning her MSW, Katie spent a year as a stay-at-home mom (caring for her newborn baby), and in August 2021, she accepted a part-time position at the UCI Medical Center as a Per-Diem Clinical Social Worker.

Cecilia graduated from the University of California, Riverside with a B.A in Psychology and Law & Society. After earning her bachelor's degree, Cecilia worked as a program leader at Think Together and as a Behavior Technician at the Center for Behavioral Sciences (where she became passionate about working with children who fall under the autism spectrum and/or who have other behavioral disorders). During her time in the post-bacc program, Cecilia worked as a research assistant in Dr. Lukowski’s Memory and Development Lab and completed courses in Developmental Psychopathology, Abnormal Psychology, Psychology of Inequality, and Child Development.  In addition, Cecilia volunteered as a learning assistant in Dr. Zinger's Winter 2020 Industrial/Organizational Psychology course, and she gave an oral presentation at the 2020 UC Irvine (Virtual) Psychological Science Post-Bacc Research Conference.  Outside of UCI, she worked part-time (paid) positions as an Inclusion Facilitator at the YMCA and a Behavior Management Consultant Assistant (BMCA) at Abeita & Associates, and she volunteered as a Court Appointed Special Advocate at CASA of Orange County.  Shortly after completing our program, Cecilia was accepted to the Master of Social Work (MSW) programs at Boston University and the University of Denver, and she began the University of Denver program in Fall 2021.

Katie earned her B.M. from Berklee College of Music, where she studied jazz piano and composition techniques.  During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked in Dr. Klemfuss' Child Narratives Lab (where she learned more about how children can be better supported in legal contexts and how developmental psychology can inform how children are treated and questioned in legal settings), and she completed courses in Abnormal Psychology, Developmental Psychopathology, Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, Clinical Neuroscience, Research Design, and Applied Statistics.  In addition, she presented posters at the 2021 Association for Psychological Science conference and the 2021 UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference.  Outside of UCI, Katie has been volunteering for the Crisis Text Line, and in April 2021, she accepted a full-time (paid) position as a Program Coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn).  Since completing the post-bacc program, Katie has continued her full-time position at UPenn while also working as a (paid) part-time research assistant in Dr. Klemfuss' lab.  Most recently (in February 2022), Katie was admitted to the master of social work (MSW) programs at Rutger's University and UPenn (with a $15,000 scholarship); she has accepted the offer at the UPenn, and she began that program in Fall 2022.  She will continue working as a program coordinator at UPenn while completing this master's degree program.

Kelly earned her B.A. in Psychology in May 2018 from Sonoma State University, where she was a participating member of the Psychological Research Lab team and assisted on a research project studying the valence of curvature and angularity and how it influences decision-making.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Kelly worked as a research assistant in Dr. Pressman's Health Psychology Lab and in Dr. Borelli's THRIVE lab, and she completed courses in Advanced Research Methods, Human Stress, Biological Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, and Applied Statistics. She also presented a talk at the American Psychosomatic Society conference and was a co-author on several posters presented at the Western Psychological Association conference and the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference. After completing the post-bacc program, Kelly worked in several different paid positions, including as a Counselor at the Lifehouse Agency in Petaluma, CA, a Residential Counselor at Victor Treatment Centers, and a  (remote) research assistant at Johns Hopkins University (where she helped post-bacc alum Dominique Marinello sift through and catalog empirical research articles related to the impacts of teacher attitudes and beliefs on students with autism).  Most recently, Kelly has been working as bartender and events planner Tarantula Hill Brewing Company while also starting her own small business (McRey Motocross Co), which sells women’s off-road apparel and motocross gear.  Her recent ventures in the service and retail industries inspired her to pursue a graduate degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, and in Fall 2022, she was accepted to the M.S. in Organizational Leadership program at Johns Hopkins University and to the MA program in Organizational Psychology at Alliant International University (which are both online programs).  She started the program at Johns Hopkins in January 2023.

Sara graduated from California Institute of the Arts with a BFA in Character Animation. During her first year in the post-bacc program, she worked with Dr. Susan Charles in the Emotion Research lab, with a graduate student in the School of Education (Doron Zinger), and with Dr. Jessie Borelli in the THRIVE lab. She presented a poster at the 2017 UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference, and she was an author on a poster that that was presented at the 2018 American Education Research Association conference.  In addition, she attended the 2017 California Psychological Association conference in San Francisco, and she completed courses in Statistics, Attachment, Abnormal Psychology, and Clinical Psychology.  During her second year in the post-bacc program, she accepted a (full-time) position as a Program Assistant at the Mental Health Association of Orange County, and she was admitted to two Master of Social Work graduate programs: CUNY Hunter College and University of Michigan.  She decided to accept the University of Michigan offer, and she earned her MSW from that program in Spring 2020. Sara currently works as a Mental Health Therapist Associate at Seattle Children's Hospital.

Rachel graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. During their time in the post-bacc program, Rachel worked in Dr. Paul Piff’s Morality, Emotion, and Social Hierarchy lab, Dr. Dana Garfin’s Resilience, Epidemiology, and Community Health lab, and Dr. Zalta's Trauma and Resilience Lab; as part of her work in these labs, Rachel gave a poster presentations at the 2021 Association for Psychological Science conference and the 2021 American Psychological Association conference, and she gave an oral presentation at the 2021 UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference. In addition, they completed courses in the Science and Practice of Compassion, Developmental Psychopathology, Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, Clinical Neuroscience, Research Design, and Clinical Psychology, and in Spring 2021, they were awarded a $900 scholarship from the UCI Division of Continuing Education.  Furthermore, they completed a field study internship at the UC Irvine LGBT Center. Outside of UCI,, Rachel volunteered as a Crisis Counselor for the Crisis Text Line, and they worked part-time as an Admin Clerk at the LA Public Library. After completing the post-bacc program, Rachel worked as a part-time (paid) lab manager in Drs. Piff and Zalta's labs (while continuing their work at the LA Public Library); they also volunteered at StandUp for Kids as a Youth Mentor and at the UC Irvine Counseling Center as an LGBTQ Mentor.  Most recently (in Winter 2022), they were admitted to the Master of Social Work programs at UCLA and Cal State Long Beach, and they began the Long Beach program in Fall 2022.

Andrew graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Sport Management, and he worked in high tech sales before deciding to pursue his passion in psychology and mental health. After earning his bachelor's degree, Andrew volunteered for the San Francisco Suicide Prevention Hotline and worked for a mental health facility in the Bay Area, and his main interests are childhood trauma, childhood development, and parent-child relationships.  During his time in the post-bacc program, he worked as a Research Assistant in Dr. Borelli’s Health, Relationships, and Intervention Lab, and he completed courses in Developmental Psychopathology, Social Psychology, Adolescent Development, Research Design, Clinical Psychology, and Applied Statistics.  After completing our program, he worked part-time as a Residential Statf Member at Camden Transitional Living and then full-time as a Registered Behavior Technician at Thrive Therapy & Social Center.  Most recently (in April 2023), he was admitted to the Master of Social Work (MSW) programs at UC Berkeley, the University of Washington, and the University of Chicago, and he began the UC Berkeley program in Fall 2023.

Sonia earned her B.A. in Psychology and Neuroscience & Behavior from Wesleyan University in 2015.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Sonia worked with Dr. Fortier as a research assistant in the UCI Center on Stress and Health at CHOC, and she completed courses in Developmental Psychopathology, Infant Development, Clinical Psychology, Social Psychology, and Clinical Child Psychology (while also working part-time as a behavior therapist, helping children who have been diagnosed with autism).  In May 2018, she gave an oral presentation at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA and a poster presentation at the Association for Psychological Science conference in San Francisco, CA.  Upon completing the post-bacc program, Sonia worked for two years as a full-time (paid) Research Associate at UC Irvine (with her time split between the UCI Center on Stress and Health and Professor Borelli's Health, Relationships, & Interventions Lab), and in September 2020, she accepted full-time (paid) position as a Research Study Coordinator at Northwestern Feinberg Medical (under the Medical Social Sciences department) in Chicago.  In August 2023, Sonia completed the Health Data Science Graduate Certificate Program at Northwestern University, and she is currently enrolled in their Health Analytics master's program.

Charleen earned their bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in 2019. While attending UNLV, Charleen worked at a personal injury law firm where they provided support to case managers and attorneys. After graduation, Charleen worked at an eating disorder treatment center where they provided overnight patient support. As a post-bacc student, they assisted in Dr. Elizabeth Loftus’ lab, and they completed courses in Clinical Psychology, Eyewitness Testimony, Error & Bias, Advanced Research Methods, and Applied Statistics.  In addition, they attended the 2024 American Psychology-Law Society conference in Los Angeles and presented a poster at the 2024 Western Psychological Association conference in San Francisco.  Outside of UCI, they worked full-time as an Administrative Assistant at Reese Law Group.  In March 2024, Charleen was admitted to the Master of Legal & Forensic Psychology program here at UC Irvine, and they will begin that program in Fall 2024.  

Emily graduated from the University of California - Irvine in Spring 2020 with a B.A. in Psychological Science and a minor in Criminology, Law, & Society.  During her time as an undergraduate student, she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Charles’ Emotion Lab on a research study comparing relationships among well-being, sleep, and academic performance in UCI student athletes and non-athletes. In her senior year, Emily interned at the Orange County Probation Sex Crimes Unit, and she continued volunteering at this organization even after her internship ended. Emily’s research interests include sexual violence, juvenile delinquency, violence, and anger, and during her time in the post-bacc program, she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Cauffman’s Development, Disorder, and Delinquency Lab, resulting in a poster presentation at the 2022 Western Psychological Association conference in Portland, OR.  In addition, she completed courses in Applied Statistics, Adolescent Development, Addiction, Advanced Forensic Psychology, and Attachment Relationships.  Since completing our program, she spent a year working as a (paid) part-time research assistant, and in Spring 2023, she was admitted to the Master of Legal & Forensic Psychology program here at UCI.  She began this program in September 2023.

Gloria graduated from California State University, Fullerton in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. After completing her degree, she worked as a behavioral therapist and quickly developed a passion for helping children succeed. As a result, she obtained a position as an instructional assistant at an elementary school to aid the academic, behavioral, social, and emotional needs of students in full-inclusion classrooms. During her time in the post-bacc program, Gloria worked as a research assistant in Dr. Borelli’s Healthy Relationships & Interventions Lab (where she examined the effectiveness of a strengths-based relationship program for low income Latino parents and youth), and she completed courses in Human Stress, Cross-Cultural Health Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Developmental Psychopathology; outside of UCI, Gloria was employed as an instructional assistant in special education for the Buena Park School District (serving 3rd and 4th grade classes) and the Fullerton School District (serving Kindergarten students) and as a staff member for the Huntington Valley Boys and Girls Club.  After completing our program, Gloria spent some time working in academic settings serving special education students and underserved communities (while also volunteering in Dr. Borelli's lab), and in March 2022, she was accepted to the Ed.S. in School Psychology program at Chapman University (with a scholarship). She began that program in the Fall 2022.

Candy graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2017 with a BA in Psychology.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Candy worked with Dr. Cauffman in the Development, Disorders, and Delinquency lab (investigating adolescents' experiences with the justice system and how these experiences affect them) and with Dr. Borelli in the Health, Relationships, and Interventions Lab, and she completed courses in Advanced Research Methods, Developmental Psychopathology, Clinical Psychology, Applied Statistics, and Health Psychology.  In May 2018, she gave an oral presentation at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA and presented a poster at the Association for Psychological Science conference in San Francisco, CA.  After completing the program, she spent some time volunteering in Dr. Cauffman's lab, and then later accepted a paid position as Elementary Facilitator at Girls, Inc.  In Winter 2020, Candy was accepted to the Master of Social Work (MSW) programs at USC (with a scholarship), Columbia University, and Cal State Fullerton and to the Master's of Marriage & Family Therapy programs at Chapman University and San Diego State University.  She decided to accept the offer at USC, and she began the program at USC in Fall 2020.

Carly earned her B.A. in history from the University of Michigan- Ann Arbor in 2012.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Carly worked in Dr. Silver’s lab (which focuses on coping with traumatic events), in Dr. Borelli's lab (which focuses on developmental psychopathology and attachment), and in Dr. Piff's lab (which focuses on social hierarchy, inequality, and emotion), and she completed courses in Abnormal Psychology, Research Design, Human Stress, the Psychology of Inequality, Applied Statistics, Lifespan Development, and Introduction to Human Memory.  In addition, she attended the Society for Research in Child Development conference in Austin in April 2017, and she presented a poster at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference in Atlanta in March 2018.  Outside of UCI, Carly worked and volunteered at Chrysalis, a Los Angeles non-profit that helps homeless and low-income individuals find employment.  After completing the post-bacc program, Carly earned her Master of Social Work (MSW) from USC, and she currently works as a private practice therapist at Compass Therapy in Newport Beach.

Crystal graduated from the University of California, Irvine in December 2015 with a B.A. in psychology and social behavior. During her time as an undergraduate student, she worked as a research assistant at the Cal Plug Load Research Center with Dr. Joy Pixley, where she conducted one-on-one interviews with UCI staff, faculty, and students for a computer and energy expenditure study; collected, recorded, and uploaded data; and installed computer software on participants’ computers. Crystal was also a research assistant in UCI’s Health Response Lab for one year, where she collected, entered, and cleaned data (and reviewed and analyzed research articles) for a study investigating physiological responses to stress. After earning her bachelor’s degree, Crystal spent several years working in the engineering field as a project engineer and a junior project manager. During her time in the post-bacc program, Crystal worked in Dr. Borelli’s Health, Relationships, and Interventions Lab (first as a research assistant and then as a study coordinator) and in Dr. Schuck's Child Development Lab, and she completed courses in Developmental Psychopathology, Adolescent Development, Cognition & Learning in an Educational Setting, and Issues in K-12 Education. In addition, she volunteered as a Court Appointed Special Advocate with the Riverside Superior Court of California (where she mentored foster youth), and she spent some time working as a Behavioral Interventionist. In August 2023, Crystal accepted a  job as a Paraeducator in a special education classroom in the Norco Corona School District, and she left our program to focus on working in this full-time position.  Most recently, she was accepted to the Ed.S. program in School Psychology at Chapman University (with a $16,000 scholarship); she will wait to hear back from the other programs she applied to before making a decision.

Daniel graduated in 2019 from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in Cognitive Science. During his time there, he discovered a passion for psychology and gained research experience as an undergraduate research assistant in Dr. Walker's Center for Human Sleep Science, where he helped to develop, run, and analyze experiments regarding the effects of sleep deprivation on judgement. After graduating, Daniel worked as a Junior Research Scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, researching sparse coding machine learning. During his time in the post-bacc program, Daniel was a research assistant in Dr. Klemfuss' Child Narratives Laboratory, and he completed courses in Applied Statistics, Child Development, Adolescent Development, Lifespan Development, and Research Design.  Outside of UCI, he continued working part-time at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and he plans to present a poster (based on work that he completed at the National Laboratory) at the 2021 International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) conference.  In Spring 2021, Daniel was admitted to the M.Ed. program in Child Studies (on the Clinical and Developmental Research Track) at Vanderbilt University, but he turned down this offer because he accepted a full-time (paid) research assistant position in the Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Lab at Yale Medical School.  He began the Yale position in August 2021.

Katie graduated from the University of San Francisco in 2014 with a BA in Art History and a minor in Fine Art. In 2013, she worked as an Art Program Assistant at a non-profit organization in San Francisco that focuses on empowering youth to move beyond homelessness by providing employment, healthcare, and education, and in 2017, she worked as a freelance art writer in Los Angeles. During her time in the post-bacc program, Katie was a research assistant in Dr. Martin's Behaviors, Emotion, and Affective Neuroscience lab, and she completed courses in Abnormal Psychology, Addiction, Applied Statistics, Clinical Neuroscience, Clinical Psychology, Research Design, Lifespan Developmental Psychology, and Industrial/Organizational Psychology.  She also presented posters at the 2019 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) conference in Irvine, CA and the 2019 Society for Research in Psychopathology conference in Buffalo, NY.  After completing the post-bacc program, she spent some time volunteering in Dr. Martin's lab, and in Winter 2020, she was accepted to the Master's in Industrial/Organizational Psychology program at San Jose State, to the M.S. in Applied Psychology program at USC, and to the M.A. in Psychological Science program at Cal State Fullerton; she began the program at Cal State Fullerton in Fall 2020.  She worked as Research Assistant at the Center for Research on Educational Access and Leadership and as a Senior DEI & Talent Analyst at Levi Strauss & Co. during her time as a graduate student, and she she completed the Cal State Fullerton program in 2024.  Since earning her master's degree, she received a promotion at Levi Strauss & Co., where she not works as a Global DEI & Talent Manager.

Melanie graduated from Mount Saint Mary’s University in the Spring of 2019 with a B.A. in Psychology and an emphasis in applied psychology. During her senior year, she had an internship with Santa Monica Police Activities League (PAL) where she was a homework tutor for children 5-17 years old; she also helped juniors and seniors who were a part of PAL in applying for college and scholarships. During her time in the post-bacc program, Melanie worked with Dr. Fortier in the Center of Stress and Health as a student research intern, and she completed courses in Developmental Psychopathology, Adolescent Development, Human Stress, Social Epidemiology, and Psychology of Inequality.  In addition, she volunteered as a learning assistant for Dr. Zinger's Industrial/Organizational Psychology course.  Outside of UCI, she worked as a behavioral therapist (providing therapy to children who have autism and other disorders) and as an after-school tutor for children with learning disabilities.  After completing the post-bacc program, Melanie continued to work with children while also working as a teaching assistant for a Research Methods Lecture & Lab course at her alma mater, and in March 2021, Melanie was accepted to the master of social work (MSW) programs at Cal State Northridge and Cal State San Marcos. She accepted the offer at Cal State San Marcos, and she completed that program in May 2023.  She currently works as a Bilingual Intensive Care Coordinator at San Diego Center for Children.

Kate earned her Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from the University of California - Santa Barbara, and her primary interests are in attachment theory, parent-child relationships, trauma, and therapeutic interventions for marginalized communities. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Borelli’s Health, Relationships & Interventions lab and as a study manager in Dr. Campos' Culture, Relationships, and Health lab, and she completed courses in  Abnormal Psychology, Developmental Psychopathology, Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, Lifespan Developmental Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Applied Statistics.  In addition, she gave poster presentations at the 2021 UC Irvine Undergraudate Research Opportunities Program Conference and the American Psychological Association Conference.  Outside of UCI, she worked part-time as a CARE Counselor at Cerebral (a company that delivers psychiatric care remotely).  After completing the post-bacc program, Kate spent some time working full-time as a Concierge at healthPiper (an app that provides personalized, online health care for the treatment of psychiatric symptoms), and in Spring 2023, she was admitted to the counseling psychology master's programs at Santa Clara University and the California Institute for Integral Studies.  She accepted the offer at Santa Clara, and she began that master's program in Fall 2023.

Katherine earned her B.A. in American Literature and minor in Spanish at UCLA in 2012. Upon graduation, she moved to San Francisco and started a career in Human Resources in Silicon Valley. Working in this space confirmed her love of working with people; it also clarified that her ultimate goal is to work in service of people and their personal development, outside of a business context. During her time in our post-bacc program, she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Quas' research lab, where she learned about the impact that stress, trauma, and maltreatment have on childhood development; she also completed courses in Introduction to Psychology, Lifespan Developmental Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, and Research Design.  In Spring 2019, Katherine was accepted to the Marriage & Family Therapy (MFT) master's degree program at Chapman University (with a $34,000 fellowship, which paid for over 50% of her tuition) and to the Master of Science in Counseling program at Cal State Fullerton, and she decided to attend the program at Chapman.  During her time at Chapman, she worked as an MFT trainee at the LGBTQ Center Orange County and at Chapman University Francis Smith Center, and her earned her master's degree from this program in May 2022.  She is currently working as a private practice therapist at The Practice Therapy  Group (https://www.infiniteyoutherapy.com) and as a family therapist at The Arrow House.

Gavin received his B.S. in Political Science with an emphasis in law from the University of Idaho. During his time in the post-bacc program, he worked in Dr. Schueller’s Technology & Mental Health Lab (in the Dept. of Psychological Science) and in Dr. Garfin’s Resilience, Epidemiology, & Community Health Lab (in the School of Nursing), where he gained research experience and learned more about the roles of mindfulness, community, and technology in treating mental illness.  He completed undergraduate courses in Research Design, Clinical Psychology, Forensic Psychology, Applied Statistics, and Social Psychology, and he completed a graduate course in Implementation Science.  In addition, he gave a poster presentation at the 2022 Association for Psychological Science conference in Chicago.  After completing our program, Gavin moved to Washington state, where he spent some time volunteering at a local youth resource center.  Most recently (in May 2023), Gavin was accepted ot the Clinical Mental Health Master's programs at George Fox University and Antioch University, Seattle, and he began the program at Antioch in Fall 2023.

Ronan graduated from Princeton University in 2016 with a B.A. in Linguistics and a minor in Translation Studies. During his time in the post-bacc program, Ronan was a research assistant in Dr. Martin's Behaviors, Emotions, and Affective Neuroscience (BEAN) lab, and he completed courses in Positive Psychology, Research Design, Abnormal Psychology, Addiction, Adolescent Development, and Psychodynamic Studies.  He also completed a field study internship at Outreach Concern (a school-based counseling agency that works with students on a confidential, one-on-one basis to help them overcome obstacles that impact classroom performance).  Shortly before completing our program, Ronan was admitted to the M.A. in Clinical Psychology program (with a Latino Mental Health Concentration) at Antioch University in Santa Barbara - he earned his master's degree from that program in September 2019.  Since earning his graduate degree, Ronan has worked as an Associate Marriage & Family Therapist at several organizations (including the Community Counseling & Education Center, the Family Service Agency, Wellness Together School Mental Health, and Hearyou.org), and he is currently working as a Clinical Case Manager at Neighborhood House Association, where he serves as therapist and medical case manager to unhoused/housing-insecure clients with specialized medical needs (with a focus on serving LGBTQ+ and monolingual Spanish-speaking communities).  Most recently (in November 2023), Ronan earned his license from the Board of Behavioral Sciences, which means that he is now officially a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist.

Elizabeth earned her Bachelor's degree in Psychology and Social Behavior with a minor in Criminology, Law, & Society from UC Irvine in June of 2014. While in the post-bacc program, she worked as a research assistant for Dr. Quas (who studies memory development and children's involvement in the legal system), and she presented her research at the Western Psychological Association conference in Las Vegas, NV and at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Conference.  In addition, she completed courses in Clinical Psychology, Human Development in a Cross-Cultural Perspective, Applied Statistics for Psychology, Advanced Research Methods, and Graduate-level Research Methods.  After completing the program, she accepted a part-time (paid) position as a Project Director in Dr. Quas' lab and a part-time (paid) position as an Administrative Assistant at Western Youth Services.  In April 2016, Elizabeth learned that she was accepted to the Master's in School Psychology programs at Chapman University and Cal State Long Beach.  She decided to attend Cal State Long Beach (her top choice), and she completed this program in Spring 2019.  Elizabeth now works as a School Psychologist for the Fullerton School District.

Jaqueline (Jackie) earned her bachelor's degree in Psychology & Social Behavior from UC Irvine. During her undergrad, she took courses that developed her interest in developmental psychology, attachment relationships, and social psychology. While going to school full-time, Jackie worked as an Assistant High School Music/Marching Band instructor, which influenced her decision to become a school psychologist and specialize in adolescent psychology. During her time in the post-bacc program, Jackie worked in Dr. Borelli's Health, Relationships & Interventions Lab (first as a Lead RA and now as a Study Coordinator) and she completed courses in K-12 Moral Development, the Psychology of Chicano/Latino Families, the Science & Practice of Wellness & Resilience, and Applied Statistics.  In addition, she gave an oral presentation at the 2021 UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Conference.  In Fall 2021, Jackie began a full-time position as an Instructional Aide at Santiago Charter Middle School; after completing our program, she worked full-time at the middle school while also working as a part-time (paid) study coordinator in Dr. Borelli's lab.  Most recently (in March 2022), Jackie was admitted to the Educational Specialist (Ed.S.) program at Cal State Long Beach, and she began this program in Fall 2022.  She also works as a wellness center support staff member at the middle school while going to school.

Jonathan graduated from the UC Berkeley with a B.A. in Philosophy in 2015. After a few years of teaching English in San Francisco, Jonathan discovered his calling in clinical psychology and psychotherapy, with specific interests in the practice of psychotherapy, men's issues, military and veterans' mental health, Latino-American mental health, and clinical psychology research in general.  During his time in the post-bacc program, Jonathan worked in two research labs in the Department of Psychological Science: Dr. Borelli's Health, Relationships, and Interventions Lab and Dr. Piff's Morality, Emotion, and Social Hierarchy Lab.  In addition, he completed courses in Abnormal Psychology, Social Psychology, Research Design, Clinical Psychology, Applied Statistics, and Advanced Research Methods, and he gave a poster presentation at the 2018 UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA.  In November 2018, Jonathan left the post-bacc program to teach English in China, and most recently, he was accepted to the Clinical Psychology master's degree program at Asia University (in Taichung, Taiwan) with a scholarship that pays for 100% of his tuition and 50% of his dormitory costs; he begin this program in Fall 2021.

Monica earned her B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 2014. She went on to receive her Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center in 2019. That same year, Monica became a California licensed attorney and started practicing in complex civil litigation in Washington, D.C. She quickly realized that she wanted to counsel clients in more than the law, so she sought out the post-bacc program in hopes of ultimately becoming a clinical therapist.  During her time in our post-bacc program, Monica worked as a research assistant in Dr. Garfin's Resilience, Epidemiology, and Community Health lab in the School of Nursing, and she completed courses in Abnormal Psychology, Applied Statistics, Social Psychology, Lifespan Developmental Psychology, and Addiction.  In addition, she volunteered 10-20 hours week for the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN) hotline.  In Winter 2021, Monica was accepted to the M.S. in Marriage & Family Therapy program at San Diego State University (her top choice!), and she left our post-bacc program to begin this master's degree program (which started in Summer 2021).  She earned her master's degree in May 2023, and she currently works as a therapist for She Rocks the Spectrum (https://www.sherocksthespectrum.com/), an online organization that has neurodivergent therapists working with neurodivergent clients.

Emma graduated from the University of Redlands with bachelor's degrees in psychology and sociology & anthropology.  Her interests include the neuro/biological, cultural, and social aspects of psychology, and during her time in the post-bacc program, she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Jamner's Social Psychopharmacology Lab, resulting in an oral presentation at the 2020 UC Irvine Psychological Science Post-Bacc Research Conference.  In addition, she completed courses in Advanced Research Methods, Developmental Psychopathology, Applied Statistics, Clinical Neuroscience, Behavioral Medicine, and Social Psychology, and she audited a graduate-level Health Psychology course.  After completing the post-bacc program, Emma was admitted to the Master of Public Health programs at Arizona State University, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, and San Diego State; she decided to accept the offer at Arizona State due to the flexibility of its online format, and she began that program in Spring 2022.

Naomi graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a B.A in Psychology and a minor in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, and she has been working at California Psych Care providing ABA therapy for children with autism for several years. She has a passion for improving the living standards of people with brain disorders and understands that research is what makes improving lives possible. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Jaeggi's Working Memory & Plasticity Lab (in the School of Education) and in Professor Grossman’s Lab (in the Dept. of Cognitive Sciences), and she completed courses in Advanced Research Methods, Introduction to fMRI Research, MATLAB, Applied Statistics, and Clinical Neuroscience.  In addition, she gave an oral presentation at the 2020 UCI (Virtual) Psych Science Post-Bacc Research Conference in May 2020, became a Board Certified Autism Technician. completed MRI safety training, and began the process of completing her MRI operator certification (which, unfortunately, was cut short due to COVID-19).  After completing the post-bacc program, Naomi worked for a year at California Psych Care's San Diego location, and she was accepted to the M.A. in Psychology program at San Diego State (working the Brain Development Imaging Labs with Dr. Müller); she began this master's program in Fall 2021.

Caitlin earned her Bachelor's degree in 2011 from Northeastern University, majoring in business with a marketing concentration and minoring in history. During her time in the post-bacc program, worked as a research assistant for Dr. Roxy Silver (studying the way people cope with traumatic events) and took courses in Research Design, Applied Statistics, Clinical Health Psychology, and Interpersonal Processes & Health.  In March 2016, Caitlin was accepted to the San Diego State University Master of Social Work and Master of Public Health (MSW-MPH) dual degree program.  She began this program in Fall 2016, and after her first year, she changed her focus to concentrate only on the MPH degree.  In May 2018, she earned her MPH in Health Management & Policy.  After earning her master's degree, she held full-time positions as the Director of Quality for Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest in San Diego and as a Program Manager for MedImpact  Healthcare Systems, and she currently works as a Clinical Consultant IV, Population Health Management Initiative at Kaiser Permanente.

Rebecca earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology in May of 2015 from California State University, Long Beach. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Elizabeth Loftus’ memory and law and in Dr. Martin's Behavior, Emotion, and Affective Neuroscience (BEAN) lab, and she presented a poster at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in May 2016.  She took courses in Human Development in a Cross-Cultural Perspective and Memory and the Law, and outside of UCI, she worked as an advanced behavior interventionist at Autism Spectrum Therapies.  In December 2016, Rebecca was accepted to the Masters of Applied Behavioral Analysis program at Simmons University (her first choice of graduate programs), and she earned her Master's Degree from that program in Spring 2018.  She currently as a BCBA Program Supervisor at Coyne & Associates Education Corp.

Nikki graduated Magna Cum Laude from Santa Clara University in June of 2015 with a B.S. in Psychology and a double minor in Communications and Sociology.  During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Goldberg's Family Lab, studying typically developing children and children with Autism, and she completed a field study internship at the CSP Youth Shelter in Laguna Beach.  Prior to completing the program, Nikki was accepted to all of the graduate programs she applied to, including UCLA's and Boston College's Master of Social Welfare/Social Work (MSW) program, Columbia University's M.A. in International Educational Development program (with an $18,000 scholarship), Pepperdine University's M.A. in Social Entrepreneurship and Change, and University of San Diego's M.A. in Peace and Justice program (with a $20,000 scholarship). She decided to attend the program at Columbia, and she earned her master's degree in Spring 2018.  Currently, Nicole works with The Salesforce Foundation in New York City, running their donation/grant program (which donates 10 Salesforce CRM licenses to nonprofits and educational institutions).

Gabi graduated from California State University, Los Angeles with her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Gabi was a research assistant at UCI’s Center on Stress and Health under the advisement of Dr. Michelle Fortier, and she completed courses in Applied Statistics, Positive Psychology, Advanced Research Methods, Behavioral Medicine, Clinical Neuroscience, Human Stress, and Psychodynamic Studies.  Shortly before completing our program, she was admitted to the master's degree programs at Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Dominguez Hills.  She accepted the offer at Cal State Fullerton and she earned her M.S. in Clinical Psychology program in Spring 2020.  She is currently working as Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist at Stepping Forward Counseling Center in Yorba Linda, and she is in the process of publishing a book chapter based on her master's thesis.

Trinh earned her B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from UCI in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and is currently a professor in the Mechanical Engineering department at Cal State LA. She joined the post-bacc program in order to explore multiple areas in psychology, including cross-cultural psychology and developmental psychopathology, and she completed courses in Developmental Psychopathology, Addiction, Social Psychology, Adolescent Development, Clinical Psychology, Positive Psychology, and Infant Development.  In addition, she worked as a research assistant with Dr. Chuansheng Chen (on a research project through which machine learning approaches are utilized for large-scale depression screening) and with Dr. Borelli (in the Health, Relationships, and Interventions Lab).  In August 2020, Trinh attended the American Psychological Association (Virtual) conference, and in Spring 2021, she was admitted to the the M.S. in Counseling Program at Cal State Fullerton and to the M.S. in Marital & Family Therapy program at Cal State Dominguez Hills.  She decided to accept the offer at Cal State Fullerton, and she began that program in Fall 2021.

Raechel graduated from California State University of Fullerton in 2020 with a Bachelor's of Science in Public Health, where she took courses and conducted research related to disabilities and their impact on one's overall health. After working as a Behavior Interventionist with Applied Behavior Analysis, Raechel discovered her passion in psychology. During her time in the post-bacc program, Raechel participated in Dr. Hoyt's research lab (which focuses on chronic disease and coping) and completed courses in  Health Psychology, Human Stress, Abnormal Psychology, Clinical Neuroscience, Violence in Society, Clinical Psychology, and Research Design.  Outside of UCI, she worked as an Registered Behavior Technician three days a week.  In Spring 2021, Raechel was admitted to the M.S. in Counseling Psychology program with specialization in Children & Adolescents at Azusa Pacific University, the (online) M.S. in Psychology program at Purdue University Global, and the M.A. in Psychology program at Pepperdine University - but she decided to decline their offer and spend an additional year saving up some money (while also applying to more graduate programs).  After completing the post-bacc program, Rachel has continued her work as a Registered Behavior Technician (while also volunteering in in Dr. Hoyt's lab), and in Spring 2022, she was admitted to the M.S. in Clinical Psychology program at Cal State Fullerton.  She has accepted their offer and began this program in Fall 2022.

Sara graduated from the University of California - Irvine in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in psychological science, where she developed an interest in pursuing a career in research and clinical psychology. During her senior year, she became a research assistant in Dr. Zalta’s Trauma and Resilience Lab, contributing to studies examining moral injury and military trauma. Upon starting the post-bacc program, Sara also joined Dr. Borelli’s Health, Relationships, & Interventions Lab as a research assistant, where she contributed to the "Enjoying Memories" eating disorder study. In addition, Sara completed courses in Applied Statistics, Clinical Neuroscience, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and she got a poster accepted to the 2022 International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies conference. Outside of UCI, Sarah volunteered as an exposure assistant at Compass Therapy, and she worked part-time at a recruiting firm.  Sara’s clinical interests include eating disorders, anxiety, trauma, and PTSD, and in March 2023, she was admitted to Cal State Fullerton for their M.S. in Clinical Psychology program.  She began this program in Fall 2023.

George earned his AA in Liberal Arts Studies from Fresno City College and a BA in Psychology from UC Merced. During the same time, George was also serving in the California Army National Guard for 6 years as Military Police. Moreover, George is a combat veteran (he was deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom). During his time in the post-bacc program, George worked with Dr. Raymond Novaco in his domestic violence research lab (examining how victims of intimate partner violence may develop PTSD), and he completed undergraduate courses in Violence in Society, Advanced Forensic Psychology, and Applied Statistics; he also completed graduate courses in Interpersonal Processes & Health and Social & Affective Neuroscience. In addition, he attended the 2018 Association for Psychological Sciences conference in San Francisco, CA, and he participated in Northwestern University's 2018 Sneak Peek weekend, where underrepresented students had the opportunity to visit Northwestern’s Department of Psychology, interact with faculty members and graduate students, and meet peers interested in pursuing graduate education in psychology.  During his first year after completing our program, George worked part-time for the City of Irvine - Disability Services providing 1:1 accommodations for children with special needs in after school programs, recreational classes, and excursions (while also volunteering as a research assistant in Dr. Zalta's lab), then he returned to his home town of Fresno, CA to work as full-time as a Senior Admissions & Records Assistant at Fresno City College.  In April 2021, George was accepted to the Master of Science in Counseling - Option in Student Affairs and College Counseling program at Fresno State, and he earned his master's degree from that program in Spring 2023.  He currently works part-time as anAdjunct Counselor in the Transfer Center at Fresno City College.

Pauline graduated from University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 2014 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. During her time in the post-bacc program, Pauline worked with Dr. Wendy Goldberg to better understand the family context and the social and cognitive functioning of students with autism, and she completed courses in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Cognition & Learning in an Educational Setting, Research Design, and Advanced Research Methods.  In addition, she presented a poster at the 2018 Western Psychological Science conference in Portland, OR and at the 2018 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA.  In Winter/Spring 2019, Pauline was accepted to the Ed.S. program in School Psychology at San Diego State and Chapman University and to the M.S. in Counseling (with an emphasis in School Psychology) program at Cal State Los Angeles.  She earned her master's degree from the Cal State Los Angeles program in May 2022, and she got a first-author paper (entitled, "College Students’ Perceptions of Peers with Autism") published in the Contemporary School Psychology (with a graduate student she worked with UCI as one of the co-authors) .  Pauline currently works as a school psychologist in East Whittier, CA.

Vesta graduated from the University of California, Riverside in 2017 with a B.A in Media and Cultural Studies. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked in Dr. Sabrina Schuck's lab at the UC Irvine Child Development Center, and she completed a course in Clinical Psychology.  After leaving our program, Vesta took courses at local community colleges in order to strengthen her application for master's programs in social work (while also working full-time as a Sales Representative at AT&T), and in Spring 2019, she was accepted to the Master of Social Work program at Asuza Pacific University.  She completed this program in Spring 2021, and she currently works full-time as a Clinical Care Coordinator at Bay Area Community Services.

Laura earned her BA in Psychology and a minor in Applied Psychology from UC Santa Barbara, where she excelled in her courses and made lasting friendships with her fellow graduates. During her time in the post-bacc program, she completed courses in Personality, Applied Statistics, Behavioral Medicine, Health Psychology, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, and Stress Management, and she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Zinger's lab (where she conducted a study on the relationship between syllabi word use and teaching evaluations in university professors). She gave a poster presentation at the 2018 Association for Psychological Science conference in San Francisco and gave both oral and poster presentations at the 2018 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine; she was also a co-author on a poster that was presented at the 2018 Society for Personality & Social Psychology conference. In January 2019, Laura was accepted to the M.A. in Clinical Psychology (with an emphasis in Marriage & Family Therapy) at Pepperdine University with some scholarships (which she began in Fall 2019), and she worked full-time while going to school - first as a Teaching Assistant at the Help Group (where she was working with middle schoolers on the autism spectrum) and then as Behavioral Coach and Support Counselor at Community West (a treatment center in West LA) and as a Library Graduate Assistant at Pepperdine. In addition, as part of her master's program, Laura interned as a Marriage and Family Trainee at the OPICA Adult Day Care (in West LA working with seniors with early-stage memory loss) and at LA City College at their Life Skills Center (working with community college students). Since completing her master's degree in July 2021, Laura has worked as a Group Therapist at Key Transitions (a teen outpatient drug rehab program), an Associate Marriage & Family Therapist at a group private practice, a Family-Centered Clinician at California Mentor, and most recently, as an School Clinician at Vista Del Mar Child & Family Services. She is also an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University.

Alexis graduated from Tulane University in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science in Management (specializing in Legal Studies in Business). After college, Alexis worked in the insurance industry, in both personal and commercial lines insurance at agencies in the Boston and New York areas. During her first year in the post-bacc program, Alexis worked in Dr. Kuhlman’s Teen Resilience Lab, where she primarily worked with adolescents who have undergone or are undergoing a series of stressful life events; the goal of the research was to track the participants and see which (if any) of them develop depression in their teenage years. She was also a club member of H.E.A.R.T. (Healthy Emotions & Attitudes in Relationships Today) at UCI, and she completed courses in Abnormal Psychology, Statistics, Complementary & Alternative Medicine, Health Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Health Behavior Theory, and the Science and Practice of Compassion.  She also completed a Field Study Internship at Human Options, and she presented posters at the 2019 Association for Psychological Science conference in Washington DC and at the 2019 UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA.  After a year in our program, Alexis moved to New York (to be closer to her family), and she worked as a child care provider while also completing her final course in the program (via an online course).  In Winter 2020, Alexis was admitted to the Leslie University for their Clinical Mental Health Counseling - Holistic Studies master's degree program (with a $9,000 scholarship) and to Northeastern University for their Master of Science in Counseling program (with a $10,000 scholarship).  She accepted the offer at Leslie University, and she began that program in Spring 2021.

Anthony graduated from the University of California - Irvine with a B.A. in Psychology and Social Behavior and a Minor in Criminology, Law and Society in the Spring of 2018. It wasn't until his senior year at UCI that he realized his passion for the field of Clinical Psychology and its intersection with Juvenile Delinquency.  During his time in the post-bacc program, Anthony worked as a research assistant for Professor Scurich (in the Department of Psychological Science) and Professor Rodriguez (in the Department of Criminology, Law, and Society), and he completed courses in Juvenile Delinquency, Advanced Research Methods, Adolescent Development, and Applied Statistics.  In May 2019, he presented a poster at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA.  In Spring 2020, Anthony got accepted to the counseling psychology master's degree program at Palo Alto University, and he earned his master's degree from the program in December 2022. He currently works as a counselor at the Oak Grove School District, as a private practice therapist at Therapy By Choice in San Jose (where he sees individuals and couples), and as a mental health clinician at Wellpath (where he works directly with incarcerated individuals at the Santa Cruz County Jail).

Kaitlyn earned her A.A. in Social Sciences in 2011 from Pasadena City College (where she was the President of the Psychology Club), and she earned her B.A. in Psychology from California State University, Los Angeles in 2014.  During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked in Dr. Jamner's Social Psychopharmacological lab and she took undergraduate courses in Advanced Research Methods, Developmental Psychopathology, Clinical Neuroscience, Applied Statistics, and Positive Psychology; she also took a graduate-level Social & Affective Neuroscience course.  In addition, she attended the 2018 Western Psychological Science conference in Portland, OR and presented a poster at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA.  After completing the post-bacc program, Kaitlyn continued being active on the professional conference circuit, attending the 2019 Society for Research in Psychopathology conference in Indianapolis, IN and presenting posters at the 2019 Western Psychological Association conference in Pasadena, CA and the 2019 Association for Psychological Science conference in Washington DC, and she worked full-time as a Human Resources Assistant at Barlow Respiratory Hospital.  Most recently (in August 2021), Kaitlyn began the M.A. in Psychological Science program at the Catholic University of America.

Noa graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in Psychology in May 2023, where she finished her undergraduate studies in two years. During her time in the post-bacc program, she volunteered as a crisis counselor with the Suicide Prevention Center at Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services and worked in Dr. Alyson Zalta's Trauma and Resilience Lab.  In addition, she completed courses in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Abnormal Psychology. Her research interests include trauma, development, attachment styles, and relationships. She left our program after one quarter for personal reasons, and she subsequently accepted positions as a Residential Counselor with Evolve Adolescent Behavioral Health and as a Caregiver for Cambrian Homecare (while also continuing to volunteer as a crisis counselor).  Most recently (in April 2024), Noa was admitted to the M.S. in Counseling program at Cal Lutheran University, and she will begin that program in Fall 2024.

Jyotsna graduated from Barnard College, Columbia University in 2019 with a B.A. in Neuroscience & Behavior and a minor in Philosophy. During her time there, she volunteered at a non-profit organization called ‘here there and EVERYwhere,’ which focuses on empowering domestic violence and sexual assault survivors in marginalized communities through holistic practices like art and meditation. Through this work, she developed a strong interest in understanding the nuances of trauma, such as within the context of culture.  During her time in the post-bacc program, she explored this topic further in Dr. Alyson Zalta’s Trauma and Resilience lab, and she completed undergraduate courses in Abnormal Psychology, Social Epidemiology, Clinical Psychology, and Advanced Research Methods (and a graduate course in Memory and the Law).  In addition, she gave poster presentations at the 2021 Association for Psychological Science conference and the 2021 Rutgers University’s Pediatrics Day, and she gave an oral presentation at the 2021 UC Irvine Undergradaute Research Opportunities Program conference.  Outside of UCI, Jyotsna has been volunteering for the Crisis Text Line and working as a part-time (paid) Lab Manager for a developmental psychology lab focused on autism at Rutgers University’s Robertwood Johnson Medical School.  After completing the post-bacc program, Jyotsna continued her work as a lab manager (in a full-time capacity) for a year, and in June 2022, she  began the Clinical Mental Health Counseling master's degree program at Georgia State University.  Since starting grad school, she got a co-authored publication (with Dr. Zalta) in Psychiatry Research (entited, "Sleep timing, chronotype, and posttraumatic stress disorder: An individual participant data meta-analysis"), and she began a Clinical Mental Health Counselor Internship at Samaratin Counseling Center of Atlanta.

Katherine graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2019 with a B.A. im Psychology (minoring in Chinese, Religious Studies, and Asian Studies). While at UT, she volunteered with CONTACT Care Line and the National Suicide Prevention Line, and she worked in the Thornton Center tutoring student-athletes. During her time in the post-bacc program, Katherine served as a research assistant in Dr. Garfin’s Resilience, Epidemiology, & Community Health Lab (in the School of Nursing) studying the potential benefits of mindfulness as a psychological intervention, and she completed courses in Clinical Sports Psychology, Clinical Health Psychology, Applied Statistics, Clinical Psychology, and Advanced Research Methods.  In addition, she presented poster presentations (virtually) at 2020 Association for Psychological Science conference and the 2020 Western Psychological Science conference, and she co-author on a manuscript entitled, “Correlates of Depression and Anxiety among Homeless Adults with Latent Tuberculosis Infection” (which was published in the Journal of Health Psychology).  After completing the post-bacc program, Katherine moved to Dallas, TX, where she worked full-time as a mental health technician at Dallas Behavioral Healthcare Hospital.  Most recently (in Summer 2021), she began the (online) Master's in Clinical Psychology program at Pepperdine University.

Kimbrie graduated from University of California - San Diego with a B.A. in Biological Anthropology (and a minor in Global Health).  Studying neuroanatomy, stress, and health in her undergraduate years led to her interest in psychology.  During her time in the post-bacc program, she took courses in Applied Statistics, Research Design, Health Psychology, Advanced Research Methods, the Science & Practice of Well-Being, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Error & Bias in Social Judgment, Psychology of Judgment & Decision Making, and Abnormal Psychology, and she worked in Dr. Silver’s Stress & Coping Lab.  In addition, she attended the 2022 Society for Personality & Social Psychology conference (which was held virtually) and the 2022 Society for Industrial/Organizational Psychology conference in Seattle, WA, and she gave an oral presentation at the 2022 UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA.  Shortly before completing our program, Kimbrie was admitted to the MSc in Psychological Research program at the University of Edinburgh.  She began this program in the Fall 2022 (with a little help from a private foundation, which awarded her a $9,000 scholarship to be used toward tuition), and she completed this program (with honors) in November 2023.

Reanna earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology (with a minor in writing) from UC Merced in 2014.  During her time in the post-bacc program, she completed courses in Health Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Sports Psychology, and Positive Psychology, and she was a part of Dr. Pressman’s lab to study stress levels.  In addition, she completed quarter-long internships at the Yellowstone Recovery Center and the CSP Youth Shelter.  In Spring 2016, Reanna was accepted to master's degree programs in counseling psychology at NYU, San Francisco State, and University of Kansas; she accepted the offer at NYU and completed one semester there before deciding that counseling psychology was not the best fit for her.  Since then, she returned to Southern California, worked as an Alumni Parent Coordinator at Newport Academy, and completed a certification course in sports mind training.  In August 2021, Reanna was accepted to the Transpersonal Psychology master's degree program at Sofia University, but she decided not to attend. In February 2022, she was admitted to the University of Western States for their M.S. in Sport and Performance Psychology program, and she earned her master's degree from this program in December 2023.

Chris graduated from UC Irvine in June 2014 with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and Social Behavior.  During his time in the post-bacc program, he worked as research assistant for several different professors (including Drs. Loftus, Piff, Scurich, and Levine).  Chris attended the 2015 Society for Personality & Social Psychology conference in Long Beach, CA, and he presented his research at the 2015 UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Conference.  In addition, Chris took courses in Forensic Psychology; Psychology & the Law; and Applied Statistics for Psychology.  In August 2015, Chris accepted a paid position as a Lab Manager for a psychologist in the Business School at the University of Southern California, and in 2018, he co-authored a paper in Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law with Dr. Scurich and his grad students.  After working at USC for a couple of years, Chris left this position to work as a manager at his father's donut shop (in order to help his family keep their business going) - and when they had to close the donut shop due to COVID-19 in Summer 2020, he accepted a position working at an Amazon Warehouse.  That same summer, Chris was selected to participate in the Virtual Research Internship Program at New York University (which is designed for individuals who are considering applying to the graduate program in social or developmental psychology, cognition, or perception at NYU), and in Spring 2022, he was admitted to the Master of Social Work program at all of the programs he applied to, including Cal State San Bernardino, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State LA, Cal State San Marcos, and the University of Nevada - Las Vegas.  He accepted the offer at Cal State San Bernardino, and he began that program in Fall 2022; during his first year in this program, he complete an internship as a mental health counselor at Colton Joint Unified School District.

Danny earned his bachelor’s degree in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics from UCLA, and he spent some time after graduation working in microbiology research labs. He currently works as an ABA therapist in Orange County, and during his time in the post-bacc program, he worked in Dr. Alyson Zalta's Trauma and Resilience lab and in Dr. Jason Schiffman's Prevent Lab.  In addition, he completed undergraduate courses in Abnormal Psychology, Research Design, Clinical Psychology, Attachment Relationships, Psychosis, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, as well as a graduate-level Psych Science Research Colloquium course. Since completing our program, he was admitted to the Master of Arts in Special Education – Applied Behavior Analysis program at Arizona State University, and he began that program in Spring 2023.

Joel earned his B.A. in Chicano/Latino Studies and Psychological Science from UC Irvine in Spring 2020. As an undergraduate student, Joel conducted a project examining first-generation immigrant Latinos’ mental health help-seeking behaviors, which sparked his interest of combining both areas of study into a career. In addition, Joel completed a field study internship at Casa de la Familia, a counseling non-profit organization; during his time at this internship, he completed a domestic violence training and became a Domestic Violence Counselor. During his time in the post-bacc program, Joel worked in Dr. Borelli’s Health, Relationships, and Interventions Lab (first as a Research Assistant and then as a Lead Research Assistant), and completed courses in Human Stress, Developmental Psychopathology, the Science and Practice of Wellness and Resilience, Clinical Psychology, and Health & the Latino Paradox.  In March 2021, Joel accepted a part-time, paid position as a Behavior Technician at Autism Spectrum Therapies, and in May 2021, he gave an oral presentation at the UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference.  After completing the post-bacc program, Joel continued to work at Autism Spectrum Therapies and to volunteer in Dr. Borelli's lab, and in Winter 2022, he was admitted to the Chicago School for Professional Psychology for their Marriage, Couples, and Family Therapy master's degree program and to Pepperdine University for their M.A. in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage & Family Therapy with Latinas/os.  He has accepted the offer at Pepperdine and began this program in Fall 2022.

Kaylie earned her B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Biblical and Theological Studies from Biola University in May of 2022. While there, Kaylie volunteered at a non-profit organization that supports children who come from low-income families. Kaylie participated in leading after school program activities and formed deep relationships with the students. This experience sparked her interest in working with children. During her gap year, Kaylie worked as a Behavioral Technician and assisted children with autism and ADHD. While working as Behavioral Technician, Kaylie discovered her love for ABA therapy, and she desires to continue working with children in the future. During her time in the post-bacc program, Kaylie worked in Dr. Lukowski’s Infant, Children, and Families (INCHES) Lab and took courses in Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Clinical Child Psychology.  In March 2024, Kaylie was admitted to the Marriage & Family Therapy master's program at Azusa Pacific University, and she accepted their offer.  She will begin this program in Fall 2024.

Cara graduated from Arizona State University in May of 2014 with a B.A. in Psychology (Magna Cum Laude). During her time in the program, Cara was a research assistant in Dr. Elizabeth Martin's Behaviors, Emotion, and Affective Neuroscience lab, and she helped grad student Robert Garcia with his dissertation study.  In addition, she took courses in Behavioral Medicine, Applied Statistics, Cognition & Learning in an Educational Setting, and Clinical Psychology, and she attended the 2015 Western Psychological Association conference in Las Vegas, NV.  After completing our post-bacc program, Cara was admitted to the M.S. in Psychology program at Arizona State University and the M.A. in Applied Social Psychology at Claremont Graduate University (with a fellowship); she earned her master's degree from Claremont in 2020 and she subsequently published a manuscript (as second author) in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology (entitled, "Relationships Matter! Social Safeness and Self-Disclosure may Influence the Relationship Between Perceived Social Support and Well-being for In-person and Online Relationships").  She currently works as a Forensic Engineer at Intellectual Technology, Inc.

Alec earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California, San Diego in 2019; he enjoys learning about multiple fields within psychology, but he is especially interested in adolescent development and the study of self-control in childhood. During his time in the post-bacc program, Alec worked as a research assistant in Dr. Cauffman's Development, Disorder, and Delinquency (3D) Lab, and he completed courses in Forensic Psychology, Applied Statistics, Advanced Research Methods, and Abnormal Psychology.  In addition, he had poster abstracts accepted at the 2020 Western Psychological Association conference and the 2020 Association for Psychological Science conference.  After completing our program, Alec worked for several months as a part-time (paid) research assistant in Dr. Cauffman's 3D lab.  Most recently, Alec was accepted to the Master of Arts in Positive Develpmental Psychology and Evaluation program at Claremont Graduate University, and he began that program in Fall 2021.

Andrew graduated from Siena College in Albany, New York with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in health studies. As an undergraduate student, he worked with several on-campus community organizations, including serving as an orientation leader for incoming freshmen and serving on the campus race and diversity committee. While at Siena, Andrew developed a research study examining the effects of racial microaggressions on minority students’ self-esteem. As a post-bacc student, Andrew worked in Dr. Ditto’s Hot Cognition Lab in the Department of Psychological Science, in Dr. Corrada-Bravo's 90+ Study in the School of Medicine, and in Dr. Jiang's Indian Health Service study in the Department of Epidemiology, and he completed courses in Clinical Psychology, Health Psychology, Compassion in Healthcare Settings, Nutrition Across the LIfespan, and Abnormal Psychology.  In addition, he completed field study internships at Nancy Clark & Associates and at the VA Legal Institute, he presented a poster at the 2023 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference at UC Irvine, and he attended the 2023 Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Amsterdam.. In June 2023, Andrew accepted a part-time, paid, remote position as a Data Entry Analyst in Dr. Jiang's lab.  Since completing our program, Andrew has been volunteering at Fountain Valley Hospital and taking prerequisite courses for nursing school at Cypress College, and in January 2024, he was accepted to the Master's Entry Nursing Program at Marquette University.  He will wait to hear back from the other programs he applied to before making any decisions.

Ghadeer graduated in Summer 2016 from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (U of M) with a Bachelor's degree in Neuroscience. During her senior year, she worked at U of M’s School of Public Health as a research assistant to investigate the effectiveness of administering pneumococcal vaccines to children on the incidence of pneumococcal disease, and after graduation, she took a year off to care for her baby daughter and to explore different graduate school options. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked in three different research labs: Dr. Martin’s Behavior, Emotion, and Affective Neuroscience Lab (in the Department of Psychological Science), Dr. Sarnecka's Cognitive Development Lab (in the Department of Cognitive Sciences), and Dr. Stark's Memory Research Lab (in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior).  In addition, she completed courses in Cognitive Development Research, Social & Affective Neuroscience, and Case Studies in Public Health, and she gave an oral presentation (about the research she conducted in Dr. Sarnecka's lab) at the 2018 UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program.  She left the post-bacc program in Spring 2019 to focus on finding paid employment opportunities, and in Spring 2022, she completed the Teach for America program and earned her preliminary teaching credential.  She spent three years teaching high school chemistry in Los Angeles, and she is currently works as the co-founder/marketing & operations lead at Quartz Guitars LLC.

Molly Bresnahan earned her B.A. degree in speech, language pathology, & audiology from Loyola University of Maryland in 2014.  During her time in the program, Molly worked in Dr. Lukowski’s Memory and Development Lab and took courses in Lifespan Developmental Psychology and Cognition & Learning in an Educational Setting.  In Spring 2017, Molly left our program due to a change in career focus, and she spent some time working as an Educational Therapist at One Mind Learning (and then as a Literacy and Executive Functioning coach for students with learning disabilities).  In 2019, Molly earned her Master's of Education in Educational Psychology at Florida Atlantic University, and she now runs her own private practice as an Individual Learning Specialist in Pompano Beach, Florida.

Elise earned her Bachelor’s Degree in History from UC Berkeley in Spring 2018. During the latter part of her time as an undergraduate, she discovered that she did not want to pursue a career as a historian or other occupations relevant to history. This, combined with a lifelong interest in human behavior and motivators, led Elise to pursue a post-bacc certificate. During her time in the post-bacc program, Elise worked as a research assistant in Dr. Quas’ Child Development lab (where she studied children with trauma backgrounds), and she completed courses in Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, Psychology & Law, Abnormal Psychology, Positive Psychology, Research Design, Clinical Psychology, and Human Stress. After completing our post-bacc program, she moved back to the Bay Area and spent time working as a transitional kindergarten teacher and as a second grade teacher at a private school. In Spring 2022, Elise completed the multiple subject teaching credential program at CalState Teach (an online, joint program between Cal State Fresno and Cal State Los Angeles); and she earned her multiple subject teaching credential (with the state of California).  Most recently (in Fall 2022), she accepted a full-time job as an elementary school teacher at the Mount Diablo Unified School District.

Lauren earned her Bachelor of Arts from the Ohio State University, where she studied art and design.  While at Ohio State, she traveled to Bangalore and Chennai, India to study social work with a focus on mental health.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Lauren worked as a research assistant in four different labs:  Dr. Cauffman's Development, Delinquency, and Disorder (3D) Lab, Dr. Nation's Clinical Neuropsychology Lab, Dr. Eccles' Motivation & Identity Research Lab (in the School of Education), and Dr. Richland's Science of Learning Lab (in the School of Education).  In addition, she completed undergraduate courses in Child Development, Abnormal Psychology, Applied Statistics, Adolescent Development, Clinical Neuroscience, and Research Design, and she completed a graduate course in Cognitive Neuroscience of Human Development.  She also got poster abstracts accepted at the 2020 Association for Psychological Science conference and the 2020 American Psychological Association conference (although these poster presentations were canceled due to COVID-19), and she was awarded a scholarship from the UCI Division of Continuing Education (which paid for the majority of course fees for the graduate course she took).  Shortly after completing our program, Lauren worked part-time as a (paid) research assistant in Dr. Cauffman's 3D lab and volunteered as a learning assistant for Dr. Jamner's Abnormal Psychology course.  Then, in May 2021, she moved to New Orleans to begin the TeachNOLA program.  As part of this program, she completed an intensive summer teacher training program, and then she spent two years working as a full-time, paid special education teacher in an elementary school in New Orleans.  Most recently, Lauren has been working a Design Project Manager at Humble Designs (while also completing an online Graphic Design post-bacc program at Tulane University).

Ramon graduated from the University of California - Santa Barbara (UCSB) in 2016 with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Clinical, Counseling, and School Psychology. During his time in the post-bacc program, he worked with Dr. Fortier in the UCI Center on Stress & Health on her research with child cancer patients and pain perceptions and completed an undergraduate course in Forensic Psychology and a graduate course in Interpersonal Processes and Health. In May 2018, he presented posters at the Association for Psychological Science conference in San Francisco, CA and at the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA.  Outside of UCI, Ramon works with a non-profit organization (The Seneca Family of Agencies - Ventura Crisis Program) that serves youth in psychiatric crisis.  In Fall 2018, Ramon was promoted to Unit Supervisor at this organization, and shortly thereafter, he took a leave of absence from our program so he could focus on his new position.  Most recently (in May 2022), he completed the Master of Public Policy program at UC Berkeley, and he is currently a data analyst for the Seneca Family of Agencies.

Emily received her BS in Fashion Merchandising from SUNY Buffalo State College and her AAS in Advertising & Marketing Communications from FIT in 2014. Emily then worked for a variety of fashion companies and marketing agencies in NYC. After 6 years, she finally realized neither industry would fulfill her desire to help others. Emily researched career paths that would better fit her personality and chose to pursue a career in psychology. During her time in the post-bacc program, Emily worked as a research assistant in Professor Cauffman's Development, Disorder, and Delinquency Lab and completed courses in Abnormal Psychology, Developmental Psychopathology, Adolescent Development, Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, Research Design, and Clinical Psychology.  In addition, she gave poster presentations at the 2021 Western Psychological Association conference and the 2021 American Psychological Association conference, and she gave an oral presentation at the 2021 UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference.  Outside of UCI, Emily created a startup, teaching virtual classes to children all over the world (and face-to-face classes to children in NYC and the Hamptons).  In Summer 2021, Emily was accepted to the Executive MBA program at NYU, but she decided to turn down the offer; instead, she will spend the next few years focusing on her startup business (and starting a family).

Gioia received her B.F.A in Illustration from Art Center College of Design in 2015.  During her time in the post-bacc program, she completed courses in Statistics, Research Design, Abnormal Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Educational Technology, and Social Psychology, and she completed a graduate course on the topic of childhood.  She worked as a research assistant for Dr. Jodi Quas (researching adverse experiences in childhood and its sequelae) and Dr. Paul Piff (researching income inequality, prosocial behavior, and awe), and in May 2017, she presented posters at the Association for Psychological Science conference in Boston, MA and at the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference at UCI.  In Summer 2017 and Summer 2018, Gioia worked as a (paid) teaching assistant at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth Summer Program on the UC Santa Cruz campus, where she TA'ed a Foundations of Psychology course. After completing the post-bacc program, Gioia spent some time working part-time at the Child Creativity Lab and as a substitute teacher, and she volunteered as a research assistant for Dr. Sheron Wray (UCI School of Dance) and for Dr. Beth van Es' (UCI School of Education CoAttend Lab).  While earning her teaching credential from the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Intern, Credentialing, and Added Authorization Program, Gioia was admitted to the Instructional Technology & Media Master's Degree programs at USC (with a scholarship), NYU, and Columbia University, and she earned her master's degree from Columbia University in February 2024.  She is currently working full-time as a Teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Marissa earned her Bachelor's degree at UC Irvine in 2013, double-majoring in Criminology, Law and Society (CLS) and Psychology and Social Behavior (PSB). During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked as a research assistant for Dr. Silver's lab, resulting in an oral presentation at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in May 2015. In addition, she completed field study internships at the CSP Youth Shelter and Shortshop, as well as courses in Human Development in a Cross-Cultural Perspective, Clinical Neuroscience, and Prejudice, Stereotyping, & Discrimination.  After completing our program, Marissa worked for 5 years at the Irvine Company - first as a Property Assistant, then as a Property Coordinator, then as a Senior Associate - all while earning her Master of Business Adminstration (MBA) from Cal State Fullerton (which she completed in 2021); this MBA program was designed for working professionals, so Marissa was able to work full time while earning her degree.  Marissa currently works as a Property Manager at Links Logistics Real Estate.

Amen graduated from UC Santa Cruz in the Spring of 2021 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Education. During her time there, she volunteered at a local elementary school as a teacher’s assistant, where she worked with students with different experiences and abilities. She was able to see the impacts of learning disabilities, and she worked alongside parents and teachers to support students in navigating their hardships in an education setting; this position played a role in her interest in the field of psychology.  During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked in Dr. Lukowski’s Infants, Children, and Families research lab, resulting in a poster presentation at the 2022 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program in Irvine, CA.  In addition, she completed a course in Infant Development (at UCI) and an online course in Biological Psychology (at Evergreen Community Course).  In June 2022, she was admitted to the M.A. in Special Education - Mild to Moderate with Credential program at San Francsico State; she left our post-bacc program in order to pursue this opportunity, and she began this master's program in Fall 2022.

Jessica earned her bachelor's degree in Human Development and Psychology from California State University - San Bernardino, where she graduated cum laude. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Dana Garfin's lab and in Dr. Jung-ah Lee's lab (in the School of Nursing), and she completed courses in Advanced Research Methods, Human Stress, Applied Statistics, Complementary & Alternative Medicine, Clinical Psychology, and Lifespan Developmental Psychology. After completing the post-bacc program, Jessica participated in the UCLA COPE Health Scholars Program (where she gained first-hand experience in a variety of healthcare settings, impacted patients' lives, and become an integral part of the care delivery team), and she volunteered as a site coordinator in Dr. Garfin's lab.  In March 2020, she got accepted to UCI's Master's Entry into the Profession of Nursing (MEPN) program (the M.S. in Nursing Science - Community & Population Health concentration), and she earned her master's degree from this program in June 2022.  Since earning her master's degree, she got a co-authored publication with Dr. Garfin in Stress & Health (entitled, "A multi-method exploration of mindfulness as a coping tool: Perspectives from trauma-exposed, unhoused women residing at a drug treatment facility"), and she is currently working as a nursing resident at Loma Linda University Medical Center's Neuro Step Down Unit.

Isaac earned his B.S. in Psychology from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 2014. He spent the five years following his graduation serving in a variety of military officer roles across the U.S. and overseas. During his time in the post-bacc program, Isaac completed courses in Human Stress, Consciousness & the Brain, Cognitive Neuroscience, the Mind/Body Problem, Advanced Research Methods, and Applied Statistics, and he worked as a research assistant for Dr. Garfin, investigating community-based approaches to alleviating traumatic stress symptoms in vulnerable populations. In addition, he is a co-author on a research paper entitled, "Correlates of Depression and Anxiety among Homeless Adults with Latent Tuberculosis Infection," which was published in the Journal of Health Psychology.  Since completing the program, Isaac returned to his home state of Alabama and has been working as a substitute teacher (and volunteering as a tutor) in the Huntsville, AL school district.  Most recently, Isacc was admitted to the M.Ed. in Secondary Education (with a concentration in Mathematics) program at Alabama A&M University, but he deferred his enrollment to build a skillset and routine for some creative projects.  

Liz earned her bachelor’s degree in International Development Studies from the University of California - Berkeley. Her subsequent career has spanned a variety of industries including public education, nonprofit, and tech. She has championed diversity, equity, and inclusion practices throughout her career. While working at an equity-focused consulting firm where they used research from the psychology field to inform curriculum, she was inspired to pursue further education in the social psychology field. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Garfin’s Resilience, Epidemiology, and Community Health Lab and in Dr. Piff's Morality, Emotions, and Social Hierarchy Lab, resulting in a poster presentation at the 2022 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference at UC Irvine; she also attended the 2022 Society for Personality & Social Psychology conference in San Francisco.  In addition, she completed undergraduate courses in Applied Statistics, Social Epidemiology, Advanced Research Methods, Error & Bias in Social Judgment, and Science & Practice of Compassion, and she completed a graduate course in Human Evolution & Behavior. Outside of UCI, Elizabeth volunteered with The Trevor Project and Oakland Promise. Since completing our program, Liz has been working as a paid, part-time lab manager position in Dr. Piff's lab, and most recently (in March 2023), she was awarded the Bridge to the Doctorate Fellowship at the University of Virginia.  Through this fellowship, Liz will have the opportunity to get additional research experience (with Drs. Jazmin Brown-Iannuzzi and Sophie Trawalter) and take additional courses for 2 years.  This fellowship provides $30,000 per year in living support and full payment of Liz's tuition, fees and single-person coverage in the University’s student health insurance plan for a period of two years.

Olivia earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Management Consulting from the Mendoza School of Business at University of Notre Dame in 2015. During her time in the post-bacc program, Olivia worked as a research assistant in Dr. Borelli's THRIVE Lab, evaluating the effectiveness of a strengths-based relationship program for low-income Latinx parents and youth, and she took courses in Abnormal Psychology, Lifespan Development, Developmental Psychopathology, Complementary & Alternative Medicine, Research Design, Attachment Relationships, and Industrial/Organizational Psychology.  After completing the program, Olivia spent almost two years working as Alumni Engagement Coordinator in the Office of Advancement at Chapman University, and in June 2020, she was admitted to the MBA program at Chapman University.  She ultimately decided not to accept the offer (given the cost and the time it would take to complete the program), but she may consider re-apply to this (or a similar) program in the future.  Since then, Olivia has worked as a Digital Marketing & Community Lead at DreamPops and a Digital Marketing & Social Media Manager at Nixie Sparkling Water.  She currently works as a Shopper Marketing Consultant at Hayden Consultancy (while also running her own shopper marketing consultant business, Kwitny Consultancy).

Yerim graduated from Pepperdine University in 2018 with a B.A. in Psychology.  After earning her bachelor's degree, she worked as a behavior technician while volunteering at an elementary school, which helped to rekindle her passion for helping children be successful in all aspects of life. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked in Dr. Borelli’s Health, Relationships, and Intervention Lab, and she completed courses in Abnormal Psychology, Research Directions in Psychological Science, Advanced Research Methods, Applied Statistics, and Developmental Psychopathology; she also gave an oral presentation at the 2020 UCI (Virtual) Psychological Science Post-Bacc Research Conference.  Outside of UCI, Yerim worked as a Behavior Interventionist at Easterseals Southern California and volunteered at the children's ministry at her church as an assistant teacher to provide one-on-one assistance to children with disabilities.  Since completing the post-bacc program, Yerim spent a year working as a (paid) part-time research assistant in Dr. Borelli's lab (while also continuing her work as a behavior interventionist and an assistant teacher), and she presented two posters (one as first author) at the 2021 Society for Personality & Social Psychology conference.  In January 2022, she began volunteering as a research assistant in Dr. Schiffman's Leading Exploration & Analysis in the Psychosis Specrtum Lab (LEAPS) at UCI, and in Spring 2023, she was admitted to the M.A. in Psychology in Education program at Columbia Teacher's College.  She decided to decline the offer at Columbia (to focus more on Ph.D. program applications), and she currently works as a full-time, paid Project Coordinator in Dr. Schiffman's LEAPS lab.

Joseoph graduated from UCI with a B.A. is Psychology in 2012. During his time in the post-bacc program, Joseph was a research assistant in Dr. Piff's lab (doing research on social mobility and economic inequality), and he completed courses in Adolescent Development, Cognition & Learning in an Educational Setting, Positive Psychology; Advanced Research Methods; Psychology of Inequality, and Applied Statistics.  In addition, he presented a poster at the 2017 UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA, and he attended the 2017 Western Psychological Association conference  and the 2017 Association for Research in Personality conference (both held in Sacramento, CA).  During the 2017-2018 academic year, he continued volunteering in Dr. Piff's lab while applying to graduate programs, and in Spring 2018, he was accepted to the Master's in Psychology program at New York University (NYU).  He ultimately declined the NYU offer for financial reasons and spent the next couple of years working as a substitute teacher.  He has since moved in the Quality Assurance space, first working has a Quality Assurance Tester at Motive Fleet Management and now as a Quality Analyst at Brilliant Smart Home.

Carolina is a first-generation Hispanic college student. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). During her time at UTEP, she volunteered at the Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory, where she contributed to the assessment of preclinical models of depression by using both traditional (fluoxetine) and novel (ketamine) antidepressants to assess long-lasting effects on the developing murine brain.  She began the post-bacc program in Fall 2021 with a Diversity Scholarship, and during her time in our program, she worked with Dr. Fortier at the UCI Center of Stress & Health. She took courses in Abnormal Psychology, Clinical Child Psychology, Clinical Neuroscience, and Clinical Psychology, and she completed a two-quarter field study internship at the NRC Research Institute.  In addition, she gave a poster presentation at the 2022 American Psychosomatic Society in Long Beach, CA and at the 2022 UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA.  Outside of UCI, she participated in the Program to Advance Training in Health and Science (PATHS) at Yale School of Medicine.  Upon completing our program, Carolina accepted a full-time, paid Clinical Research Coordinator position at the Children's Hospital of Orange County's Emergency Department.

Ari graduated from The Ohio State University in May of 2022 with a B.A. in psychology. As an undergraduate student, she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Michael Vasey’s Cognition and Emotion Lab, which focuses on physiological processes and emotional regulation. During her time in the post-bacc program, Ari worked on the DOPE Study in Dr. DeWayne P. Williams’ lab, resulting in poster presentations at the 2023 Society for Personality & Social Psychology conference in Atlanta and the 2023 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference at UC Irvine. In addition, she completed courses in Social Relationships, Applied Statistics, Cultural Psychology, Health & Social Relationships, and Error & Bias.  Since completing the program, Ari accepted a full-time, paid Research Assistant position in Dr. Sean Arayasirikul's lab in the UC Irvine Department Health, Society, and Behavior department (in the School of Public Health).  

Lauryn graduated from the University of California - San Diego in 2021 with a degree in Cognitive Science (with a specialization in Neuroscience and a minor in Psychology). During her time there, she became involved in the Faculty Mentor Program under Dr. Georgia Sadler at Moore's Cancer Center, where she observed the underlying psychosocial factors influencing undergraduate students in their pursuit of higher education and the mechanisms by which these factors were measured. Three months after the Faculty Mentor Program's end, she presented at the International Cancer Education Conference, later receiving the Selma Morris award for her exceptional work. During her senior year, she worked as a research assistant at the Neural Crossroads Laboratory under Dr. Lara Rangel, where she examined the dynamic engagement of interneurons in the CA1 and CA3 regions of the hippocampus. During her time in the post-bacc program, Lauryn worked in the Working Memory and Plasticity Lab with Dr. Susanne Jaeggi (in the School of Education), and she completed courses in Applied Statistics, Introduction to fMRI, Advanced Research Methods, Neuroscience of Cognition, and Cognition & Learning in an Educational Setting.  In addition, she attended the  2022 Association for Psychological Science conference in Chicago. Upon completing our program, Lauryn accepted a full-time (paid) Research Associate position for Material+ (a business and consulting agency). 

Apphia graduated from UC Irvine in 2011 with a B.A. in Literary Journalism. After graduation, she attended a two-year Bible truth and training program, which led to her involvement in Christian outreach activities at UCI through a club on the campus. It was through her experience in contacting and counseling college students that she began to appreciate the importance of psychological expertise in caring for people in a more holistic way. During her time in the post-bacc program, she was a research assistant in Dr. Silver's Stress and Coping Lab and in Dr. Schiffman's Psychosis Risk Evaluation, Early Intervention, and Treatment Lab (PREVENT) Lab, and she completed courses in Abnormal Psychology, Lifespan Developmental Psychology, Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, Clinical Psychology, Research Design, Developmental Psychopathology, and Applied Statistics.  In addition, she gave an oral presentation at the 2021 UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program.  Outside of UCI, she worked part-time as a tutor. After completing our program, she presented a poster at the 2022 Social & Personality Psychology Conference (Applied Psychology Preconference), she worked for over a year as a full-time, paid research assistant position in Dr. Schiffman's PREVENT lab, and she got a 3rd author publication (based on the work she did in Dr. Silver's lab) in Health Psychology (entitled, "Psychological responses to U.S. statewide restrictions and COVID-19 exposures: A longitudinal study").  She currently works full-time as a Research Specialist in the Clinical Application of Neuroscience Laboratory (CAN Lab) at the University of Pittsburgh, and she plans to apply to Clinical Psychology Ph.D. programs in Fall 2024.

Nandita graduated from Ashoka University in India in 2020 with a degree in Psychology and a minor in Biology. She further enrolled in the Scholar’s Program at Ashoka University to pursue an Advanced Major in Psychology. During her time at Ashoka, she worked with faculty at the University of Pennsylvania to help devise a Digital Single Session Mental Health intervention for college students in India. This project gave her insights on the triggers of mental health in college students, which sparked her interest in the field of Clinical Psychology. She is particularly fascinated by the intersection of psychedelic-assisted therapies and mental health, and she hopes to advance her knowledge on the impact of psychotropic substances on the brain. Additionally, her positive experiences with the effect of meditation on mental health have encouraged her to delve deeper into understanding how the brain works. During her time in the post-bacc program, Nandita worked in Dr. Nation's Vascular Senescence lab (in the Dept. of Psychological Science), Dr. Jaeggi's Working Memory & Plasticity lab (in the School of Education), and Dr. Yassa's Translational Neuroscience Laboratory (in the School of Biological Sciences), while also completing courses in Behavioral Medicine, Addiction, and Bilingual Minds & Brains.  In addition, she presented posters at the 2022 Western Psychological Science conference in Portland, OR and the 2022 Association for Psychological Science conference in Chicago, IL; outside of UCI, Nandita served as a peer support volunteer for the Fireside Project’s Psychedelic Helpline.  Since completing our program, Nandita has been working a full-time, paid position in Dr. Yassa's lab  - first as a Junior MRI Specialist 1 and now as a Junior MRI Specialist 2 - while also preparing to apply for Clinical Ph.D. and Psy.D. programs.

Giancarlo earned his Bachelor's degree from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in 2018 as a Jazz Bass Performance major (with minors in Digital Arts and Music Theory). He has performed and recorded at several venues including the Hollywood Bowl, Capitol Records, The Troubadour, and The Walt Disney Concert Hall. Giancarlo has taught with the CalArts Community Arts Partnership (CAP) Program and, after completing his degree, held internships at SAG-AFTRA, Comikaze Entertainment, and Interscope Records. Additionally, he was part of the LA County Department of Arts and Culture's inaugural Youth Advisory Council and held a fellowship with Frieze Los Angeles. During his first year in the post-bacc program, he worked full time as the Administrative Associate for Young Musicians Foundation, and during his second year in the program, he worked part-time as an ABA Technician at Inspira Behavior & Advocacy Specialists.  As a post-bacc student, he participated in Dr. Judith Kroll's Bilingualism, Mind, and Brain lab, Dr. Lukowski's Infants, Children, and Families Lab, Dr. Jaeggi's Working Memory & Plasticity Lab, and Dr. Peters' Cognitive & Neural Computation Lab, and he completed courses in Bilingual Minds and Brains, Research Design, Intro to fMRI, Neuroscience of Cognition, Evolution of Language & Music, Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, and MATLAB Programming.  In addition, in April 2021, he was accepted to UC Berkeley's "Pipeline to Graduate School Bootcamp," which consists of a series of workshops to help prospective doctoral students understand how Ph.D. programs differ from other graduate degrees (and how to find the right match for their interests and goals).  In Fall 2022, he accepted a full-time, paid position as a Junior Specialist in Dr. Jaeggi's lab (initialy at UCI, then at Northeastern University), and he has been working in that position while preparing to apply for Cognitive Neuroscience Ph.D. programs.

Maya graduated from Appalachian State University in 2018, earning her B.M. in Music Education and B.S. in Child Development. Upon graduating, Maya moved to Burlington, NC where she taught orchestra at the middle school level. During her time as an orchestra teacher, she was selected to serve on the Modern Innovative Nurturing Education team and elected to represent her department on the School Improvement Team. During her time in the post-bacc program, Maya worked in Dr. Martin's Behaviors, Emotions, and Affective Neuroscience Lab, resulting in a poster presentation at the 2022 Undergradaute Research Opportunities Program conference at UC Irvine.  In addition, she completed courses in Research Design, Introduction to fMRI, Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, Evolution of Language & Music, Applied Statistics, and Abnormal Psychology. After completing the post-bacc program, Maya worked for several months as part-time, paid research assistant in Dr. Lukowski's Infant, Children, and Families lab at UCI.  Most recently (in Spring 2023), she presented posters at the Western Psychological Association conference in Riverside, CA and at the Association for Psychological Science conference in Washington, DC. and accepted a full-time, paid research assistant position at UCLA.

Bill graduated from the University of California, San Diego in 2016 with a B.A. in Critical Gender Studies.  During his time in the post-bacc program, he took courses in Abnormal Psychology, Clinical Neuroscience, Research Design, Advanced Research Methods, Lifespan Developmental Psychology, and Applied Statistics. In Fall 2017, Bill worked as a paid, part-time Field Intern conducting public health research assisting on a longitudinal study focused on media exposure and sexual violence among adolescents, young adults, and sexual group minorities, and in Winter and Spring 2018, he worked in Dr. Rinehart's lab studying sexual victimization.  Furthermore, in Winter 2018, Bill became a UCI LGBT mentor, and he gave a workshop at the UC Students of Color Conference at UC Riverside.  He presented two posters at the 2018 UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA, and he attended the 2018 Association for Psychological Science conference in San Francisco, CA.  After completing our program, Bill has held several paid research positions, including working as a Clinical Research Coordinator at the Paloma Medical Group, as a Project Coordinator/Case Manager at the Friends Research Institute (which led to poster presentations at the 2020 Clinical Conference at the National Ryan White Conference and at the 2020 American Public Health Association Meeting and Expo), as a PrEP Education Specialist for an NIH funded research study, PrEP-Talk, at AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) Health (which led to a co-authored publication in AIDS Patient Care & STDs), and most recently, as a Training and Community Education Manager at the San Diego LGBTQ Community Center.  In addition, Bill plans to apply for the Marriage & Family Therapy master's degree program at San Diego State in Fall 2023.

Christopher earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Evergreen State College. As an undergraduate, he worked with several social services organizations, including as a residential counselor and as a teacher. During his time in the post-bacc program, Christopher worked as a research assistant in Dr. Rao’s Biobehavioral Research on Adolescent Development Lab and as a study coordinator in Dr. Borelli’s Healthy Relationships & Interventions Lab. His research interests center on the relationship between trauma, social relationships, and addiction, and he completed courses in Applied Statistics, Clinical Health Psychology, Addiction, and Advanced Research Methods.  Since completing our program, he has been working full-time as a research assistant with the Palo Alto Veterans Institute for Research (while also preparing to apply to Clinical Psychology Ph.D. programs).

Danielle earned her B.A. in psychology from California State University, Northridge in May 2022. During her time there, she worked under the chair of the Psychology Department, Dr. Jill Razani, in the Neuropsychology Dementia and Multicultural Research Laboratory. Her role consisted of administering neuropsychological tests and surveys, including the Rey-O, CVLT, TMTA, and WCST. She created promotional posters for recruitment, and she scheduled and confirmed testing sessions. In addition to working in the lab, she was a teaching assistant (TA) for Dr. Thomas Chan’s Introduction to Gerontology course. As a TA, she led group discussions, graded papers, and held office hours and review sessions for students. During her time in the post-bacc program, Danielle worked in the 90+ Study Lab and in the Sajjadi Lab to improve her understanding of neurodegenerative disease, resulting in a poster presentation at the 2023 UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference.  In addition, she completed courses in Advanced Research Methods, Applied Statistics, Research Directions in Psychological Science, Compassion in Healthcare, and Human Sexuality, and she attended the 2023 American Neurological Association conference in Chicago and the 2023 American Academy of Neurology in Boston.  Shortly after completing the post-bacc program, Danielle received the National Institute of Health (NIH) Post-Bacc Intramural Research Training Award, which will allow her to work as a full-time, paid research assistant in a biomedical lab at the NIH for one or two years.

Ece earned her B.S. in Human Biology from UC Irvine in 2017, where she was in the Campuswide Honors Program. Ece initially aspired to become a physician due to her own experiences as a patient diagnosed with Graves’ Disease during her adolescence; as such, during her time as an undergraduate student, she volunteered in the Child Life Department of CHOC Children’s Hospital and she was a clinical research student in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care at UCI Medical Center (where she successfully completed a student-led project for the Excellence in Research in Biological Sciences program).  After earning her bachelor’s degree, Ece worked for an orthopedic surgeon (transcribing medical-legal reports), where she became increasingly interested in the importance of psychological health in one’s overall health.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Ece was a research assistant in Dr. Kuhlman’s Teen Resilience Lab, in Dr. Martin's Behavior's, Emotions, & Affective Neuroscience Lab, and in Dr. Rao's Biobehavioral Research on Adolescent Development Lab, which resulted in poster presentations at the 2022 Association for Psychological Science conference in Chicago and at the 2022 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference at UC Irvine.  In addition, she completed courses in Research Design, Psychology Fundamentals, Abnormal Psychology, Applied Statistics, Child Health Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Psychosis.  Since completing the program, she has been working as a full-time (paid) Junior Specialist in Dr. Rao's lab (while also studying for the GREs and preparing to apply to Clinical Psychology Ph.D. programs), and in December 2022, she got a co-authored publication in Research on Child & Adolescent Psychopathology (based on the research she conducted in Dr. Kuhlman's lab).

Julia earned her B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2016. During her tim in the post-bacc program, Julia had the privilege to work in Dr. Jamner's lab (which focused on psychophysiology, the interactions between psychological factors and physiological behaviors, and the effect of the social environment) and in Dr. Rinehart's lab (focusing on sexual assault).  She took courses in Advanced Research Methods, Clinical Child Psychology, Applied Statistics, and Clinical Neuroscience, and she completed a field study internship at the NRC Research Institute.  In addition, she presented posters at the Society for Behavioral Medicine conference in San Diego, CA in March 2017 and at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA in May 2017.  After completing your program, she spent some time working as a shift manager at Luna Grill while also volunteering at the NRC Research Institute - and in August 2017, she accepted a full-time, paid position as an Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator at the NRC Research Institute, and has since been promoted to Clinical Research Coordinator Supervisor & Senior Clinical Research Coordinator.

Grace graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in English. While studying for her Bachelor’s degree, she also held the position of co-director of Bruin Consent Coalition, wherein she led advocacy work for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. During her time in the post-bacc program, Grace worked as a Research Assistant in Dr. Garfin's Resilience, Epidemiology, & Community Health Lab (in the School of Nursing) examining the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions to address PTSD in trauma-exposed homeless women, and she completed courses in Developmental Psychopathology, Applied Statistics, Clinical Neuroscience, Health Psychology, and Clinical Psychology.  In addition, she had posters accepted to the 2020 Western Psychological Association and the 2020 Association for Psychological Science conferences, and she is a co-author on a manuscript entitled, “Correlates of Depression and Anxiety among Homeless Adults with Latent Tuberculosis Infection," which is published in the Journal of Health Psychology.  Shortly after completing the post-bacc program, Grace spent a year working part-time as a counselor at the Center for Discovery Eating Disorder Residential Treatment Center in La Habra and part-time as a Research Assistant in Dr. Garfin's lab, and she gave a talk at the 2021 American Public Health Association conference in Denver, CO.  She is currently working as a Regulatory Affairs Coordinator at UCLA Health.

Jake graduated from Wesleyan University (with high honors) in 2016 with a BA in Government. During  his time in the post-bacc program, Jake worked as Research Assistant in Professor Borelli's Health, Relationships, and Interventions Lab and in Professor Schueller's Technology & Mental Health Lab, resulting in a poster presentation at the 2023 Society for Personality & Social Psychology conference in Atlanta, GA.  In addition, he completed courses in Abnormal Psychology, Developmental Psychopathology, the Science & Practice of Compassion, Advanced Research Methods, Applied Statistics, Clinical Psychology, and Lifespan Developmental Psychology.  Outside of UCI, Jake worked full-time as a data analyst at Google.  Since completing the post-bacc program, Jake has continued his work at Google (while also applying to Clinical Ph.D. programs).

Justin graduated from Cal State University Fullerton with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration: Economics. After earning his bachelor's degree, he spent several years working in outside sales and in property management before he realized that his true passions lie in psychology.  During his time in the post-bacc program, he worked in Dr. Silver’s Stress & Coping lab exploring acute trauma in individuals and collective trauma from larger community disasters (such as terrorist attacks and earthquakes), and he completed courses in  Abnormal Psychology, Personality, Applied Statistics, Clinical Neuroscience, Research Design, Clinical Psychology, and Health Psychology. He addition, he gave an oral presentation at the 2020 (Virtual) UCI Psychological Science Post-Bacc Research Conference and gave a poster presentation at the Association for Psychological Science (Virtual) Conference.  After completing the post-bacc program, Justin accepted a part-time, paid research assistant position in Dr. Silver's lab.

Michelle received her B.A. in Psychology from Cal State Long Beach, where she was involved in research in the Wax Lab (conducting research on benevolent sexism in the workplace). Outside of academia, Michelle has been involved in the arts, yoga, dance, and community service projects, which have sparked her interest in alternative therapy techniques (such as mindfulness, exercise, art, and other expressive activities). Michelle has been learning and using American Sign Language for nearly a decade, which has had a profound impact on how she views the world around her, making improvements to accessibility and equality central components of her career and research goals.  During her time in the post-bacc program, she was a co-lab Manager in Dr. Martin’s Behaviors, Emotions, and Affective Neuroscience Lab and a research assistant in Dr. Garfin’s Resilience, Epidemiology, and Community Health Lab, and she completed courses in Clinical Child Psychology, Health Psychology, Applied Statistics, Clinical Neuroscience, and Psychosis.  In addition, she presented posters at the 2022 Society for Industrial/Organizational Psychology conference in Seattle and at the 2022 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference at UC Irvine.  After completing the post-bacc program, she spent a year working as a (paid) part-time lab manager in Dr. Martin and Dr. Garfin's labs, and she is currently volunteering in Dr. Schiffman's lab at UCI.  In addition, Michelle got a co-authored publication in ​the Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance with her mentor from undergrad.  Most recently (January 2024), Michelle got invited to the Graduate Interview Days at UC Irvine (Clinical Ph.D. program), Marquete University (Clinical Ph.D. program), Pacific University (Clinical Ph.D. program) and UT Dallas (Cognitive Neuroscience Ph.D. program) - we wish you the best of luck on your interviews, Michelle!

Stephen earned a BA in English literature from Lander University in 2015, triple minoring in history, philosophy, and religious studies. During his undergraduate education, he spent a spring semester at the University of Winchester, a summer at Cambridge University, and a summer at Harvard University. Upon graduating college, he spent a semester at the University of Geneva & Swiss Affective Science Center, where he studied analytic philosophy of emotion and metaphysics.  After studying in that highly interdisciplinary environment, he pursued a MSc in Social and Cultural Psychology at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he completed a qualitative thesis on folk epistemology and the fake news phenomenon. During the latter half of his MSc, he worked as a Research Assistant in a moral psychology lab at Michigan Technological University.  During his time in the post-bacc program, Stephen was a research assistant in Prof. Pete Ditto’s Hot Cognition Lab; he also completed undergraduate courses in Biological Psychology, Statistics, Applied Statistics, Quantitative Methods in Cognitive Science, and Introduction to Inductive Logic and graduate courses in Philosophy ("What's Thinking For?") and Moral Psychology.  After completing the program, Stephen worked for one year as a (full-time, paid) lab manager in the Social Learning Lab at Stanford University, and he is currently working as a full-time (paid) tutor at AJ Tutoring.  In addition, he has been working on a project with some anthropologists and psychologists at Harvard, and in September 2020, he began volunteering in Professor Engleman's lab at UC Berkeley.

Prior to joining the post-bacc program, Melody completed her Early Childhood Education certification to teach preschool, spent some time working as an elementary school aide, and earned her B.A. in psychology (with an emphasis in human development) from Vanguard University of Southern California.  After college, Melody spent four years working in accounting - but her passion has always been in the field of psychology.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Melody worked with Dr. Kuhlman in the Teen Resilience Lab and with Dr. Nation in the Clinical Neuropsychology Lab, and she completed courses in Human Stress, Clinical Neuroscience, and Advanced Research Methods.  In addition, she got a poster abstract accepted to the 2020 Association for Psychological Science conference, and she was awarded a scholarship from the UC Irvine Division of Continuing Education (which covered most of the course fees for one course).  After completing the post-bacc program, Melody spent a year working part-time as a (paid) research assistant in Dr. Kuhlman's lab, she got married, and she had a baby.  Most recently, Melody has been working a (paid) part-time, remote position as a research assistant (on the behavioral science team) at Fidelity Investments (while also taking care of her young children), and in May 2022, she got a first-author publication (entitled, "Women with lower systemic inflammation demonstrate steeper cognitive decline with age: Results from a large prospective, longitudinal sample") in Brain, Behavior, & Immunity - Health) based on the work she has been doing in Dr. Kuhlman's lab.

Vincent earned his bachelor's degree in History and his master's degree in Counseling from St. John's University. While completing his master's degree, he worked as a graduate assistant in the Office of Campus Ministry, leading undergraduate students on various service initiatives to provide aid to underserved communities throughout New York City. Vincent also completed internships at several K-12 schools including Archbishop Molloy High School, where he worked under Senior Guidance Counselor Br. James Norton FMS. In addition, he also led a career as an independent rock musician, touring both the U.S. and Europe and releasing several records. Despite his array of interests, whatever the endeavor, Vincent's principal goal was always to inquire into the nature of the human experience. This goal led him to the post-bacc program, where he worked as a research assistant in Dr. Pete Ditto's Hot Cognition Lab (exploring moral judgments and moral decision-making), Dr. Jaeggi's Working Memory & Plasticity Lab (in the School of Education), and Dr. Peters' Cognitive & Neural Computation Lab (in the Dept. of Cognitive Science).  In addition, he took courses in Research Design, Introduction to fMRI, and The Neuroscience of Cognition. Since leaving our program, Vincent has been working part-time as a research assistant position at Fidelity Investments and part-time as a Per Diem Pedagogue for the NYC Dept. of Education (while also volunteering as a part-time counselor at Archbishop Molloy High School).  

Gina graduated from the University of California, Irvine in June 2017 with a B.A. in Psychology and Social Behavior.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Gina worked as a research assistant in Dr. Sarah Pressman's lab (studying cultural variations in stress response) and in Dr. Paul Piff's Morality, Emotion, and Social Hierarchy lab, and she completed undergraduate courses in Advanced Research Methods, Psychology of Wellness, and Applied Statistics; she also completed graduate courses in Interpersonal Processes & Health and Social & Affective Neuroscience.  In May 2018, she presented a poster at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA, and she attended the Association for Psychological Science conference in San Francisco, CA.  Since completing the post-bacc program, Gina has working full-time as a Client Service Advocate at the Adult Enrichment Center in Santa Ana.

Ky earned their Bachelor's Degree from California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) in 2019 in Family Life Education. While at CSULB, Ky also completed two minors: (1) Child Development and Family Studies and (2) American Sign Language and American Deaf Cultures. Ky has worked as a direct care staff in a group home for developmentally delayed foster youth and as a family specialist for a wraparound program, and they currently work as a substitute teacher for a local high school district. While working at the group home, Ky found that their calling is to work with developmentally delayed foster youth. Ky is interested in how individuals’ upbringing, environment, and behaviors are linked to and/or affect their cognition and mental health, and they dream of one day opening a youth center for developmentally delayed foster adolescents. During their time in the post-bacc program, Ky completed courses in Clinical Psychology, Biological Psychology, Social Relationships, Abnormal Psychology, Social Epidemiology, Research Design, and Social Psychology.  In addition, they completed a field study internship at Save Our Youth and served as a Peer Tutor for Dr. Zinger's Human Sexuality course . Since completing our program, Ky has continued working as a substitue teacher (while also applying to Master of Social Work programs).

Leslie earned a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of South Carolina. As a graduate student, she was an administrative assistant in Dr. Julius Fridriksson’s Aphasia Lab and a research assistant in Dr. Suzanne Adlof’s Child Language & Literacy Lab. As a speech-language pathologist in the community, she provides speech/language evaluation and treatment services for people of all ages with communication disorders. During her time in the post-bacc program, Leslie was a research assistant in Dr. Alyson Zalta’s Trauma and Resilience Lab, and she presented a poster at the 2023 Association for Psychological Science conference in Washington DC.  Since leaving our program, she has been working full-time as a clinic manager at Chapman University.

Paul earned his bachelor’s degree in psychological science at UC Irvine in 2022, and his research interests include mental health, technology, parent-child relationships, and family dynamics.  During his time in the post-bacc program, he worked as a research assistant in Dr. Schueller’s Technology & Mental Health Lab, Dr. Schiffman’s Psychosis Risk Evaluation, Early Intervention, and Treatment Lab, and Dr. Kuhlman’s Teen Resilience Lab, resulting in a poster presentation at the 2023 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Conference at UC Irvine.  In addition, he  completed courses in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Advanced Research Methods, and Applied Statistics.  Outside of UCI, he worked part-time as an ABA therapist.  Since completing our program, he has continued his work in ABA therapy (while also volunteering in Drs. Schueller, Schiffman, and Kuhlman's research labs), and in April 2024, he will present at poster at the Anxiety & Depression Association of America conference in Boston. He plans to apply to PhD or PsyD programs focusing on clinical psychology in the near future.

Tiffany graduated in the Summer of 2018 from the University of Texas at El Paso with a B.A. in Psychology and minor in Biology. During her senior year, she worked as a lab manager in the Adolescent Development and Delinquency Lab, and she gave presentations at the Campus Undergraduate Opportunities for Research Initiative (COURI) symposium and at the American Psychology-Law Society Conference. During her time in the post-bacc program, Tiffany was research assistant in Dr. Cauffman's Development, Disorder, and Delinquency Lab, and she completed courses in Forensic Psychology, Applied Statistics, Positive Psychology, and Research Design.  In addition, she served as a Learning Assistant for Dr. Zinger's Industrial/Organizational Psychology course and as a Peer Tutor for Dr. Zinger's Psychology Fundamentals C course.  After completing the post-bacc program, Tiffany worked for 6 months as a part-time (paid) research assistant position in Dr. Cauffman's lab, and she gave a poster presentation at the 2020 Western Psychological Association conference in October 2020.  Since then, she spent some time as a Investigator for the Department of Family and Protective Services, and she currently works as a Program Coordinator for Communities in Schools (a non-profit organization that surrounds students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life).

Will earned his Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Biola University in 2014.  During his time in the post-bacc program, he worked as a research assistant in Dr. Quas' Child Development Laboratory and completed courses in Adolescent Development and Human Sexuality.  Will took a leave of absence from the program in September 2015 and accepted a full-time job as Community Advocate at REACH (Resource for Education, Advocacy, Communication, and Housing), and more recently, he has been working as the Elementary Director at the Whittier Area Community Church (where he oversees all of Elementary programming, making sure Sunday mornings run smoothly and facilitating events like children's summer camp).

Melissa graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a B.A. in psychology in June 2022. During her time there, she conducted undergraduate research investigating the relationship between cultural congruity (or person-environment fit) and academic outcomes such as student retention rates, academic success, and imposter syndrome.  She also took courses in Developmental Psychology, Adversity and Trauma, Psychology of Addiction, and Advanced Statistical Methods, which sparked her interest in conducting research in topics such as deviant behavior, eyewitness testimony, and substance abuse outcomes (which then led her to apply to our post-bacc program). During her time in the post-bacc program, Melissa worked in Dr. Beth Cauffman’s Development, Disorder, and Delinquency Lab, resulting in poster presentations at the 2023 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference at UC Irvine and at the 2023 Association for Psychological Science conference in Washington DC.  She also completed courses in Advanced Research Methods, Developmental Psychopathology, Adolescent Development, Violence in Society, and Advanced Forensic Psychology.  Outside of UCI, Melissa was employed as an academic advisor for high school students in Santa Ana. Since completing our program, Melissa has been working as a tutor for Newport Healthcare (which specializes in mental health treatment programs for teens and young adults), while also volunteering in Dr. Cauffman's lab and preparing to apply to Forensic Psychology graduate programs.

Priya earned her B.A. in English literature from Scripps College in Claremont, CA in May 2021. During her time there, she took some psychology courses and participated in a copywriting internship at Worldview Studio, which sparked her interest in psychological research and led her to apply to the UCI post-bacc program. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked in Dr. Pressman’s Stress, Emotion, and Physical Health lab and volunteered at 7 Cups of Tea as a trained listener, and she completed courses in Clinical Psychology, Applied Statistics, Abnormal Psychology, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Health Psychology, and Research Design.  She also completed a field study internship at the Bloom Foundation (a non-profit organization that has a mental health curriculum for middle and high school girls, including anti-bullying programs, group counseling, etc.), and she presented posters at the 2023 Western Psychological Association conference in Riverside, CA and at the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference at UC Irvine.  Since completing our program, she has been teaching English in the Czech Republic.

Danny graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2014. After working in sales for two years, he switched to politics with naïve hopes of making the world a better place but soon came to the realization that his skills would better utilized in an arena outside of national politics; he then discovered this program while researching careers in psychology. During his time in the post-bacc program, Danny worked in Dr. Piff's lab, studying economic inequality, morality, and altruism, and he completed courses in Abnormal Psychology, Personality, Applied Statistics, Social Psychology, Research Design, Social Relationships, and Industrial/Organizational Psychology.  In May 2019, he attended the Association for Psychological Science conference in Washington DC and presented a poster at the UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference in Irvine, CA.  Since completing the program, Danny spent two years working as part-time (paid) lab in Dr. Piff's lab (and as a freelance Spanish tutor), and he spent one year working full-time as a high school teacher.

Glenda completed her bachelor's degree in 2014 at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) where she double majored in Psychology and Human Development. After earning her bachelor's degree, she worked as a nurse staffing coordinator for a hospital in Bakersfield, California and volunteered as a crisis counselor for Crisis Text Line. During her time in the post-bacc program, Glenda was a research assistant in Dr. Jessica Borelli’s Health, Relationships, and Intervention Lab (where she examined the effectiveness of a strengths-based relationship program for low income Latinx parents and youth), and she completed courses in Human Stress, Social Relationships, Cross-Cultural Health Psychology, Science & Practice of Compassion, and Clinical Psychology.  Outside of UCI, Glenda worked full-time at Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) as a staffing coordinator for the inpatient nursing units.  Since completing the post-bacc program, Glenda has continued her full-time position at CHOC, originaly as a Staffing Coordinator and more recently as an Electronic Medical Records Trainer.

Maniyah obtained her B.A. in Psychology and Africana Studies from Rutgers University-New Brunswick in New Jersey, where she served as the Vice President of the NAACP chapter at Rutgers and worked to create an equitable, equal, and diverse environment on campus. She also worked as a research assistant on a study that examined the impact of restorative justice practices on students in New York’s public schools. During her time in the post-bacc program, Maniyah worked as a research assistant in Dr. Garfin's Resilience, Epidemiology, and Community Health Lab, Dr. Nyamathi's lab in the School of Nursing, and in Dr. Molina's Inequality & Health Lab (while also completing courses in the Psychology of Chicano/Latino Studies, Social Epidemiology, Applied Statistics, Research Design, and the Science & Practice of Compassion), and she was awarded a scholarship from the UC Irvine Division of Continuing Education (which paid for a little more than half of the cost of one of her courses). In addition, she presented a poster at the 2021 Imhotep Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, and she was a co-author on a poster that was presented at the 2021 American Public Health Association conference. Outside of UCI, Maniyah worked remotely as an Assistant to the Talent Manager at the Partnerships for Los Angeles Schools. After completing the post-bacc program, she got a co-authored publication in Global Qualitative Nursing Reserch (with Dr. Nyamathi's lab) and accepted a full-time position as an Operations Manager at a nonprofit dedicated to the advocacy for affordable housing in California.  She also freelances as a graphic designer in her free time (https://drive.google.com/file/d/15owNzndFzUsPz_kzqPkh6zBFKSC2ZGmi/view).

Matthew earned his Bachelor's Degree in Film and Media Studies from UC Irvine in 2013, receiving Cum Laude honors. During his time in the post-bacc program, he was a research assistant in Dr. Pressman's Positive Health Psychology lab, and he took courses in Research Design, Applied Statistics, Advanced Research Methods, and Personality.  He also completed a field study internship at the UC Campus Assault Resource and Education (CARE) Center.  In September 2015, Matt accepted a salaried position as a Data Entry Specialist at Broadbean in Irvine, where he has been work full-time.  Since joining this company, Matt has been promoted up the corporate ladder several times - moving through the ranks of Product Support Specialist, Senior Product Support Manager, Associate Product Manager - and most recently Product Manager in Spring 2021.

Jonathan graduated from the University of Georgia with a B.A. in Economics and Real Estate Finance. Upon graduating, he embarked on a varied career path, spending time in industries such as investment banking, tech, and education. Additionally, he founded and ran a game-based learning company for four years. During his time in the post-bacc program, worked in Dr. Martin’s Behavior, Emotion, and Affective Neuroscience Lab (where he learned more about the neuroscience of attention, emotions, and perception), resulting in poster presentations at the 2022 Association for Psychological Science conference in Chicago, IL and the 2022 Undergradaute Research Opportunities Program conference at UC Irvine.  In addition, he completed courses in Research Design, Abnormal Psychology, Applied Statistics, Clinical Neuroscience, Clinical Psychology, and Psychosis.  Upon completing our program, he received several job offers for full-time, paid positions (a customer success manager at GitLab, a research assistant position at Kernel, and a research assistant position in the Brain Mechanisms of Pain, Health and Mindfulness Lab at UCSD), and he decided to accept the position at Gitlab.  

Angela graduated from The College of New Jersey in 2012. She double majored in Business Marketing and Communication Studies with a concentration in Public Health. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Heckhausen's lab studying motivation, and she took a course in Behavioral Medicine.  In July 2016, she left the post-bacc program so she could focus on her full-time job at Microsoft, first as a Strategic Account Coordinator, then as an Account Manager, and now as a Client Partner; in April 2017, she won the "all blacks award" at Microsoft, which awarded monthly to one person in all of the West (LA, SF, and Seattle). 

Susan earned her B.A. in Communication from Northwest University, where she worked with the U.S. State Department as a media intern in Paris, France, supporting diplomatic programming for francophone Africa. Her interest in behavioral influence led to several years of working in advertising as a strategist, graphic designer, and advocate for data-informed creative decisions. During her time in the post-bacc program, Susan worked as a research assistant in Dr. Pete Ditto’s Hot Cognition Lab, researching political bias and reasoning, and she completed courses in Social Psychology and Research Design.  Susan left our program to go on maternity leave, and she is currently working as an account planner at Edisen.

Maedeh graduated from California State University, Fullerton in 2017 with a B.A. in Psychology. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked as a research assistant in Professor Loftus' Eyewitness Memory Lab and completed courses in Cognitive Development, Eyewitness Testimony, and Applied Statistics (while working full-time). Upon completion of the post-bacc program, Maedeh spent two years working as a full-time Analyst in the Revenue Operations department of DaVita Kidney Care, and in Juy 2021, she accepted a full-time posiiton as a Sr. Business Analyst at OptumRX.

Thom earned his Bachelor's degree in Communications from Cal State Fullerton in 2008. While in the post-bacc program, he worked for one quarter as a research assistant in Dr. Heckhausen's Lifespan Development & Motivation lab, he worked for two quarters as a research assistant in Dr. Ditto's Hot cognition lab, and he completed a one-quarter field study internship at the UC Irvine Human Resources Department.  During his time in the program, he also completed courses in Research Design, Applied Statistics for Psychology, Social Relationships, and Psychology of the Workplace.  In September 2015, Thom accepted a full-time, paid position as a Lead Outgoing Data Specialist in the Medical Department at Gilson Daub, Inc., and in February 2020, he started a new position as a Human Resources Information System Analyst at KushCo Holdings, Inc.

Sahara earned a Bachelor's degree from University of California, Irvine in June of 2013, double majoring in Criminology, Law and Society (CLS) and Psychology and Social Behavior (PSB); in her senior year, Sahara was awarded the Social Ecology Special Recognition in Multidisciplinary Achievement award.  During her time in the post-bacc program, she was a research assistant for Dr. Cauffman's Delinquency, Disorder, and Development lab, which focuses on adolescent development, mental health, juvenile justice, and social policy, and she presented her research at the Association for Psychological Science conference in New York City and at the Undergraduate Opportunities Research Conference at UCI in May 2015.  She also took courses in Forensic Psychology, Violence in Society, and Psychology of the Workplace, and she completed a field study internship in the UCI Human Resources Department.  After completing the program, Sahara spent several years working full-time at Equinox Fitness, starting as a front desk manager at the Huntington Beach location and working her way up to General Manager at the San Francisco location. She currently works as a Regional Loss Prevention Manager at Amazon.

Ana graduated from Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, FL with a B.A. in Psychology and in Women’s and Gender Studies. During her time at FIU, she was a research assistant and lab manager in the Power, Women, and Relationships Lab (a social psychology lab that researches the interaction between gender and power structures). She worked on projects that examined cyber dating abuse victimization and perpetration among Latinx emerging adults, the experience of women at the Lotus House Women’s Shelter, and more. She also worked as a learning assistant for an Introduction to Psychology course for four semesters. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Garfin’s Resilience, Epidemiology, and Community Health Lab and in Dr. Zalta's Trauma & Resilience lab, resulting in a poster presentation at the 2022 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference at UC Irvine and a poster presentation at the 2022 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies in Atlanta, GA.  In addition, she completed courses in Applied Statistics, Black Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Judgment & Decision Making.  After completing our program, she spent some time working at Headway (a website/app that matches people with mental health providers), and she currently works as a full-time Project Coordinator at Spring Lake Ranch Therapeutic Community (while also preparing to apply to grad school).

Jay earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology (minor in cognitive science) at the University of California, Los Angeles. During his time as an undergraduate, he engaged in three concurrent research assistant positions, covering a range of topics from cognition to relationship health. During his time in the post-bacc program, he worked with Dr. Heckhausen in the Life-Span Development and Motivation Lab and completed a course in Human Stress.  Outside of UCI, Jay worked full-time as a GI Technician as a Gastrointentional Outpatient Facility.  He left our program in Spring 2020 in order to focus on his full-time job.

Joshua received his BA in Mathematics from UCSD and his MS in Mathematics from CSUSM with an emphasis in probability and graph theory, and he has been teaching Mathematics at Cal State San Marcos for over 10 years.  During his time in the post-bacc program, he was a research assistant in Professor Sng's Evolution, Culture, and Stereotyping Lab, and he completed an Introduction to Psychology course.  During to the increased workload involved in teaching during the pandemic, Joshua had to leave our program in January 2021 to focus on his Cal State San Marcos position.

Yoselin graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a B.S. in Business Marketing. After earning her bachelor's degree, she spent some time working as an Account Manager at a social media marketing agency and she spent a year teaching English in a rural part of northeastern Thailand.  During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked as a research assistant in Professor Piff's Morality, Emotion, and Social Hierarch Lab and she completed courses in Abnormal Psychology, Social Psychology, and the Science & Practice of Compassion.  Outside of UCI, Yosi also worked as a Sales Representative for ReNude (a skincare recommendation platform).  In Spring 2020, things started to get busier at her job, so she left the post-bacc program to focus on work responsibilities.  Since that time, Yoselin was promoted at ReNude - first to Sales Operations Manager, then to Operations Manager - and now she is a Revenue Analyst.

Darren graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting and Business Administration with a finance concentration and a Master's Degree in Business Taxation . After completing his degrees, he obtained his CPA license and worked in federal corporate taxation. Darren also spent time volunteering at Minds Matter, an academic mentoring program for students from low-income background, in addition to volunteering at UCI and Hoag Hospitals. During his time in the post-bacc program, Darren worked as a research assistant with Dr. Susan Charles (in the Emotion lab) and with Dr. Salazar Campo (in the School of Business), and he completed courses in Biological Psychology, Developmental Psychopathology, Research Design, and Clinical Sports Psychology. Outside of UCI, Darren worked part-time as Senior Tax Associate at PricewaterhouseCooper. Darren left our program to focus on his family and work responsibilities, and he current works full-time as a Tax Director at Veritone.

Maria earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology in Spring 2019 from UC Riverside, where she volunteered at the Botanical Gardens and was a lab prep assistant in the Biology shop; shortly after graduation, she obtained a job working the front desk of the Sanctuary Wellness Center and Yoga Studio in Tustin, CA. During her time in the post-bacc program, Maria worked in Dr. Martin’s Behaviors, Emotion, and Affective Neuroscience Lab and in Dr. Piff's Morality, Emotion, and Social Hierarchy Lab, and she completed courses in Advanced Research Methods, Developmental Psychopathology, Applied Statistics, The Science & Practice of Compassion, Consciousness & the Brain, and Social Epidemiology.  In addition, in Spring 2020, she received a scholarship from the UCI Division of Continuing Education, which paid for the majority of the course fees for her Social Epidemiology course.  Since completing the program, Maria has been volunteering in Dr. Piff's lab and Dr. Molina's lab, and she presented posters at the 2022 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) conference in Irvine, CA and at the 2023 Society for Personality & Social Psychology conference in Atlanta, GA.  In addition, she has continued working at the Sanctuary Wellness Center and Yoga Studio (while also applying to paid research positions).  

Nash graduated from Yale University in 2018 with her B.A in Film Studies and Screenwriting. While working in administration at a medical clinic, she engaged with a plethora of patients suffering from mental distress - and lack of coverage - due to the effects of their various injuries, inspiring her to pursue an education in psychology. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked with Dr. Paul Piff in his Morality, Emotion, and Social Hierarchy Lab, studying the effects of these factors on interpersonal processes, and she completed courses in Abnormal Psychology, Social Psychology, the Science and Practice of Wellness and Resilience, and Research Design.  Also, she presented a poster at the 2021 UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference.  Outside of UCI, Nash worked part-time at an insurance agent (while studying to take the insurance agent exam).  In Summer 2021, Nash's boss (at the insurance company) offered her to give her a promotion and pay for her to become an insurance agent (upon passing her insurance agent exam), so she left the post-bacc program to pursue a career in insurance full-time.  Nash is currently working full-time as a Marketing Coordinator & Assistant & Client Manager at Griffith E. Harris Insurance Services.

Vena received her B.S. in Management Science from the University of California – San Diego with a minor in Engineering Science and her M.S. in Software Engineering from Golden Gate University.  Her work experiences in IT, finance and management (and the different roles that she had taken on in these industries) inspired her interest in psychology, and she is especially fascinated by the brain, cognitive processes, and neuroscience.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Vena spent a year working as a research assistant in Dr. Jaeggi’s Working Memory and Plasticity Lab, and she completed undergraduate courses in Statistical Analysis, Brain Disorders, and Abnormal Psychology; she also completed a graduate course in Cognitive Neuroscience & Human Development.  In Fall 2021, she accepted a new full-time job as the VP of Finance and Business Operations at Fonegear, so she took a leave of absence from our program to focus on this new position.

Olivia graduated from UC Irvine with a B.A. in Psychological Science and a B.A. in Criminology, Law, & Society in 2021. Before transferring to UC Irvine, Olivia attended community college in Santa Cruz, CA, and she worked as a Registered Behavior Technician (where she led 1:1 therapy sessions with children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder). While in undergrad, she took courses that focused on adolescent development, abnormal behavior, and juvenile delinquency, and she built on this knowledge by taking an advanced seminar on forensic psychology and a graduate seminar on anger. She was also a research assistant in Dr. Cauffman’s Development, Disorder, and Delinquency (3D) Lab, and she presented a project that examined the role of sleep in young adults’ response to violence exposure at the 2021 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) conference at UC Irvine. During her time in the post-bacc program, Olivia worked as a research assistant in Dr. Quas’ Child Development Lab and in Dr. Cauffman's 3D lab, and she completed courses in Applied Statistics, Advanced Research Methods, and Addiction.  In addition, in Winter 2022, she completed a Social Media Marketing Internship at Sweety High.  The internship went so well that she decided to change her career focus from psychology to digital marketing - and in March 2021, she was offered a paid position as an in-house social media marketing intern for a fashion company in Los Angeles.  She left the post-bacc program to pursue this new opportunity/career path.  In September 2022, Olivia accepted a position as a Social Media Coordinator and Content Creator for Awe Inspired (a Los Angeles based brand, emphasizing female empowerment through gorgeous jewelry and homegoods), and most recently (in May 2023), she accepted a position as Influencer Manager at MyMuse.  

kat graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in English and a secondary field in Dramatic Arts. After graduating, they moved to New York City to pursue a career in theatre, staging workshops and productions at Drama League, The Tank, The Brick, and Dixon Place, and they developed an interest in research and therapeutic practice while working between shows as the staff training coordinator at the Museum of Sex in Manhattan (where they created resources, trained sales associates, and provided education for customers on sexual wellness and BGLTQ+ issues). During their time in the post-bacc program, they served as a research assistant for Dr. Borelli (assisting with research on parent/child relationships and interventions for parents of children on the spectrum), and they completed courses in Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, Abnormal Psychology, and Applied Statistics. Since leaving our program, kat has been self-employed as a freelancer and working as an editorial resident for Clotheshorse, a blog that focuses on sustainability and the fashion industry - while also weighing her options for graduate school (deciding between graduate programs in English, theater, social work, or psychology).

Dean graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a B.A. in Art and a minor in Digital Arts in 2015. Soon thereafter, he worked as a design coordinator at a residential development firm in Orange County, where he worked in data-based design planning for clients. During his time in the post-bacc program, Dean participated in Dr. Ditto’s Hot Cognition Lab (where he conducted research on human reasoning at the intersection of emotion and logic), and he completed courses in Abnormal Psychology, Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, Lifespan Developmental Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Research Design, and Applied Statistics.  In addition, he gave a poster presentation at the 2021 Society for Personality & Social Psychology conference.  Outside of UCI, he volunteered at a ranch to help with equine therapy and he worked part-time as a design coordinator at Viking Equities.  Since completing our program, Dean has been volunteering in Dr. Ditto's lab (while continuing his work with the ranch and at Viking Equities), and in October 2021, he also joined Dr. Silver's Stress & Coping Lab. Most recently, he was invited to the graduate interview day at the University of La Verne for their Marriage & Family Therapy master's degree program.  We wish you the best of luck on your interview, Dean!

Sara graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a B.S. in psychology and biological sciences in May 2022. As an undergraduate, she was a research assistant in Dr. Kasey Creswell’s Behavioral Health Research Lab, which is focused on studying the development and maintenance of addiction. In this lab, she completed a senior thesis project which prospectively examined the associations between adolescent extraversion and alcohol use/problems in young adulthood. Sara has also worked as a telephone support specialist for the Allegheny County Warmline. During her time in the post-bacc program, she was a research assistant in Dr. Borelli’s Health, Relationships, and Interventions Lab, and she completed courses in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Clinical Health Psychology, Health Psychology, Addiction, and Advanced Research Methods.  She also attended the 2023 Association for Psychological Science conference in Washington, DC.  Since completing our program, Sara has been looking for paid research positions in Northern California (while also preparing to apply for Clincial and/or Health Psychology Ph.D. programs).

Jennifer earned her bachelor’s degree in behavioral neuroscience from Florida International University in 2022. During her time as an undergraduate, she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Jonathan Comer’s Mental Health Interventions and Technology (MINT) Clinic, conducting phone screens for potential patients and participating in exposure therapy with pediatric patients diagnosed with selective mutism. She was also a learning assistant for Dr. Leila Allen’s Intro to Behavioral Neuroscience course and a treasurer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). During her time in the post-bacc program, Jennifer is a research assistant in Dr. Elizabeth Martin’s Behaviors, Emotions, and Affective Neuroscience (BEAN) Lab (which studies the underlying mechanisms of emotional and social functioning, particularly in individuals on the psychosis spectrum) and in Dr. Kuhlman's Teen Resilience Lab (which studies child and adolescent clinical psychology, adolescent depression, early life stress / childhood adversity, psychoneuroimmunology, and psychoneuroendocrinology), resulting in poster presentations at the 2023 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference at UC Irvine and at the 2023 Association for Psychological Science conference in Washington, DC. In addition, she completed undergraduate courses in Clinical Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Personality Disorders, Advanced Research Methods, and Psychodynamic Studies, and she completed a graduate course in Cognitive Neuroscience of Human Development.  Since completing our program, Jennifer has been looking for full-time research positions (while also preparing to apply for Clinical Psychology Ph.D. programs).

Mary graduated from the University of Georgia in May of 2022 with a B.S in psychology, and she spent over a year volunteering as a crisis counselor for the Crisis Text Line. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked in Dr. Martin’s Behaviors, Emotions, and Affective Neuroscience lab, resulting in poster presentations at the 2023 Western Psychological Association conference in Riverside, CA, the 2023 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference at UC Irvine, and the 2023 Association for Psychological Science conference in Washington, DC.  In addition, she completed courses in Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Personality  Disorders, and Evolutionary Psychogy, and she did a field study internship at  Waymakers Youth Shelter.  Since completed our program, she has been looking for paid clinical or research positions in California or the New York/New Jersey area (while also preparing to apply for Psy.D. programs).

Ngan graduated from the University of San Francisco with majors in Finance and International Business (and minors in Economics and Chinese Studies), where she gained quantitative and qualitative research experience and analytical proficiency. Drawing on her inquisitive nature in group dynamics and cross-cultural diversity, Ngan also served as a Peer Tutor in Mandarin Chinese language to foster academic success in others. While working as a coal import analyst in Vietnam, she interacted with a range of foreign clients to maintain a reliable supply chain and ensure production quality, which sparked her interest in learning about the impact of cultural principles on work effectiveness. In addition to attending seminars and completing a course about the fundamentals of psychology, Ngan participated in retreat programs that discussed the neurophysiological basis and clinical applications of mindfulness. As a long-term mindfulness practitioner, she is greatly inspired to acquire non-duality insights into researchable mechanisms and paradigms underpinning health outcomes and psychosocial factors such as happiness and social integration. During her time in the post-bacc program, Ngan completed courses in Research Design, Clinical Psychology, Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology, Advanced Research Methods, Psychology Fundamentals, Health Psychology, and Attachment Relationships, and she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Campos’s Culture, Relationships, and Health Lab. Outside of UCI, Ngan volunteered (remotely) at the Vietnamese Social Services of Minnesota as an interpreter, and she attended an "Intro to Python" workshop. Since completing our program, she has been continuing volunteering in Dr. Campos' lab and in Dr. Guney Scurich's lab (while also preparing to apply to master's degree programs).

Nathan transferred from Saddleback College (with an A.A. in Psychology) to UC Irvine, where he later earned his B.A. in Psychology & Social Behavior in 2019. During his time as a UCI undergraduate student, he joined Dr. Dana Mukamel’s iTEQC Lab (Program of Research in Translational Technology Enabling High Quality Care) in the Department of Medicine.  Throughout his one-year commitment to the lab, he assisted in conducting research focused on patient decision-making concerning adherence to physicians’ choice of treatment. He joined the lab as a research assistant organizing large data sets and was later promoted to lab coordinator where he oversaw recruitment and supervision of several other undergraduate research assistants; his achievements in this lab earned him an Undergraduate Research Fellowship. Nathan later interned at UCI’s Campus Assault Resources Education office, where he participated in outreach events to educate the campus community on power-based personal violence and to promote safety; he also worked to personally provide individuals who have faced sexual or other violence-based acts with the proper resources they need. Nathan joined the post-bacc program to gain more research and clinical experience, and during his time in our program, he worked as a research assistant in Dr. Zalta's lab, resulting in a poster presentation at the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference at UC Irvine.  He also completed courses in Applied Statistics, Queer Knowledges, Science & Practice of Wellness & Resilience, Addiction, and Psychosis.  Since completing our program, Nathan has been continuing to volunteer in Dr. Zalta's lab (now as a lab manager), while also preparing to apply to Clinical Ph.D. programs.

Dana earned a Bachelor's degree in Sociology and Anthropology from the American University of Beirut in 2012. During her time in the post-bacc program, Dana worked as a research assistant for Professor Nicholas Scurich (who studies judgment and decision making and psychology and the law), Professor Linda Levine (who studies emotion, memory, and emotion regulation), and Professor Paul Piff (who studies socioeconomic status, prosocial behavior, and social emotion).  She also completed courses in Applied Statistics; Advanced Research Methods; Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination; Social Psychology; and Forensic Psychology, and she attended the Society for Personality & Social Psychology conference in Long Beach, CA.  

Peter graduated from New York University (NYU) in 2021 with a B.S. in applied psychology and global public health. During his undergraduate years at NYU, he joined the Latino Family Engagement and Language Development Research Team, where he volunteered at schools, distributed surveys to parents, and explained the goal of the research project to parents who were interested, and he worked as a research assistant for The Listening Project, where he created and coded transcripts (while also aiding in the project's development). Additionally, he interned at WayAhead Mental Health Association of New South Wales while studying abroad in Sydney, Australia, where he worked under the CEO of the company, managing the Australian Coalition for Loneliness website and collaborating with other organizations to help distribute mental health resources. During his time in the post-bacc program, he worked in Dr. Stephen Schueller's Technology & Mental Health Lab (where he reviewed mental health apps and assessed the efficacy of the apps to distinguish the best apps that people can use for themselves), in Dr. Jutta Heckhausen's Motivation Lab, and in Dr. Gary Lynch's lab (in the School of Medicine), and he completed courses in Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Applied Statistics, Advanced Research Methods, and Evolutionary Psychology.  In addition, Peter received the Association for Psychological Science (APS) Student Travel Award (which included free registration to the conference and a $200 stipend), and he gave poster presentations at the 2023 APS conference in Washington, DC and at the 2023 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference at UC Irvine.  Since completing our program, Peter has continued volunteering in his UCI research labs, while also looking for paid research positions and preparing to apply to Clinical Psychology Ph.D. programs.

Mina graduated from California State University Dominguez Hills in 2016 with a bachelor's degree in psychology.  During her time in the post-bacc program, she completed courses in Advanced Research Methods and Forensic Psychology, and she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Martin's Behaviors, Emotions, and Affective Neuroscience lab.  After leaving our program, she decided to apply to veterinary school, and she took courses as a local community college and volunteered at two animal shelters in Los Angeles to prepare for her new career path.

Sono earned his B.S. in kinesiology from Arizona State University in 2012.  After graduation, Sono moved to Busan, South Korea to work as an English teacher for various academies and universities.  In 2021, Sono returned to Southern California to work at the Mental Health America of Los Angeles (MHALA), where he started as an intern and was then promoted to a Personal Service Coordinator (PSC); in this role, he provided direct service to individuals experiencing mental health barriers, supported them in achieving their goals, and provided case management to connect them with necessary resources.  As a post-bacc student, he participated in Dr. Silver’s Stress and Coping Lab and in Dr. Schiffman’s PREVENT Lab, resulting in a poster presentation at the 2023 UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference.  In addition, he completed courses in Applied Statistics, Clinical Psychology, Clinical Sports Psychology, Clinical Neuroscience, Psychosis, Advanced Research Methods, and Psychodynamic Studies.  Since completing the post-bacc program, he has continued volunteering in Drs. Silver, Schiffman, and Zalta's labs (while search for paid research positions and preparing to apply for Clinical/Counseling Ph.D. programs), and he will give a poster presentation at the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies in November 2023 in Los Angeles.

Ghazal graduated from the University of Tehran (Iran) with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. During her undergrad, she worked on two research projects on maternal anxiety. She also worked in the HR department of a power electronics company and did an internship as a school counselor.  Her research interests are in stress, anxiety, trauma, and PTSD, and she wants to understand how individual, cultural, and contextual differences moderate the effectiveness of PTSD interventions.  During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked Dr. Zalta’s Trauma and Resilience Lab, in Dr. Yim's Mind-Body Pathways to Well-Being & Resilience Lab, and in Dr. DeWayne Williams' Health Disparities Lab, and she completed courses in Applied Statistics, Psychosis, Clinical Neuroscience, and Advanced Research Methods.  She also audited a graduate-level Evidence-Based Treatments course and gave an oral presentation at the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference at UC Irvine.  Since completing our program, she has continued volunteering in Dr. Zalta and Dr. Williams' labs (while preparing to apply to Clinical Psychology Ph.D. programs), and she presented posters at the 2023 American Psychological Association conference in Washington DC and at the 2023 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies conference in Los Angeles.

Sierra graduated from University of California - Irvine with a B.A. in Psychology and Social Behavior and a minor in Education. During her undergraduate years, Sierra  interned at UCI’s Campus Assault Resources and Education (CARE) Center, and she completed the Advanced Field Study (AFS) program, where she interned at Higher Ground Youth & Family Services (HGYFS) in Anaheim. As an AFS intern at HGYFS, Sierra was involved in the launching of the new Human Trafficking Prevention Program, conducted independent research about the effects of after-school programs and teacher perspectives of need for at-risk youth, and staffed HGYFS’s after-school program.  During her time in the post-bacc program, Sierra was a Research Assistant in Dr. Kuhlman’s Teen Resilience Lab, Dr. Heckhausen’s Life-Span Development and Motivation lab, and Dr. Borelli's Health, Relationships, and Interventions Lab, and she completed undergraduate courses in Applied Statistics, Clinical Neuroscience, Human Stress, and Advanced Research Methods (as well as a graduate course in Cognitive Neuroscience of Human Development).  In addition, she gave poster presentations at the 2021 Association for Psychological Science conference and the 2021 Conte Center @ UCI Symposium, and she gave an oral presentation at the 2021 UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference.  After completing the program, Sierra has been continuing to volunteer in Dr. Kuhlman's lab as a research assistant and in Dr. Borelli's lab as a study coordinator (while also looking for full-time, paid positions).  Eventually (after gaining a bit more experience), she plans to apply to PhD programs in Clinical Psychology.

Hanniel graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a B.S. in neuroscience and a minor in disability studies in June 2022. During her time there, she conducted various research projects, including behavioral research with in the Wassum Lab with Dr. Kate Wassum (Undergraduate Interdepartmental Program for Neuroscience Vice Chair) and Dr. Jackie Giovanniello (Post-Doctoral Fellow). Her work in the Wassum Lab included investigating brain pathways involved in stress and their activations of goal-directed and habitual behaviors. Hanniel's experiences and research on stress and anxiety sparked an interest in trauma research, which led her to apply to our post-bacc program. During her time in the post-bacc program, she worked  in Dr. Alyson Zalta's Trauma and Resilience lab, resulting in a poster presentation at the 2023 UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program conference. In addition, she completed courses in Applied Statistics, Clinical Psychology, Psychology Fundamentals, Abnormal Psychology, Research Design, and Addiction.  Since completing our program, she has been continuing to volunteer in Dr. Zalta's lab (while also looking for paid research positions and preparing to apply to clinical psychology Ph.D. programs), and she gave a poster presentation at the 2023 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies in Los Angeles.