Graduate Students

Angelina Pei-tzu Tsai

peitzu@ad.unc.edu

Angelina is a graduate student in the Clinical Psychology program. She obtained her MS in Engineering at the Carnegie Mellon University. After graduating, she has been working in tech as a Director for New Program Initiative (NPI) development. At UNC, Angelina studies quantitative modeling to improve diagnostic efficiency in predicting developmental psychopathology on adolescents. She aims to develop culturally-adaptive assessment in accessing complex trauma and leverage her engineering skills to investigate impact of early adversity on neural development.  Angelina is currently on internship at the University of Washington School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry. (Pronouns: she/her/hers)

Angelina Pei-tzu Tsai’s Google Scholar Page

Carrington Merritt

carritt@live.unc.edu 

Carrington is a graduate student dually enrolled in the Clinical and Social Psychology programs at UNC. Prior to being a graduate student, she worked as an undergraduate research assistant in the Carolina SNH lab while obtaining a B.A. in Psychology at UNC. Carrington’s graduate research combines clinical psychology and social neuroscience approaches to address the physiological and neural mechanisms through which racism-related stress confers risk for poorer mental health and psychopathology among racial/ethnic minorities. (Pronouns: she/her/hers).

Carrington Merritt’s Google Scholar Page

Esmeralda Navarro

enavarro@unc.edu

Esmeralda Navarro is a graduate student in the Clinical Psychology program from East Los Angeles, California. She received her BA in Psychology and Biology from Williams College in 2019. After graduation, she worked at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai under Dr. Megan Horton. There, she explored the effects of early life metal exposure on brain development and psychological health. Broadly, Esmeralda is interested in investigating the relationships between early adversity, neural development, and risk and resilience to psychopathology.

Esmeralda Navarro’s Google Scholar Page

 

Katie Garrisi

kathryn.garrisi@unc.edu

Katie Garrisi is a dual PhD student in the Clinical Psychology and Developmental Psychology PhD Programs in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at UNC Chapel Hill. Katie graduated with a B.A. in Psychology and Minor in Creative Writing from Cornell University in 2019. After graduation, she worked as a Clinical Research Assistant at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she led a longitudinal neuroimaging study of dyslexia and began investigating early adversity. Katie then became the Data Analyst in the CIRCLE Lab to continue studying the impact of early life experiences on neurodevelopment and psychopathology. As a PhD student, Katie is studying neurodevelopmental mechanisms of biologically embedded risk for psychopathology, how brain network development throughout childhood and adolescence relates to the emergence of psychopathology in clinical populations, and how this could inform future interventions. (Pronouns: she/her/hers)

 

Lucy Lurie

llurie@email.unc.edu

Lucy is a graduate student in the Clinical Psychology program. She received her BA in Psychology and French Studies from Lewis & Clark College in 2015. After graduating, Lucy spent a year teaching English in France in several elementary schools. She later joined Kate McLaughlin’s Stress and Development Lab first at the University of Washington, and later at Harvard University, as a research coordinator. As a graduate student, Lucy is interested in studying the impact of early adversity on the neural correlates of language and executive function development to confer risk for psychopathology. (Pronouns: she/her/hers)

Lucy Lurie’s Google Scholar Page

Micaela Rodriguez

micaelaa@unc.edu

Micaela is a graduate student in the Clinical Psychology program. In 2019, she graduated magna cum laude with a B.A in Psychology from Stony Brook University. After graduation she served as a research coordinator at Dr. Kristin Bernard’s Developmental Stress and Prevention Laboratory in New York. At UNC, Micaela aims to study the underlying neurobiological and psychophysiological mechanisms of resilience and the risks of psychopathology following exposure to early life adversity.

Michelle Shipkova

mshipkov@unc.edu

Michelle is a graduate student in UNC’s Developmental and Social Psychology programs from Los Angeles, California. She graduated summa cum laude from Loyola Marymount University in 2022 with a B.A. in Psychology and Theater Arts. Working with Drs. Kristen Lindquist, Margaret Sheridan, and Eva Telzer, Michelle is interested in using neurobiological methods to study how early adverse experiences and social contexts (e.g., peer influence, parent-child relationships) impact emotional development in childhood and adolescence. Her research is supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). (Pronouns: she/her/hers)

Michelle Shipkova’s Google Scholar Page

Nicolas Murgueitio

jnicolas@email.unc.edu

Nicolas is a graduate student in the Developmental Psychology PhD Program at UNC working with Drs. Cathi Propper and Margaret Sheridan. Before coming to UNC, he worked as a research assistant on studies looking at the epidemiology of childhood violence in Ecuador, and the emotional and neuropsychological development of youth in foster care. His research has 4 themes: 1) Exploring how childhood adversity, particularly threat, impacts the development of emotional learning and memory systems, and their underlying neurobiology; 2) The neural correlates of children’s processing and preference of parents and parental-related cues and information; 3) The role of the gut microbiome on neuro-affective development; and 4) Measurement of adversity in children and families. (Pronouns: he/él).

Nicolas Murgueitio’s Google Scholar Page