Master's Student Research Group
Master’s Student Research Group
Our Team:
Faculty Advisor:
Dr. Kendra Doychak
Student Executives:
Valerie Vengerov, M.A. FMHC
Caitlin Sanders, M.A. FP
Sakshi Vinod Mundra, M.A. FP
Contact Information:
- Email: msrg@jjay.cuny.edu
- Instagram: @fpmsrg
Our Research Faculty:
Cynthia Caulkins, Ph.D.
Email:
ccalkins@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Sexual Violence & Sexual Offenders
Biography:
Dr. Cynthia Calkins is a licensed clinical forensic psychologist and an Associate Professor of Psychology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, NY. She received a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and a Master of Legal Studies (MLS) from the University of Nebraska's Law-Psychology program. She completed an APA-accredited predoctoral internship at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute in Tampa, FL, and did postdoctoral work at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Her work focuses broadly on establishing empirical evidence for use in sex offender policy and sexual violence prevention. She has served as a PI on two major federal grants from the U.S. National Institute of Justice. The most recent of these was primary prevention-oriented and helped to identify risk markers for sexual violence perpetration among a sample of clergy sex offenders. Current projects include a longitudinal study that examines factors promoting desistance from sexual offending and the examination and prevention of sexual violence in Latino cultures.
Thesis Advisement:
Accepting 1-2 Students Spring 2025
Research Lab: Sex Offender Research Lab (SORL)
Note: Dr. Caulkins is not currently accepting RA applications
Preeti Chauhan, Ph.D.
Email:
pchauhan@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Racial Disparities in the Legal System
Biography:
Preeti Chauhan is a Distinguished Faculty Fellow for Research and a Professor in the Psychology Department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She is also a Co-Founder and the former Director of the Data Collaborative for Justice (DCJ). Dr. Chauhan has a broad interest in examining the role of policies and practices that may create and sustain racial/ethnic disparities in the criminal legal system. Her work at DCJ has informed criminal justice policies and reform initiatives in New York City, New York State, and other jurisdictions around the country. Dr. Chauhan has received numerous awards, including the Feliks Gross Endowment Award and the Donal E.J. McNarma Junior Faculty Award, while also being named a TriBeCa Disruptor Foundation Fellow. She currently serves on the editorial boards for Law and Human Behavior, Psychology, Public Policy, and the Law, Psychology of Violence, and Journal of Community Psychology. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the New York City Criminal Justice Agency (CJA) and was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Committee on Law and Justice (CLAJ). Dr. Chauhan received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Virginia and her BA and BS from the University of Florida. Her pre-doctoral clinical internship was completed at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center.
Thesis Advisement:
Please email Dr. Chauhan for more information.
Shuki Cohen, Ph.D.
Email:
shcohen@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Ideological Extremism
Biography:
Dr. Cohen is originally from Israel, where he obtained his BSc in Biophysical Chemistry and MSc in Brain Research from the Weizmann Institute of Science. As a neuroscientist, Dr. Cohen examined the dynamics of functional groups of cortical cells as they shift between perceptual tasks and characterized a cellular analog of unconscious learning in anesthetized animals. While working at UC Berkeley (on the neuronal computations underlying 3-D vision in the visual cortex), he started an independent collaboration with the late Enrico Jones using his archive of transcribed long-term psychoanalytic treatments. The project resulted in a statistical algorithm to detect above-chance recurring interaction patterns in the verbal exchange between patients and psychoanalysts, which may lie outside the consciousness of both. Dr. Cohen then transferred to NY, where he finished his PhD in clinical psychology from New York University. In his PhD work, Dr. Cohen examined autobiographical narratives for verbal markers of aggression, whether internalized (as in depression) or externalized (as in violence). To better predict aggression from word choice, Dr. Cohen developed a computerized scale for speakers’ level of fanaticism, overgeneralization, and cognitive rigidity. In his clinical training, Dr. Cohen externed for 4 years at NYU’s Psychodynamic Outpatient Clinic and for 2 years at the Albert Ellis Institute and interned at Bellevue and Gouverneur hospitals. He then completed a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship at Yale Medical School Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Cohen’s research concerns the psychological processes underlying ideological extremism and violence on both the interpersonal and international levels.
Thesis Advisement:
Please email Dr. Cohen for more information.
Angela Crossman, Ph.D.
Email:
acrossman@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Reliability of Children's Testimony & Lying
Biography:
Angela M. Crossman earned a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Cornell University in 2001 (M.A., Cornell University, 1998; B.A., Dartmouth College, 1994). She came to John Jay College in 2003 from a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Institute for the Study of Child Development (UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ). Her research interests include the development of deception and truth-telling in children and the reliability and credibility of children's testimony. She is a faculty member of the Psychology & Law, Criminal Justice, and Developmental Psychology doctoral programs at the CUNY Graduate Center. Dr. Crossman is a developmental psychologist whose research interests include the accuracy and credibility of children's memory and testimony, the socialization and development of lying and truth-telling, and adolescent sexting behavior. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (with Dr. Victoria Talwar). Her research has been published in Developmental Review, the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, and Trauma, Violence & Abuse. She is a member of the Child Maltreatment editorial board and a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science.
Thesis Advisement:
Please email Dr. Crossman for more information.
Research Lab: Child Development Lab
Please email Dr. Crossman for more information.
Diana Falkenbach, Ph.D.
Email:
dfalkenbach@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Psychopathy & Violence
Biography:
Dr. Diana Falkenbach is a tenured Associate Professor in the Psychology Department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Director of the M.A. program in Forensic Psychology. She completed her doctoral studies in Clinical Psychology at the University of South Florida. She holds an M.S. in Counseling from Georgia State University and a B.A. in Psychology from Emory University. Before joining the John Jay Faculty, she completed her internship at Bellevue Hospital Center and Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center, where she conducted testing, forensic evaluations, and therapy with violent, mentally ill offenders. Dr. Falkenbach is a clinical researcher focusing on psychopathy and related behaviors. She is interested in understanding the etiology of psychopathy and violence, as well as the development and evaluation of assessment instruments.
While these areas of research are commonly studied in adult males, Dr. Falkenbach pursues research on psychopathic traits and predictors of violence in women, juveniles, various multicultural groups, and noncriminal populations. Her recent focus is on “successful” adaptations of psychopathic traits and considering if heroes and criminal psychopaths may be “twigs off of the same genetic branch” (Lykken, 1995). She is working on several research projects considering psychopathic traits in police, FBI, and corporate samples.
Thesis Advisement:
Please email Dr. Falkenbach for more information.
Research Lab: Psychopathy Lab
Current Projects:
Psychopathy in police and FBI
Psychometric properties of Psychopathy assessment instruments for youth
Psychopathy cross-culturally
Subtypes of psychopathy in youth, women, and police
Comparing student, police, and corporate samples
Student projects:
How do personality disorders, hostile attributions, emotional processing, moral reasoning, empathy, and the ability to interpret emotional cues related to psychopathic traits and aggressive behaviors?
Please email Dr. Falkenbach for more information.
Mark Fondacaro, Ph.D.
Email:
mfondacaro@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Social Justice in the Legal System
Biography:
Mark Fondacaro is a Professor of Psychology and Director of the Doctoral Training Program in Psychology & Law at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center, CUNY. Before joining the faculty at John Jay, he was an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Florida and an Associate Director of the Levin College of Law’s Center on Children and Families. Dr. Fondacaro received a B.A. in psychology with an outside concentration in the biological sciences from Stony Brook University and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Indiana University-Bloomington. He pursued post-doctoral training in social ecology at Stanford University before completing his legal training at Columbia Law School. Professor Fondacaro has co-authored (with Christopher Slobogin) a book entitled “Juveniles at Risk: A Plea for Preventive Justice,” published by Oxford University Press.
Dr. Fondacaro has authored numerous articles in law reviews and behavioral science journals on procedural justice, due process, family conflict resolution, and juvenile and criminal justice reform. Dr. Fondacaro is currently working with a team of graduate student assistants in his Social Justice Laboratory on a series of empirical studies aimed at identifying the defendant and situational factors that may bias judgments of criminal responsibility. Over the past 10 years, Professor Fondacaro has helped to develop and implement training programs for the NYPD on managing situations involving emotionally disturbed persons, including scenario-based training with recruits, newly promoted Sergeants, Lieutenants, and Captains, the Emergency Services Unit, and the elite Hostage Negotiation Team. Dr. Fondacaro also worked with a team of high-level administrators from the NYPD and other John Jay faculty to develop a Crisis Intervention Training Program for police officers on patrol aimed at de-escalating conflict.
Thesis Advisement:
Please email Dr. Fondacaro for more information.
Research Lab: Social Justice Lab
Please email Dr. Fondacaro for more information.
Michele Galietta, Ph.D.
Email:
mgalietta@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
DBT & CBT
Biography:
Dr. Michele Galietta is currently an Associate Professor of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, where she served as director of the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. Program from 2005-2013. Dr. Galietta is a researcher and clinician specializing in the adaptation, training, dissemination, and implementation of empirically supported treatments. Dr. Galietta has been training and consulting in criminal justice settings since 2001, and she is recognized nationally and internationally in evidence-based mental health research and programming. Dr. Galietta has been included in the initial group of individuals recognized by Marsha Linehan, the treatment developer of DBT, as certified as competent in the provision of DBT services. She has specific expertise in the adaptation of dialectical behavior therapy for the treatment of violence and is one of only a few researchers in the country who has adapted DBT for a forensic population and tested the adaption in a government-funded randomized controlled trial. Dr. Galietta’s current research areas include evaluating treatment outcomes in stalking offenders, treatment development for psychopathic individuals, and aging in correctional environments.
Thesis Advisement:
Please email Dr. Galietta for more information.
William Gottdiener, Ph.D.
Email:
wgottdiener@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Dark Personalities in Addiction (Psychopathy, Narcissism, Sadism, etc.)
Biography:
Professor Gottdiener received his BA in psychology from Hunter College of the City University of New York. He received his MA in general psychology and his PhD in clinical psychology from The New School for Social Research and subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship in substance abuse research at the National Development and Research Institutes that was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. He also received additional postdoctoral training in psychoanalysis (PA), psychodynamic therapy (PDT), supportive-expressive therapy (SET), and intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy (ISTDP). He is board-certified in psychoanalysis in psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology. He has been a faculty member at John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York (CUNY) since the fall of 2003. He is also a faculty member of the Graduate Center--CUNY. He is a licensed psychologist in New York and maintains an active part-time clinical practice. His theoretical orientation is psychodynamic. Professor Gottdiener is especially active in the disciplines of psychoanalytic/psychodynamic psychology and personality psychology.
Professor Gottdiener's research focuses on mental processes known as defense mechanisms, which are sometimes thought of as unconscious automatic coping and self-regulatory mechanisms. Professor Gottdiener's current research largely focuses on understanding the role that defense mechanisms play in people with addictive disorders and the role they play in people with dark personality traits, which include psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, antisocial personality, and sadism. Defense mechanisms in "normal" everyday psychological functioning is also a topic of current research. Professor Gottdiener is also interested in how to work with defense mechanisms in psychotherapy to foster change.
Thesis Advisement:
Note: Dr. Gottdiener is not currently accepting Thesis Advisement applications
Research Lab:
Note: Dr. Gottdiener is not currently accepting RA applications
Jillian Grose-Fifer, Ph.D.
Email:
jgrose-fifer@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Cognitive Neuroscience Looking at Empathy
Biography:
As a cognitive neuroscientist, Jill Grose-Fifer uses EEG recording to investigate sensory and cognitive function across the lifespan. Her research focuses primarily on brain development during mid and late adolescence with a view to better understanding increased risk-taking and other behaviors in these populations. More recently, she and her student have also used EEG recording to investigate how certain personality traits, such as empathy, may affect how people process emotional information. She is also active in the scholarship of teaching and learning. She was the recipient of the John Jay Distinguished Teaching Prize in 2009 and 2019 and the John Jay Outstanding Scholarly Mentor Award in 2012.
Thesis Advisement:
Note: Dr. Grose-Fifer is not currently accepting Thesis Advisement applications
Emily Haney-Caron, Ph.D.
Email:
ehaney-caron@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Juvenile Justice
Biography:
Emily Haney-Caron is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She teaches doctoral courses on juvenile law, forensic assessment, the law of forensic psychology, and psychopathology, as well as Master's and undergraduate classes. Before joining the faculty at John Jay, she completed a pre-doctoral clinical internship at Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School. Dr. Haney-Caron's research focuses on the alignment between adolescents' capacities to make legal decisions and the expectations placed upon them by the juvenile justice system. She has published research or scholarship on juvenile false confession, juvenile Miranda comprehension, fines and fees in the juvenile justice system, the school-to-prison pipeline, developmental immaturity, psychopathology among justice-involved youth, and applications of the Risk-Needs-Responsivity model to juvenile justice.
Dr. Haney-Caron's work has been profiled by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, and MSNBC. Dr. Haney-Caron is a licensed attorney in Pennsylvania and a licensed clinical psychologist in New York. Dr. Haney-Caron's research focuses on juvenile forensic psychology, forensic assessment, and public policy. Her interests are in criminal legal issues unique to youth, including youth false confession, the impact of legal system policies on youth and their families, and the impact of developmental immaturity among legally involved youth. Additionally, Dr. Haney-Caron is interested in the relationship between empirical research, forensic practice, and policy.
Thesis Advisement:
Accepting 1 student for Spring 2025
Research Lab: Youth Law Lab
Accepting 1-2 students for Spring 2025
Requires a time commitment of 5-10 hours/week, 1-year minimum commitment
Maria Hartwig, Ph.D.
Email:
mhartwig@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Social Perception & Deception
Biography:
Maria Hartwig completed her graduate training in her native Sweden, where she conducted empirical research on social perception and judgment in legal settings. In 2006, she joined the faculty of John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She has published research on the psychology of deception and its detection interview and interrogation techniques using a broad sample of lay people, legal professionals, and prison inmates. She has also carried out extensive training for a variety of legal professionals, including prosecutors, judges, police detectives, and intelligence and military officers. She is an editorial board member of Law and Human Behavior and Legal and Criminological Psychology. In 2008, she received an Early Career Award from the European Association for Psychology and Law, and in 2012, she received the Saleem Shah Award for Early Career Excellence in Psychology and Law, awarded by the American Psychology-Law Society and the American Academy of Forensic Psychology.
Thesis Advisement:
Please email Dr. Hartwig for more information.
Elizabeth Jeglic, Ph.D.
Email:
ejeglic@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Sexual Violence & Sexual Offenders
Biography:
Dr. Elizabeth L. Jeglic is a Professor of Psychology at John Jay College in New York. She received her doctorate in clinical psychology from Binghamton University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania under the mentorship of Dr. Aaron T. Beck. Dr. Jeglic's research interests are primarily focused on issues broadly related to sexual violence prevention, sexual abuse, sexual grooming, and evidence-based public policy. She has received grants from the National Institute of Justice and the American Association for Suicide Prevention to fund her research. Dr. Jeglic has published over 140 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. Dr. Jeglic is the co-author/editor of six books: Child Sexual Grooming: Integrating Research, Practice, Prevention, and Policy (Springer, 2022); Handbook of Youth Suicide Prevention (Springer, 2022); Handbook of Issues of Criminal Justice Reform in the U.S. (Springer, 2021); New Frontiers in Offender Treatment: The Translation of Evidence-Based Practices to Correctional Settings (Springer, 2018), Sexual Offending: Evidence-Based Legislation and Prevention (Springer 2016) and Protecting your Child from Sexual Abuse: What you Need to know to Keep your Kids Safe (Skyhorse, 2018; 2022).
Dr. Jeglic is the former Associate Editor of the journal Sexual Abuse and is on the editorial board of Sexual Abuse, Psychology, Public Policy and Law. Along with Dr. Cynthia Calkins, she is co-director of the Sex Offender Research Lab (SORL). She was awarded the Fay Honey Knopp Award from the New State Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers for her contributions to the prevention of sexual violence. Dr. Jeglic is a Mentor in the Ronald E. McNair Program, and she actively mentors students at all levels and is eager to involve them in her research. Dr. Jeglic has been awarded mentoring awards from the American Psychological Association, John Jay College, and the McNair Program.
Thesis Advisement:
Note: Dr. Jeglic is not currently accepting Thesis Advisement applications
Research Lab: Sex Offender Research Lab (SORL)
Note: Dr. Jeglic is not currently accepting RA applications
Matthew Johnson, Ph.D.
Email:
mjohnson@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
How Psychology Informs Due Process
Biography:
Matthew Barry Johnson’s general interest involves how psychology informs due process. Dr. Johnson’s scholarship and research have focused on the areas of interrogation and confession, wrongful conviction, and parental rights termination in family court. He developed an ‘Interrogations Expectations' instrument to assess an aspect of the Miranda comprehension and waiver process that has been neglected in the interrogation literature. Professor Johnson's work in this area demonstrates that suspects may understand their Miranda rights, but doubt police will honor those rights when asserted. Professor Johnson is the author of Wrongful Conviction in Sexual Assault: Stranger Rape, Acquaintance Rape, and Intra-familial Child Sexual Assault (Oxford University Press, 2021). This work reveals sexual assault as the most common offense associated with confirmed wrongful convictions in the US. Professor Johnson elaborates on the unique wrongful conviction risks in different types of sexual assaults. In Chapter 3, titled “Race and Rape Prosecution in US History,” Professor Johnson presents the current and historical role of race bias in the prosecution of sexual assault.
In Chapter 4, Professor Johnson identifies and elaborates the role of serial rapists and criminal investigative errors in the wrongful conviction of innocents. Wrongful Conviction in Sexual Assault was named a ‘Choice’ Outstanding Academic Title for 2021 by the Association of College and Research Libraries. Professor Johnson currently serves on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice and the Wrongful Conviction Law Review. He also is on the Advisory Board of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. His publications and testimony have been cited favorably in New Jersey Supreme Court decisions. Dr. Johnson previously served on the Executive Committee of New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NJADP.org), the lead organization in the successful campaign that abolished the New Jersey death penalty in 2007. He has also served as a member of the American Bar Association - Task Force on Mental Disability and the Death Penalty. While a member of the National Board of the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi), Professor Johnson authored the organization's Death Penalty Abolition Resolution (2012) and an ABPsi public policy paper on the death penalty (2013). Dr. Johnson is engaged in the instruction and mentoring of psychology students at the undergraduate, master's, and doctoral levels.
Thesis Advisement:
Please email Dr. Johnson for more information.
Veronica Johnson, Ph.D.
Email:
vjohnson@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Mental Health Treatment in REM
Biography:
Dr. Johnson is an Assistant Professor of Psychology who serves as an instructor at the undergraduate and graduate levels at John Jay. Specifically, Dr. Johnson regularly teaches Abnormal Psychology for undergraduate students and Introduction to Forensic Mental Health Counseling and Clinical Instruction for master’s students in the Forensic Mental Health Counseling MA program. Dr. Johnson is also a member of the faculty for the CUNY Forensic Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program. Dr. Johnson’s research focuses on developing strengths-based approaches to mental health service delivery for client populations of color. She is interested in enhancing engagement in and quality of mental health treatment for racial/ethnic minority (REM) clients by isolating cultural values that promote psychosocial being, developing culturally competent interventions that increase feelings of safety in therapy for REM clients, and increasing knowledge of the impact of racism and racial trauma on the psychological functioning of REM populations. Dr. Johnson is also interested in documenting the impact of workplace racial discrimination on psychological functioning. Outside of her role at John Jay, Dr. Johnson serves as a diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant - facilitating discussions on enhancing multicultural competence in various organizations, including workspaces. Before joining the faculty at John Jay College, Dr. Johnson completed her doctoral training in Counseling Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University, and a pre-doctoral internship at Jacobi Medical Center.
Thesis Advisement:
Please email Dr. Johnson for more information.
Research Lab:
Please email Dr. Johnson for more information.
Saul Kassin, Ph.D.
Email:
skassin@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
False Confessions
Biography:
A Professor Emeritus at Williams College in Massachusetts, Saul Kassin joined the John Jay faculty as a Distinguished Professor of Psychology in 2006. Starting in the 1980s, he pioneered the scientific study of false confessions. Kassin is the former president of the Psychology-and-Law Division of the American Psychological Association (APA); the lead author of its Official White Paper on false confessions, which is currently being updated; and the recipient of lifetime achievement awards from APA, APS, AP-LS, EAPL, and iiiRG. He has appeared as an analyst on all major news networks and in several podcasts and documentaries, including Ken Burns’ 2013 documentary, The Central Park Five. Over the years, Kassin has consulted in several high-profile cases. His work, which was featured in SCIENCE Magazine (Starr, 2019), is newly presented for policymakers and laypeople alike in his 2022 book, titled DUPED: Why Innocent People Confess – And Why We Believe Their Confessions.
For more information, see: https://saulkassin.org/
Thesis Advisement:
Please email Dr. Kassin for more information.
Research Lab:
Please email Dr. Kassin for more information.
Jacqueline Katzman, Ph.D.
Email:
jkatzman@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Bias & Racial Disparities in Eyewitness Testimony
Biography:
Jacqueline Katzman is a tenure-track assistant professor of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York (CUNY). Dr. Katzman’s research focuses on biases in the legal system, with a specific focus on racial disparities in mistaken identifications. Dr. Katzman’s work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the American Psychology-Law Society, the American Academy of Forensic Psychology, and CUNY. Her research has been published in Law & Human Behavior and Behavioral Sciences & the Law. Dr. Katzman has received several awards for her research, including 1st place in the American Psychology-Law Society Dissertation Award Competition. She received her PhD from CUNY’s Graduate Center and her BA from Cornell University.
Thesis Advisement:
Note: Dr. Katzman is not currently accepting Thesis Advisement applications
Research Lab: Racial Justice & Policing
Accepting students for Spring 2025
Requires 4 hours a week for lab participation
Margaret Kovera, Ph.D.
Email:
mkovera@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Expert Eyewitness Identification & Legal Decision Making
Biography:
Margaret Bull Kovera is a Presidential Scholar and Professor in the Psychology Department. She is an internationally recognized expert on eyewitness identification and legal decision-making. For over twenty-five years, she has had continuous funding (over $2.8 million) from federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation and the Bureau of Justice Assistance, for her research on eyewitness identification, jury decision-making, and scientific evidence. Her research on these topics has been published in Law and Human Behavior, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Applied Research on Memory and Cognition, and Psychology, Public Policy, and Law.
Dr. Kovera’s book, The Psychology of Juries (published by the American Psychological Association), received the American Psychology-Law Society Book Award. Kovera is a past president of the American Psychology-Law Society and former Editor-in-Chief of Law and Human Behavior, the premier outlet for scholarship in psychology and law. She is the recipient of the Saleem Shah Award for Early Career Achievement in Psychology and Law (APLS and the American Academy of Forensic Psychology), the Outstanding Teacher and Mentor in Psychology and Law Award (APLS), Distinguished Teaching Award (John Jay College), Outstanding Scholarly Mentor Award (John Jay College), the Distinguished Service Award (SPSSI), and Outstanding Book in Psychology and Law (APLS). She regularly serves as an expert witness in cases involving eyewitness identification.
Thesis Advisement:
Accepting 1-2 students for Spring 2025
Requires previous membership in Dr. Kovera’s research lab
Research Lab: Law Lab
Accepting 4-5 students for Spring 2025
Requires in-person availability
Casey LaDuke, Ph.D.
Email:
claduke@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Neuropsychology
Biography:
Casey LaDuke, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and The Graduate Center/CUNY. He earned a PhD in Clinical Psychology at Drexel University with major areas of study in neuropsychology and forensic psychology. He then completed a predoctoral internship at Rusk Rehabilitation and the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at NYU Langone Health and a two-year postdoctoral residency in clinical neuropsychology at the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at UVA Health. His ongoing research focuses on traumatic brain injury and brain health in people with significant exposure to the U.S. criminal legal system. More broadly, his areas of interest include forensic mental health assessment, neuropsychological assessment in both clinical and forensic practice, and the use of neuropsychological and neuroscientific evidence in legal and policy decision-making. He is also interested in trends in professional training, practice, and career considerations in forensic psychology. He is also a licensed psychologist and works in private practice in the New York metropolitan area.
Thesis Advisement:
Accepting 1-2 students for Spring 2025
Requires:
- Demonstrated interest and skillset in psychological assessment, preferably related to cognitive assessment, neuropsychological assessment, and brain injury and illness.
- Demonstrated skillset in data analysis and academic writing.
- Strong interest in pursuing EITHER doctoral education in clinical psychology OR clinical research positions (e.g., clinical research coordinator), or BOTH.
Research Lab:
Accepting 1-2 students for Spring 2025
Requires interest in psychological assessment, preferably related to cognitive assessment, neuropsychological assessment, and brain injury and illness.
Michael Leippe, Ph.D.
Email:
mleippe@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Social Influence & Attitudes
Biography:
Mike Leippe is an experimental social psychologist with research foci centered on social influence and attitudes in several realms. In legal psychology, he is interested in social influences on the accuracy, suggestibility, and confidence of eyewitness memory and memory reporting, as well as motivational and cognitive factors in jurors’ processing of trial information. Dr. Leippe also studies persuasion and self-justification (cognitive dissonance) processes involved in changes in social attitudes, self-concept, and prejudiced beliefs. Before coming to John Jay, Mike held faculty positions at St. Norbert College, Adelphi University, Saint Louis University, and Illinois State University. Mike has published numerous journal articles and chapters in both psychology and law and basic social psychology, has received funding from the National Science Foundation, is co-author with Phil Zimbardo of The Psychology of Attitude Change and Social Influence, and is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and the Society of Experimental Social Psychology.
Thesis Advisement:
Please email Dr. Leippe for more information.
Research Lab:
Please email Dr. Leippe for more information.
Keith Markus, Ph.D.
Email:
kmarkus@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Statistics - Causal Models & Causal Inference, Test Validity, Statistical Inference, & Applications of Latent Variable Modeling
Biography:
Dr. Markus’s research interests focus on causal models and causal inference, test validity, statistical inference, and applications of latent variable modeling. He also has interests in discursive psychology, organizational culture, partner abuse, deception detection, language, logic, ethics, policing, and jurisprudence. Dr. Markus’s research on causation emphasizes causal pluralism by exploring alternative causal interpretations linking statistical models to substantive explanations. His research on test validity articulates and clarifies unanswered questions in validity theory, such as the roles of facts and values and the meaning of test scores. Dr. Markus is coauthor with Denny Borsboom of "Frontiers in Test Validity Theory: Measurement, Causation, and Meaning." His research on statistical inference seeks to inform research practice through a better understanding of inductive inference. His collaborative research includes research on partner abuse with Chtira Raghavan and Katie Gentile, the development of deception with Angela Crossman and Victoria Talwar, sex offender treatment with Elizabeth Jeglic and Cynthia Calkins Mercado, severe mental illness with Phil Yanos, and deception detection with Martha Davis. Dr. Markus has previously served as associate editor of Psychological Methods and as associate editor of Structural Equation Modeling.
Thesis Advisement:
Please email Dr. Markus for more information.
Research Lab:
Please email Dr. Markus for more information.
Silvia Mazzula, Ph.D.
Email:
smazzula@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Racial Trauma & Multicultural Competencies
Biography:
Dr. Silvia Lorena Mazzula, Ph.D., is an award-winning educator, scholar mentor, and mental health researcher who specializes in issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Under the broad umbrella of “cultural responsive science,” her current research focuses on racial trauma, diverse academic pipeline development, and Latino mental health, with particular attention to socio-cultural identities (e.g., gender, ethnicity, race, social class) and race and culture as psychological and subconscious processes of human thought and behavior. As an evaluator, she is an expert in developing processes, benchmark measures, and systemic guidelines to assess equitable, inclusive, and culturally responsive research and scholarship and in social framework evaluation of discrimination and inclusiveness in the workplace. Dr. Mazzula is a founder and Executive director of the Latina Researchers Network (LRN), the country’s first multi-disciplinary research network to support Latina doctoral-level investigators, scholars, and evaluators, where she manages program design, incubation, and evaluation. Under Dr. Mazzula’s leadership, LRN has grown to 3,000+ worldwide and has provided unparalleled access to Latinx role models and resources to succeed in the academy.
Learn more about LRN at http://bit.ly/2kh4D9Y.
Dr. Mazzula has given 100+ evidence-based talks, seminars, and workshops on culturally responsive science, diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the country, has appeared on NBC and has been featured or expert quoted on National Public Radio (NPR), USAToday, El Diario NY, Washington Times, Insight into Diversity Magazine, San Antonio Express News, and others. A Columbia University alum, Dr. Mazzula is a first-generation college student from a poor economic background, born in Uruguay, South America, raised in New Jersey, and mother of three boys.
Thesis Advisement:
Please email Dr. Mazzula for more information.
Research Lab: Racial Cultural Equity, Inclusion & Social Change Laboratory
Please email Dr. Mazzula for more information.
Kelly McWilliams, Ph.D.
Email:
kmcwilliams@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Memory, Expert Testimony & Cognitive Psychology
Thesis Advisement:
Note: Dr. McWilliams is not currently accepting Thesis Advisement applications.
Requires prior work in Dr. McWilliams’s research laboratory.
Research Lab: Children and the Law Lab
Accepting students for Spring 2025
Requires willingness to work on existing projects and availability for running child participants (which can include nights and weekends).
Kevin Nadal
Email:
knadal@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Microaggressions
Biography:
Dr. Kevin Nadal is a Distinguished Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. He is one of the leading researchers in understanding the impacts of microaggressions (subtle forms of discrimination) on the mental and physical health of people of color; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people; and other marginalized groups. He has published over 100 works on multicultural issues in the fields of psychology and education. He is the author of 14 books, including Filipino American Psychology (Wiley, 2021); Microaggressions and Traumatic Stress (American Psychological Association, 2018); Queering Law and Order (Lexington, 2020); and Queer Psychology (Springer, 2021). Dr. Nadal was the first and only openly gay President of the Asian American Psychological Association in its 50-year history and the first person of color to serve as the Executive Director of the Center for LGBTQ Studies in its 25-year history.
Dr. Nadal is the current President of the Filipino American National Historical Society - the youngest and first to openly identify as LGBTQ+. He co-founded the LGBTQ+ Scholars of Color National Network, the AAPA Division on Filipinx Americans, and the AAPA Division on LGBTQQ+. He has delivered hundreds of lectures across the United States, including the White House and the U.S. Capitol. He has won numerous awards, including the American Psychological Association 2017 Early Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest; the 2019 Richard Tewksbury Award from the Western Society of Criminology; the 2019 Thought Leadership Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; and the 2023 Teachers College Medal for Distinguished Service.
Thesis Advisement:
Please email Dr. Nadal for more information
Research Lab:
Please email Dr. Nadal for more information
Steven Penrod, Ph.D.
Email:
spenrod@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Eyewitness Testimony & Juries
Biography:
Steven D. Penrod joined the John Jay faculty as Distinguished Professor of Psychology in 2001. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1974 and his Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University in 1979. He was previously on the faculties of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Minnesota Law School, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has over 150 publications; he is a co-author of books on juries, eyewitnesses, introductory psychology, and social psychology; and a co-editor of volumes on research methods in forensic psychology and comparative psychology and law. Professor Penrod's research and writing have focused on decision-making in legal contexts. He has written about the effects of jury size and decision rules on jury decision-making, death penalty decision-making, juror's use of probabilistic and hearsay evidence, comprehension of legal instructions, and the impact of extra-legal influences such as pretrial publicity, joinder of charges, the effects of cameras in the courtroom, the and the effects of juror questioning of witnesses on jury performance. His research and writing about eyewitness evidence has encompassed factors that reduce eyewitness reliability and lineup procedures that may enhance eyewitness performance, jury assessments of eyewitness evidence, the relationship between eyewitness confidence and eyewitness accuracy, and the effects of eyewitness expert testimony and jury instructions on jury decision-making.
Thesis Advisement:
Please email Dr. Penrod for more information
Research Lab:
Please email Dr. Penrod for more information
Chitra Raghavan, Ph.D.
Email:
craghavan@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Victim Specialization & Domestic Violence
Biography:
Chitra Raghavan is a professor in the psychology department and the Director of the Forensic Mental Health Counseling Program. In her role as Director, she created and oversees the Advanced Certificate of Victim Studies and the Victim Track specialization contained within the Forensic Mental Health Counseling degree. Dr. Raghavan researches coercive control--power dynamics in intimate partner abuse, sexual assault, sex trafficking, and related traumatic outcomes. A second area of interest is applying Eastern Psychological principles to forensic psychology. She has written over fifty scientific articles and authored two books: Raghavan, C. & Levine, J. (Eds.). (2012). Self Determination and Women’s Rights in the Muslim World. HBI Series on Gender, Culture, Religion, and Law. Boston: Brandeis University Press and Raghavan C. & Cohen, S.J. (Eds.) (2013). Domestic Violence: Methodologies in Dialogue. Northeastern Series on Gender, Crime, and Law, Northeastern University Press. She is a practicing psychologist and deemed an expert by the courts in intimate partner violence, sex trafficking, coercive control, trauma, and trauma bonding. Her research and testimony have created case law in New York State; https://law.justia.com/cases/new-york/other-courts/2018/2018-ny-slip-op-28161.html
For more information, please visit her website:
http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/faculty/chitra-raghavan
Thesis Advisement:
Please email Dr. Raghavan for more information
Research Lab:
Please email Dr. Raghavan for more information
Gabrielle Salfati, Ph.D.
Email:
gsalfati@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Investigative Psychology
Biography:
Gabrielle Salfati is a Professor of Psychology and the Director of the Investigative Psychology Research Unit at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Her 25+ year career to date has been focused on serving the law enforcement and mental health practitioner community. She has developed and spearheaded initiatives to prioritize best practices in the translation of scientific evidence to be applicable in practice through the development of practitioner-focused training and training law enforcement officers, crime analysts, forensic psychologists, and other criminal justice and mental health professionals. She is part of the first group of people who emerged within the new field of Investigative Psychology and was instrumental in its development as an international research field on the empirical analysis of violent criminal behavior. Her main areas of expertise relates to how psychology is applied to police investigations, in particular concerning behavioral crime scene analysis, offender profiling, and linking serial crime.
All of Dr. Salfati’s work has focused on developing evidence-based practice tools for law enforcement, and the crime analysis field, specifically as it pertains to behavioral analysis, has been done in collaboration with law enforcement agencies internationally. Her work in the field of Positive Psychology focuses on the development of resilience training and burnout, compassion fatigue, PTSD, and suicide prevention for law enforcement, first responders, mental health professionals, academics, teachers, students, and many other groups. She also leads major research programs on the evaluation of resilience training programs to support wellness and prevent burnout in law enforcement, first responders, and mental health professionals. She has worked closely with the FBI, NYPD, South Africa Police and the UK police, and numerous other criminal justice agencies, and has completed two separate Visiting Fellowships in 2010 to Bramshill Police College in the UK and in 2016 to the UK College of Policing where she was involved in leadership training and research on decision making and behavioral analysis.
Dr. Salfati is the recipient of numerous research awards, including Outstanding Contribution to the Field awarded by the International Association of Investigative Psychology, as well as teaching and mentoring awards and training delivery awards relating to innovation in developing best-practice online teaching techniques. She is the recipient of numerous research awards, including Outstanding Contribution to the Field awarded by the International Association of Investigative Psychology, as well as teaching and research mentoring awards and training delivery awards relating to innovation in developing best-practice online teaching techniques for criminal justice practitioners.
Thesis Advisement:
Please email Dr. Salfati for more information
Research Lab: The Investigative Psychology Research Unit (IPRU)
Please email Dr. Salfati for more information
Louis Schlesinger, Ph.D.
Email:
lschlesinger@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Extraordinary Crimes
Biography:
Louis B. Schlesinger, PhD is a Professor of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a Diplomate in Forensic Psychology of the American Board of Professional Psychology, a Distinguished Practitioner in the National Academies of Practice, and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Schlesinger served as President of the New Jersey Psychological Association in 1989; he was the 1990 recipient of the New Jersey Psychological Association's "Psychologist of the Year" Award, as well as the American Psychological Association's Karl F. Heiser Presidential Award (1993). He was appointed by the Governor of New Jersey and the Commissioner of Corrections to be a member (and later chair) of the Special Classification Review Board at the State's forensic facility for sex offenders; he was also appointed (2001) by the President of the New Jersey Senate and Acting Governor to serve as a member of a Senate Task Force that re-wrote Megan's Law. Dr. Schlesinger is co-principal investigator in a joint research project with the FBI Behavioral Science Unit studying sexual and serial murder, rape, bias homicide, suicide-by-cop, and other extraordinary crimes. He has had extensive clinical experience, testifying in numerous trials, and has published many articles, chapters, and ten books on the topics of homicide, sexual homicide, and criminal psychopathology.
Thesis Advisement:
Please email Dr. Schlesinger for more information
Research Lab:
Please email Dr. Schlesinger for more information
Charles Stone, Ph.D.
Email:
chstone@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
How Collective Memories are Transmitted Across Generations (e.g., 9/11 & WWII)
Biography:
Charles B. Stone is an Associate Professor in the Psychology Department and Director of the Doctoral Training Program in Psychology & Law at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center, CUNY. A native of Washington State and trained in Cognitive Science in Australia (Ph.D., Macquarie University, 2011), he commenced his academic career at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA, where he majored in sociology before moving to New York to complete his MA in psychology at the New School for Social Research. Before coming to John Jay College, he completed two postdoctoral fellowships at the Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium. Dr. Stone's publications have dealt with the formation and maintenance of collective memories, the mnemonic consequences of silence, intergenerational transmission of memories, the mnemonic consequences associated with denials, social media, and jury deliberations. Dr. Stone is actively involved in several psychology, forensic, and memory associations around the world. He has also been an expert witness for several trials. Additionally, he recently was an Associate Editor for the American Psychology-Law Society. He recently received the Distinguished Faculty Service to Students award (2020-2021) and the Outstanding Scholarly Mentor award last year (2019-2020) and has received internationally competitive fellowships to conduct research in Belgium (2017) and Australia (2017). Currently, he is an Associate Editor for the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology.
Charles B. Stone is a cognitive scientist who studies how autobiographical memories and collective memories and individuals’ confidence in said memories are shaped through social interactions. In particular, he has examined how WWII and 9/11 memories transmit across generations, the mnemonic consequences of silence in the course of social interactions, and how deliberations on the part of jurors shape their memories of the trial and, in turn, their decision-making. Recently, he has started a research project examining how social media use shapes both the producers' and consumers' autobiographical and collective memories. Dr. Stone currently working on research projects funded by three different grants: a CUNY Collaborative Incentive Grant (CIRG) to examine the divergent roles prejudice and dehumanization play in the decision-making process throughout the judicial system and three PSC-CUNY grants examining a.) how 9/11 memories are transmitted to the next generation, b.) how roles warmth and competence play in shaping jurors' perceptions and decision making during civil trials, and c.) the use of race as a strategy during police-involved shooting trials.
Since arriving at John Jay College in 2013, he has mentored 2 Ph.D. students and 20 M.A. students. He has been honored for his ability to mentor MA and BA students, being awarded the Faculty Mentor of the Year award twice (2014-2016) and the Outstanding Scholarly Mentor award (2019-2020), respectively.
Thesis Advisement:
Accepting 2 students for Spring 2025
Requires completion of PSY 715 & GPA 3.5 or higher
Research Lab: Stone Cognition Lab
Note: Dr. Stone is not currently accepting RA applications
Deryn Strange, Ph.D.
Email:
dstrange@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
False Memories in the Legal System
Biography:
Dr Deryn Strange's research program is focussed on memory distortion and it's impact. She conducts research in three broad areas: (1) the causes and consequences of distorted memories from traumatic events; (2) the techniques that elicit false personal—autobiographical—or false collective memories and whether those false memories can be corrected; and (3) legal implications of memory distortion. Dr Strange teaches Cognitive Psychology (Psy200) at the undergraduate level, Memory and Memory, Trauma and the Law at the graduate level. Dr Strange is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and serves as a consultant to attorneys about the malleability of memory (eyewitness testimony and identification; historical claims). She is also the current President of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition.
Thesis Advisement:
Accepting 1 student for Spring 2025
Requires prior experience working under Dr. Strange
Research Lab:
Accepting 2 students for Spring 2025
Dilhan Toredi
Email:
toredidilahan@gmail.com
Specialty:
Eyewitness Psychology, Juror Decision-making
Thesis Advisement:
Accepting 1 student for Spring 2025
Research Lab:
Postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Steven Penrod.
Rebecca Weiss, Ph.D.
Email:
rweiss@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Group Membership on Validity in Psychological Assessment.
Aggression and Substance Use Disorders
Biography:
Rebecca Weiss is an Associate Professor of Forensic Assessment at John Jay College and a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of New York. Before joining the faculty at John Jay, she completed her clinical training at Yale University School of Medicine. She received her PhD and MA in Clinical Psychology from Fordham University. She received her BA in Psychology and International Studies from Northwestern University. Her research interests include the effect of group membership (e.g., culture, intellectual disabilities) on validity in psychological assessment and the impact of trauma on the treatment and development of aggression and substance use disorders.
At the doctoral level, Dr. Weiss teaches Cognitive Assessment and Personality Assessment. At the undergraduate level, she teaches a range of classes, including Psychology & Law, Learning & Memory, and Abnormal Psychology. Dr. Weiss is a mentor in the Ronald E. McNair Program and the John Jay Honors Program. In 2019, she received John Jay's Outstanding Scholarly Mentoring Award. In 2016, she received McNair's Kwando Kinshasa Excellence in Mentoring Award. She includes students of all levels in her lab, allowing advanced students to provide additional supervision for less advanced students. This provides valuable experience for the advanced students and broadens their research productivity while providing valuable assistance for the less advanced students. Her students present at 5-8 national or international conferences per year.
Dr. Weiss’s current research projects include evaluating the effect of culture and language on measures of feigning in bilingual and monolingual Spanish-speaking samples. She is also collaborating with Mid Hudson Psychiatric Center in an examination of competency to stand trial evaluations. Under her mentorship, her students are conducting several studies on a variety of topics, including the cultural specificity of PTSD in an African sample, the effect of instruction types on simulation designs, the effect of demographic characteristics on competency to stand trial referrals, and the impact of culturally based gender identity on the development of depression.
Thesis Advisement:
Accepting students for Spring 2025
Research Lab: Weiss Research Lab
Accepting 2 students for Spring 2025
Current projects include:
- Neurological assessment with monolingual Spanish speakers
- Cognitive assessment with bilingual (Spanish/English) students
- Cognitive assessment for individuals with schizophrenia.
- Ongoing and upcoming studies relating to the use of interpreters in mental health settings, judges' opinions about expert witness testimony, and the projective validity of psychological testing.
Cathy Widom, Ph.D.
Email:
cwidom@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Child Abuse & Neglect
Biography:
Cathy Spatz Widom is a Distinguished Professor in the Psychology Department at John Jay College and a member of the Graduate Center faculty at City University of New York. She is a fellow of the three divisions of the American Psychological Association (Division 41 - Psychology and Law, Division 43 – Society for Family Psychology, and Division 37 – Child and Family Policy and Practice), the American Psychopathological Association, and the American Society of Criminology. A former faculty member at Harvard, Indiana, University at Albany (SUNY), and New Jersey Medical School, Widom was co-editor of the Journal of Quantitative Criminology from 2010-2013 and has served on the editorial boards of psychology, criminology, and child maltreatment journals. She is a frequent consultant on national review panels and has been invited to testify before congressional and state committees. She has published extensively on the long-term consequences of child abuse and neglect, including numerous papers on the cycle of violence.
Widom serves on the Committee on Law and Justice at the Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences at the National Research Council (NRC) and was a member of the Institute of Medicine Study panel, Committee on Child Maltreatment Research, Policy, and Practice for the Next Decade (2012-2013). Professor Widom has received numerous awards for her research, including the 1989 American Association for the Advancement of Science Behavioral Science Research Prize for her paper on the "cycle of violence” and the 2016 Stockholm Prize in Criminology. Since 1986, Widom has been engaged in a large study to determine the long-term consequences of early childhood abuse (physical and sexual) and neglect and has recently published her second paper in Science (2015) on the intergenerational transmission of child abuse and neglect.
Thesis Advisement:
Please email Dr. Widom for more information
Daryl Wout, Ph.D.
Email:
dwout@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Stigma; Stereotyping and prejudice; intergroup relations; African American Racial Identity
Thesis Advisement:
Please email Dr. Wout for more information
Research Lab:
Please email Dr. Wout for more information
Peggilee Wupperman, Ph.D.
Email:
pwupperman@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Dysregulation & MMT
Biography:
Dr. Wupperman is invested in improving treatment for individuals with dysregulated emotions and behaviors (often known as impulsive, addictive, or self-destructive behaviors). Her research focuses primarily on evaluating and disseminating transdiagnostic psychotherapy (Mindfulness and Modification Therapy; MMT) developed to target dysregulated behaviors. Related research includes 1) exploring constructs underlying emotion and behavior dysregulation and 2) investigating the effects of mindfulness and emotion-regulation skills on mental health and well-being. She is the author of Treating Impulsive, Addictive, and Self-Destructive Behavior: Mindfulness and Modification Therapy, published through Guilford Press.
MMT can be tailored to target specific client needs and specific dysregulated behaviors. MMT has shown promising results in decreasing alcohol and drug abuse, anger issues, physical aggression, binge eating, trichotillomania, and a variety of other dysregulated behaviors. MMT works to help clients: 1) clarify life values, and 2) acquire the ability to experience the moment – including negative emotions and cravings/urges – without engaging in harmful behaviors that can interfere with lives that feel valuable and fulfilling. MMT also targets risk factors for dysregulated behavior, such as lack of pleasurable/fulfilling life experiences, difficulty living according to personal values, and difficulty with relationships. Dr. Wupperman regularly conducts MMT workshops, trainings, and consultations for mental health practitioners at all levels. She also authors a Psychology Today blog focused on self-destructive (dysregulated) behaviors.
Thesis Advisement:
Please email Dr. Wupperman for more information
Research Lab: MMT
Please email Dr. Wupperman for more information
Philip Yanos, Ph.D.
Email:
pyanos@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialty:
Mental Health Stigma
Biography:
Philip T. Yanos, Ph.D. (he/him) is a professor in the Psychology Department at John Jay College and The Graduate Center. A clinical psychologist, he received his Ph.D. from St. John's University in 1999 and, completed a post-doctoral fellowship in mental health services research at Rutgers University in 2001, and has been faculty at John Jay since 2006. He is an internationally recognized expert in mental health stigma, author of the book "Written-Off: Mental Health Stigma and the Loss of Human Potential" (Cambridge University Press, 2018), associate editor of the journal "Stigma and Health," and the author of over 130 peer-reviewed publications. He has been awarded the John Jay College Scholarly Excellence Award 5 times since 2009. Philip Yanos is a clinical psychologist who studies mental health stigma and factors that facilitate and inhibit mental health recovery among people diagnosed with serious mental illnesses. Dr. Yanos is the co-developer of the intervention "Narrative Enhancement and Cognitive Therapy" (NECT) for self-stigma.
For more information on his work, please visit https://mhrecoverylab.commons.gc.cuny.edu
For more information on NECT, please visit https://www.nectglobal.org/
Thesis Advisement:
Accepting 1-2 students for Spring 2025
Requires attendance at weekly lab meetings
Research Lab: Mental Health Recovery Research
Accepting 3-4 students for Spring 2025