Welcoming Incoming Graduate Students

This year, the Department welcomed its largest cohort of incoming graduate students--23 in total! Below, some of our newest students take a moment to introduce themselves:

CARA GUTHRIE (she/her)

Hometown: DeLand, FL

Prior Educational Institution(s)/Degrees: B.A. in Psychology, Rollins College; M.Ed. in Child Studies, Vanderbilt University

Area focus & advisor: Child Clinical/Dr. Lynn Katz

Research interests: stress and coping, mechanisms of risk and resilience, interpersonal relationships/communication

What motivated you to embark on your PhD studies?

I fell in love with research during undergrad, and missed it when doing more applied work after graduating. I'm passionate about helping children and families cope with significant stress and adversity, but I also want to be involved in the research that informs this work.

What excites you about UW/Seattle?

Being from FL, I think I'm most excited about the weather. UW campus is also gorgeous and I can't wait to see the cherry blossoms in the spring!

What are your hobbies/activities outside of academics?

In my free time, I like to read, listen to music, and befriend street cats.

CAROL LU (she/her/hers)

Hometown: Honolulu, Hawaii

Prior Educational Institution(s)/Degrees: BA Cognitive Science, Psychological and Brain Sciences, and Public Health - Johns Hopkins University 2022

Area focus & advisor: Developmental Psychology - Dr. Ariel Starr

Research interests: Cognitive development, particularly concept learning in children

What motivated you to embark on your PhD studies?

I've always been fascinated with understanding how children come to understand the vast complexities of the world, so I'm pursuing a PhD to further explore what we still don't currently understand about this learning process.

What excites you about UW/Seattle?

I want to pet Dubs!!!

What are your hobbies/activities outside of academics?

I love food, boba, and desserts! I am also a hoarder of plushies and other misc trinkets.

ZAC TREVORROW (he/his)

Hometown: Honolulu, HI

Prior Educational Institution(s)/Degrees: B.A Psychology from Tufts University

Area focus & advisor: Clinical Neuroscience / Jen Forsyth

Research interests: Development, Schizophrenia, Cognition

What motivated you to embark on your PhD studies?

I want to keep studying the things that excite me in psychology! I want to become a researcher and academic one day.

What excites you about UW/Seattle?

I'm excited to watch games at Husky Stadium and learn to fish salmon.

What are your hobbies/activities outside of academics?

Love to cook and play soccer.

ANNIE XU (she/her/hers)

Hometown: Shanghai, China

Prior Educational Institution(s)/Degrees: Vassar College, Bachelor of Arts

Area focus & advisor: Social and Personality, Dr. Cynthia Levine

Research interests: International students mental health and identity integration

What motivated you to embark on your PhD studies?

I am interested in further exploring international students as an understudied yet crucial population in US higher education. With a departmental commitment in diversity and social justice, UW offers the best learning environment and research framework for my endeavor.

What excites you about UW/Seattle?

The local coffee shops with amazing coffee and pastry!

What are your hobbies/activities outside of academics?

I love crocheting, playing the ukulele, taking long walks and exploring stores that sell cute little things.

ISHAAN AMBRISH (he/they)

Prior Educational Institution(s)/Degrees: UC Santa Barbara

Area focus & advisor: Developmental, Dr. Ariel Starr

Research interests: language and cognition; language acquisition

What motivated you to embark on your PhD studies?

I always want to keep learning. The idea of being able to deep-dive into a niche topic I'm very passionate about and be at the forefront of research sounded perfect for me!

What excites you about UW/Seattle?

The people and the culture here are super cool! I'm also excited to be surrounded by nature.

What are your hobbies/activities outside of academics?

I love singing/writing music, watching Hindi movies, and playing video games.

FASIKA HAILU (she/her/hers)

Hometown: Tampa, FL

Prior Educational Institution(s)/Degrees: University of South Florida, BA in Psychology and BA in Sociology

Area focus & advisor: Social Psychology, Dr. Sapna Cheryan

Research interests: Race and ethnicity, stereotypes, discrimination

What motivated you to embark on your PhD studies?

I took a two-year psychology course in high school where I realized that social phenomena (specifically related to my lived experiences and those of the people around me) could be studied empirically, which initially piqued my interest in social psychological research! This led to me majoring in psychology in undergrad where I got to do hands-on research in social psychology, which led me to pursuing a PhD in the field.

What excites you about UW/Seattle?

The people! I came to UW for a summer internship during undergrad and thoroughly enjoyed my time here and the community I found.

What are your hobbies/activities outside of academics?

I really enjoy going to the beach and parks!

DANIELA MUÑOZ LOPEZ (she/her/ella)

Hometown: Fresno, CA

Prior Educational Institution(s)/Degrees: UC Berkeley, Psychology B.A

Area focus & advisor: Developmental and Child Clinical Psychology/Lucía Magis-Weinberg, Kate Foster

Research interests: adolescent mental health, understanding the underlying factors that explain the relationship between digital media use and mental health, person-centered interventions

What motivated you to embark on your PhD studies?

My strong interest in reducing the barriers in accessing mental health services that historically marginalized communities face and commitment to understanding how social media affects the mental health of adolescents in the US and Latin America.

What excites you about UW/Seattle?

Being surrounded by awesome people and restaurants with great food!

What are your hobbies/activities outside of academics?

I enjoy reading and cooking!

VAISHNAVI MOHAN (she/her)

Hometown: Bangalore, India

Prior Educational Institution(s)/Degrees: University of Southern California - MS in Electrical Engineering; National Institute of Technology Karnataka - B.Tech in Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Area focus & advisor: Prof. Ione Fine - Cognition and Perception

Research interests: I am interested in the neuroscience of vision: Understanding the behavioral and functional implications of sight restoration technologies such as optogenetics using mathematical modeling and computational methods.

What motivated you to embark on your PhD studies?

I love the freedom for ideas and the rigor in approach that a PhD training offers. My background in electrical engineering and computer vision has helped me appreciate the complexity of human vision. I am motivated to understand human vision to both enable sight for the visually impaired and extend these ideas to improve machine vision.

What excites you about UW/Seattle?

Starbucks for the coffee monster in me, the greenery and nature getaways for the explorer in me and the tons of food so that you never go hungry. Slap it all on a plate and serve in one clean city! Okay, clean might be misleading, but you get the point :-P

What are your hobbies/activities outside of academics?

I love writing poetry, sounds ancient but fun :-P Huge fan of music, constantly in the background. World playing in my head is almost like a musical :-P Hikes, comes and goes in cycles but love it! Also, PNW helps :-) Talking - can't underestimate this one!