Biographies

Olivia P. Russo (she/her) | Editor-in-Chief | op496@nyu.edu

Olivia is a senior in the Applied Psychology program, double majoring in Gender & Sexuality Studies. She is passionate about bridging psychology and gender & sexuality, evident by her research interests and experience. She is currently a research assistant on Dr. Yoshikawa’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance Research Consortium (GSARC), where she is involved on two smaller projects: the Principal Interview Study, exploring school principals’ experiences with the LGBTQIA+ community, and the Dissemination Efforts team, creating resources for high-school GSAs based on previous GSARC research. Upon graduation, Olivia is pursuing a Master of Arts at NYU Steinhardt in Counseling for Mental Health and Wellness, with an advanced certificate in LGBTQ Eduation, Health, and Social Services.

Maya Metser (she/her) | Editor-in-Chief | maya.metser@nyu.edu

Maya is a senior in the Applied Psychology program. She is currently pursuing an Honors thesis under the mentorship of Dr. Natalie H. Brito at the ISLAND Lab, where she is exploring the effects of mother-infant heart rate synchrony on infant attention outcomes. In the past, she was an advocate for the ROSES research team and a research assistant at the SCAN Lab, a fetal neuroimaging lab. Moving forward, she hopes to bridge her passion for neuroscience, education, and juvenile justice reform to make early environments better support positive development. Lastly, Maya hosts a podcast called Psych Mic that explores the lives and career paths of industry leaders who use psychology to make an impact in the world. Psych Mic highlights psychology’s versatile applications and provides practical advice about opportunities in the field.

Katie Mundt (she/her) | Editor-in-Chief | kvm256@nyu.edu

Katie is a fall graduate of the Global Public Health/Applied Psychology program. She is interested in improving community health through a psychological lens, applying the skills and theories from psychology to health research and policy reform. She worked at NYU Langone on the Smoke-Free Housing Project, which evaluated the effectiveness of a smoke-free policy in NYC public housing developments. Currently, she works as a research assistant for the RISE lab and has helped develop a grant-awarded research proposal for the Social Perception Action & Motivation (SPAM) lab, which examined how the media’s portrayal of the COVID-19 pandemic impacts perception and subsequent behavior. She recently accepted a Service Coordinator position with ComPsych, an employee assistance program headquartered in Chicago, IL.

Chloe Carlson (she/her) | Layout and Design Director | cec727@nyu.edu

Chloe is a sophomore in Applied Psychology with a strong interest in the effects of media on the mind. While pursuing a minor in Media, Culture, and Communication, she hopes to assist in the creation of more psychology related media in order to raise mental health awareness and educate others.

Sydney Liang (she/her) | Layout and Design Director | syl569@nyu.edu

Sydney is a junior in the Applied Psychology program with a minor in Media, Culture, and Communication. She is currently a research assistant at Play and Language Lab, which examines how children interact with their environment as well as how social and cultural factors influence children’s development. Previously, she has interned at various organizations ranging from nonprofits to multinational companies. She plans on continuing to explore various career paths which highlight the intersection between psychology, research, and communication before pursuing higher education.

Grace Park (she/her) | Layout and Design Director | hjp332@nyu.edu

Grace is a junior in Applied Psychology minoring in Nutrition and Dietetics. She is interested in raising awareness of mental health in minority communities and hopes to help such populations by providing culturally competent care. Grace will be working as a research assistant for The Listening Project which aims to train middle school students and teachers in a semi-structured method of interviewing with the goal of enhancing listening skills, empathy, trust, academic engagement and achievement. The Listening Project works to disrupt stereotypes and build relationships across differences. Grace ultimately hopes to complete her masters at NYU in Counseling for Mental Health and Wellness.

Janean Cuffee (she/her) | Contributing Writer

Janean is a senior in the Applied Psychology program double minoring in Sociology and History. She is also a member of the varsity women’s basketball team at NYU. She is interested in equal educational opportunities across socioeconomic backgrounds and the mental health impacts of childhood trauma. In the past, she has worked with under-resourced youth in her internship at Harlem Children’s Zone and fellowship at Uncommon Schools. Currently, she is an Assistant Lab Manager for the RISE Lab that works to advance and improve the lives of marginalized populations. Additionally, she is the founder of BLAC (Black Latinx Athlete Coalition), a space meant to provide comfort to minority athletes that may not always feel at home in a PWI. After graduation, Janean will be a middle school teacher at a charter school in Brooklyn in the Uncommon Schools Organization.

Anjali Mehta (she/her) | Contributing Writer

Anjali Mehta is a junior at NYU, getting a B.S. in Applied Psychology with a minor in Philosophy, and an M.A. in Mental Health Counseling. Anjali works at the Mindful Education Lab, where she is currently investigating the overlap between cognitive neuropsychology and meditation, specifically by researching attention and technology. Her research interests also include self-knowledge, violence, and PTSD, specifically from military trauma and sexual abuse. Outside of NYU, Anjali is a certified advanced yoga instructor, yoga therapist, and MBSR coach and has also delivered a TEDx talk on the “Power of Breath.” Though she has more than five years of experience as a yoga instructor, Anjali intends to earn a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and ultimately to become a practicing psychotherapist, in order to investigate the inner workings of the mind. Her career plans may include serving in the Singapore Military as a Clinical Psychologist.

Gizem Kurtbolat (she/her) | Contributing Writer

Gizem is a senior in the Applied Psychology program. She is interested in working with children and adolescents and raising mental health awareness among this population. In the past she has volunteered at school for children with Autism as a classroom volunteer. Currently she is an intern at Ramapo for Children, working on creating content on school climate and researching for reports and articles that can be useful resources for schools. In addition she volunteers as a tutor at Econnected, a non-profit organization that supports English Language Learners with their English and Math skills.  After graduation, she would like to gain more experience working with children and adolescents in clinical settings to work towards becoming a child and adolescent psychologist.

Samantha Ruggiero (she/her) | Contributing Writer

Samantha is a senior in the Applied Psychology program with a minor in Public Policy and Management. Her research interests include the ways in which social inequality impacts individuals in the workplace. In the past, Samantha has interned in a variety of professional settings, including in schools, research labs, non-profits, and start-ups. Currently, Samantha is working as a Research Assistant in Dr. Rezarta Bilali’s Social Inequality and Intergroup Conflict Lab. Specifically, she is working on projects that are centered on evaluating the ways in which social movement organizations and mainstream media outlets portray historical narratives and their various components. She is also working on a code-writing project to analyze data from a study that measured participant perceptions of the Women’s March. Upon graduation, Samantha will be continuing her post-baccalaureate education at New York University in the Master of Industrial-Organizational Psychology program.

Vion He (she/her) | Contributing Writer

Vion is a junior in the Applied Psychology program with a minor in BEMT (Business of Entertainment, Media and Technology). She is interested in improving mental health literacy and increasing access to psychological services for marginalized populations, particularly the LGBTQIA+ community. As a research assistant at Families and Children Experiencing Success (FACES) Lab, she focuses on examining the effectiveness of parent-targeted interventions for children with behavioral challenges (e.g., ADHD) and their families, as well as parental engagement in treatment. In addition, she volunteers at the College Prep Academy program at NYU Metro Center, where she delivers group coaching services to high school students on topics including college planning, careers, and mental health. While planning to explore career path possibilities, she hopes to dedicate herself to providing mental health care and treatment to minority populations in the future.

Julia Leschi (she/her) | Contributing Writer

Julia is a senior in the Applied Psychology program minoring in Public Health. She is interested in applying a psychological lens to public health and policy issues. In the past, she worked as a clinical assistant at a substance use clinic in Midtown Manhattan. She is currently working as the Associate Director of Research at the Empower Lab, a clinical research and advocacy lab working to further gender equity through scientific approaches to issues of gender-based violence. There, she is conducting a qualitative exploration of sugar dating practices on college campuses, and studying the health needs of human trafficking survivors and asylum seekers. In the future, she hopes to put her research skills in service of policy reform and community work before continuing her education. 

Macarena Kruger (she/her) | Contributing Writer

Macarena is a senior in the Applied Psychology undergraduate program. She is also a member of the varsity women’s tennis team at NYU and a research assistant at NYU-LFELD (Latino Family Engagement and Language Development). Specifically, she works for the MEAL project, which focuses on examining Latine children’s development and math skills learning in the United States. Throughout the Spring semester, Macarena has been coding data collected on mother-child semi-naturalistic interactions. She is currently writing “Math heroes biographies” in Spanish for third graders. The main purpose of the project is for low-income Latine children to learn about the lives of people of color who have been successful and to make an explicit connection between their professions and the use of math. Macarena is also working on her Honors thesis under the mentorship of Dr. Gigliana Melzi., exploring Mexican-heritage mothers’ relative importance given to children’s academic and socio-emotional skills and their book sharing practices.

Joy Shen (she/her) | Contributing Writer

Joy is a recent graduate of the Applied Psychology undergraduate program. During her time at NYU, Joy was involved in research in Dr. Brito’s ISLAND Lab, where she worked with families and explored infant development. Currently, Joy works as a research assistant at the Cognitive and Behavioral Consultants, a mental health facility, where she works on various program and treatment evaluations to manage and track patient’s progress. Her projects focus on implementing DBT in schools, overseeing intensive DBT and CBT programs, and conducting qualitative studies on program dropout. Ultimately, she hopes to work with a diverse population to help promote equity in mental health treatment and to focus on the incarceration system. Outside of school, Joy spends her free time skateboarding, painting, and baking. In the fall, Joy will begin her PsyD program at Yeshiva University’s Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, where she will train to practice psychotherapy and broaden her research.

Ana Warner (she/her) | Contributing Writer

Ana is a senior double majoring in the Applied Psychology and Global Public Health programs. She is interested in expanding healthcare access and education with LGBTQ+ and BIPOC populations, especially amongst students. She is currently exploring these interests as an HRTP Intern at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and a research assistant in the Gender and Sexuality Alliance Research Consortium (GSARC) at NYU under the direction of Dr. Yoshikawa. In the future, she hopes to combine her passions for public health policy and psychology to expand mental health access, education, and autonomy for young people.

Callie Hilgendorf (she/her) | Contributing Writer

Callie is a senior double majoring in Global Public Health and Applied Psychology. She is interested in actively engaging within communities to combat oppressive systems and how mental health trauma is experienced and pathologized by stigma. She is currently working as a research assistant in the Project for the Advancement of our Common Humanity Listening Project (PACH): The Listening Project at NYU under the direction of Dr. Yoshikawa and Dr. Way. She also holds a leadership position with the NYU chapter of Peer Health Exchange (PHE), a non-profit organization focusing on improving health equity and advocacy outreach for adolescents. Upon graduation, Callie will be pursuing a Master of Public Health at Columbia University in the Sociomedical Sciences and a certificate in Population Mental Health.