PEOPLE

Marc G. Berman
Principal Investigator
Marc Berman is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago. He received his B.S.E. in Industrial and Operations Engineering (IOE) from the University of Michigan, his Ph.D. in Psychology and IOE from the University of Michigan, and received post-doctoral training at the University of Toronto’s Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest. Before arriving to Chicago he was an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of South Carolina. Understanding the relationship between individual psychological and neural processing and environmental factors lies at the heart of his research. His lab utilizes brain imaging, behavioral experimentation, computational neuroscience and statistical models to quantify the person, the environment, and their interactions.
To view a list of Marc’s publications, please visit his Google Scholar page.
Post-Doctoral Fellows

Kim Lewis Meidenbauer
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Kim received her B.A. in Psychology at the University of WI-Milwaukee in 2012 and her PhD in Integrative Neuroscience at the University of Chicago in 2020. Before beginning grad school, Kim worked in Dr. Christine Larson’s Affective Neuroscience Lab at UW-Milwaukee performing ERP studies of emotion and at the Medical College… Read more

Amanda Seccia
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Amanda received her B.A. in Psychology from Wilkes University in 2015 and her Ph.D. in the Department of Learning and Instruction at the University at Buffalo (UB) in 2021. Amanda managed the Pedagogy and Practice Lab at UB where she oversaw use of neuroimaging and psychophysiological measurement tools like functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and electroencephalography (EEG)… Read more
Doctoral Students

Andrew Stier
Ph.D. Student
I am a graduate student in the Integrative Neuroscience program. I received a BA in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Chicago in 2016. My research interests center on understanding … Read more

Nak Won Rim
P.h.D. Student
Nak Won is an incoming graduate student in the Integrative Neuroscience program. He received his bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Brain Cognitive Science from Korea University in 2019 and his master’s degree in Computation… Read more

Gaby Akcelik
Ph.D. Student
Gaby is a second-year student in the Integrative Neuroscience Program at the University of Chicago. She received her B.S. in Psychology and completed minors in neuroscience and music technology … Read more

Catherine Stevenson
Ph.D. Student
Catherine is a fourth year in the integrative-neuroscience program. She graduated from Princeton with a background and interest in exploring social and moral cognition at the intersection of various disciplines, including law and other societal institutions… Read more

Kathryn Schertz
Ph.D. Student
I am a graduate student in the Integrative Neuroscience program. I have a B.A. in Cognitive Science from the University of Pennsylvania. I am interested in how exposure to different physical environments affects cognition … Read more
Staff

Elizabeth Janey
Lab Manager & Research Assistant
Elizabeth received her B.S. in Psychology from the University of Iowa in 2021 where she researched the twitching movements that occur during REM sleep in mice and rats at developmental ages. Her current research interests focus on how different environments affect cognition… Read more

Kelton McConnell
Research Assistant
Kelton received B.S. degrees in Biology, Genetics & Psychology from the University of Georgia in 2021 where he researched the effects of lipopolysaccharide on ethanol consumption and social avoidance in mice. His current research interests center on the relationships between the physical and social environment, cognition, and mental health. He also has interests in the potential research applications of environmental neuroscience towards public policy and health.

Alfred Chao
Research Assistant
Alfred holds a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Philosophy from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and is currently an MA student in the Computational Social Science program at the University of Chicago. His research interests include brain-based prediction of cognitive processes’ outcomes and exploring deep learning applications in neuroscience research.
Masters Students

Jonathan Ceru
Master Research Assistant
I am a graduate student in the MAPSS program. I hold a B.A. in Cognitive Science from Northwestern University. My research interests concern how socioenvironmental experience may influence and shape cognition and neurological function across the lifespan, particularly in adolescence.

Senling Shu
Master Research Assistant
I am a second-year graduate student in the MACSS program. I received my B.S. in Psychology and Cognitive Science from the University of California, San Diego. My research interests focus on how green space (e.g. parks) access and exposure impact overall well-being and vary by socioeconomic status/race.

Kaylah Thomas
Master Research Assistant
I am currently a first-year student in the Master’s in Computational Social Science Program. My research interests include studying the social and environmental effects on cognition in key populations such as minority communities.

Yutai Li
Master Research Assistant
I am an incoming graduate student in the MACSS program. I received my B.A. in psychology and completed minor in management and business from Skidmore in 2021. My research interests center on cognitive psychology and visual perception, specifically I’m interested in image recognition neural network and human visual perception of pixelized images.
Undergraduate Research Assistants

Isaaq Khader
Undergrad Research Assistant
Isaaq is an energetic rising third-year majoring in Psychology & Computer Science with a specialization in Machine Learning. He hopes to combine the concepts of Psychology with Computer Science to improve technology through Artificial Intelligence. As a Chicago native who grew up in Logan Square, he is excited to explore more about the relationships between socioeconomic status and a neighborhood’s environment.

Kimberly Carrillo Rivera
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Kimberly is a second-year undergraduate student studying Psychology and Environmental and Urban Studies. She is currently working on a research project looking at racial inequalities in prisons across the world and she is interested in research that observes how biological and environmental factors affect development in children and adults.

Maya Ordonez
Undergrad Research Assistant
Maya is a third year in the college studying Neuroscience and English. She is interested in studying how urbanization and socialization affect the lived situation of the individual and is currently involved in the Depression in Neighborhoods project with Andrew Stier and Kaylah Thomas.

Anya Samtani
Undergrad Research Assistant
Anya is a third year undergraduate at UChicago majoring in Comparative Human Development and minoring in Human Rights. As a pre-med student, she has also taken many courses in the sciences. Anya has long been interested in areas of study that work to reduce harm and promote wellbeing through research. In her free time, Anya enjoys reading, knitting, and spinning yarn by hand!

Angelysse Madsen
Undergrad Research Assistant
I am a third year in

Kate Gehrke
Undergrad Research Assistant
Kate is a third-year undergraduate studying Psychology and Environmental Sustainability at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her current interests include nature’s effects on mental health, specifically in terms of the development of coping, self-regulation, and resilience. She believes that in promoting better well-being through nature exposure, individuals’ pro-environmental behavior will simultaneously increase.
External Collaborators
Lab Alumni
Anabella Pinton
Harrison Arthur (Hank) Grier
Mike Sepke