Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab

University of Maryland, College Park

Meet the Team!



    Lab Director

  • Elizabeth Redcay  

    Elizabeth Redcay is an Associate Professor of Psychology and the director of the Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology and Cognitive Science from UCSD and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in MIT's Brain & Cognitive Sciences department before starting at UMD. CV

    • Assistant Research Professor

  • Heather Yarger  

    Heather Yarger is an Assistant Research Professor in the Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab. Heather previously worked as a pocdoctoral associate in the DSCN Lab from August 2018-May 2021. She received her Ph. D. in Clinical Science at the University of Delaware in 2018 under the mentorship of Mary Dozier. She completed her clinical internship at the Kennedy Krieger Institute and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the Child and Family Therapy and Behavior Management Clinics. Heather’s research has focused on identifying risk and protective factors of dysregulation in childhood, evaluating the effectiveness of interventions aimed at improving parenting quality in high-risk populations (e.g., Child Protective Services involved parents, parents adopting internationally), and understanding the complex presentations of mental health diagnoses in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

  • Postdoctoral Associates

  • Sarah Dziura  

    Sarah Dziura is a postdoctoral research associate in the Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience lab. She received a Ph.D. in Psychology, concentration in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, from George Mason University in 2018. While at George Mason, she worked in Dr. Jim Thompson’s Computational Social Neuroscience Group (CSNG) lab. Sarah’s graduate research focused on the perception and neural representation of non-verbal social stimuli and the link between this and social behavior, in particular relating to social networks and network information. She is currently investigating the effect of social context during naturalistic processing.

  • Oliver Xie  

    Oliver (Hua) Xie is a postdoctoral associate in the Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab. Oliver received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Texas Tech University in 2018 and his graduate research focused on modeling the dynamic functional connectome using fMRI. He then completed a two-year postdoctoral training on computational neuroimaging with Dr. Manish Saggar at Stanford University, studying interbrain synchronization during social interaction using fMRI hyperscanning. He is currently working on modeling the brain network integration of neurotypical children and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder underlying social interaction.

  • Diana Alkire  

    Diana Alkire is a postdoctoral associate in the Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab. She received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science from the University of Maryland in 2021. During her graduate studies, she was a member of the DSCN Lab under the mentorship of Elizabeth Redcay. Her research focuses on the behavioral, cognitive, and neural mechanisms that support the use of theory of mind in social interactions, both in typical development and in autism spectrum disorder.



    Graduate Students

    Kathryn McNaughton  

    Kathryn is a graduate student in the Neuroscience and Cognitive Science PhD program. After receiving her B.A. in Psychology and Biology from Williams College in 2016, she conducted electrophysiology and eye-tracking research as a Sara. S. Sparrow Fellow in Clinical Neuroscience at the Yale Child Study Center for two years. She is interested in examining the neural markers of social interactions in children who are typically developing and children who are on the autism spectrum.

  • Junaid Merchant  

    Junaid is a graduate student in the Neuroscience and Cognitive Science PhD program. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Asheville with a dual major in psychology and art, and went on to get a Master’s of Science in Experimental Psychology/Behavioral Neuroscience from Seton Hall University. He has remained an active researcher in social and affective neurosciences since his MS. Through his work with Drs. Elliot Berkman and Jennifer Pfeifer at the University of Oregon, he has co-authored numerous fMRI papers ranging in topics from self-referential processing in autism, to the neural substrates of inhibitory control training. Before starting at UMD, he worked in Dr. Chandan Vaidya's Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at Georgetown University, examining executive function dysregulations that cut across pediatric psychiatric disorders. He is currently working on a few projects examining the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying social interaction, and how social contexts impact emotional experiences.

    • Lab Manager

  • Libby Giacobbe 

    Libby is the lab manager in the Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab. She received her Bachelor's in Behavioral Neuroscience from Colgate University in 2020. While at Colgate, Libby completed a Senior Thesis using eye-tracking equipment to study how attention deficit affects visual encoding. In the future, she is interested in attending graduate school to receive a PhD in Clinical Psychology to pursure her interests in neurodevelopmental disorders and child psychopathology.

    • Post-baccalaureate Research Assistants

  • Aditi Hosangadi

    Aditi is a post-baccalaureate faculty specialist at the Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience lab. She received her B.S. in Psychology from UC Davis in 2021. While at Davis, she was a research assistant at the Brain and Social Cognition lab where she studied how emotion perception relates to theory of mind in preschool children. In the future, she plans to study developmental cognitive neuroscience in graduate school.

  • Paige Munshell

    Paige is the project coordinator in the Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab. She graduated from the University of Maryland in 2021 with a B.S. in psychology and B.A. in English. During her time at UMD she was a research assistant in the Laboratory for the Study of Child and Family Relationships and the Neurocognitive Development Lab, where she completed an honors thesis exploring relations between episodic memory and internalizing and externalizing behaviors in childhood. In the future, she plans to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology.

    • Undergraduate Research Assistants

    Alexis Kasper

    Alexis is a senior pursuing a B.S. in Psychology and is on the pre-med track. Alexis was apart of the FIRE program during her freshman and sophomore years. She is a member of Gamma Phi Beta, and is the Events Coordinator for club enABLE, a club that interacts and supports people with developmental disabilities. In the future, Alexis hopes to go to medical school and use her psychology degree to better interact and understand patients.

     

     

    Sarah Gray

    Sarah is a senior pursuing a B.S. in Neurobiology and Physiology with a minor in Vocal Performance. She is also a member of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Honors Program at UMD, and is a part of the pre-medical fraternity Phi Delta Epilson. In her free time, she performs with UMD's premier co-ed a cappella group Faux Paz.

     

  • Daniel Friedman-Brown

    Daniel is a senior pursuing a Dual Degree in Psychology and Marketing. He is also a member of the University Honors program at UMD, and is a captain of Maryland Men's Club Ultimate.

    • Sophia Glaros

    Sophia is a junior B.S. Neurobiology and Physiology major with a nonprofit leadership and social innovation minor on the predmedical track. She passionate about research and advocating for individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities following a four-year allied sports program at her high school. She is also a member of the Carillon Communities leadership team, Public Health Policy Federal Fellows Program, the Help Center, Maryland Mentor Corps, and Phi Sigma Sigma Fraternity. In the future, Sophia aspires to attain an Md-PhD and further her research interest in neurobiology as a Neurologist.

     

     

    Lexie Moss

    Lexie is a junior Genetics and Cell Biology Major on the premedical tract. She volunteers at the Branchville Fire Company and is a member of the Phi Sigma Sigma Fraternity. She is passionate about continuing her work with individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities following her soccer buddies work and the program she created within high school.

     

     

    Ian Scott

    Ian is a junior pursuing a Neuroscience degree. He was part of the SIGNA program his freshman and sophomore year, which inspired him to learn more about the brain and its influence on human behavior. Ian is also part of the Pure Performance Foundation, a developing nonprofit organization intended to provide therapeutic martial arts training to veterans in order to help them adjust to civilian life.

     

    Esha Edakoth

    Esha is a junior pursuing a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Neuroscience. She was part of the Scholars program at UMD her freshman year. Her interest in research piqued after shadowing at the MRI research center at Jefferson University. After graduating, she plans to go to graduate school to further her interest in psychology and neuroscience.

     

     

    Chelsea McGovern

    Chelsea is a senior majoring in Information Science and Psychology. She was part of the FIRE program her freshman and sophomore year where she developed her passion in research. When she graduates, she hopes to make technology more accessible to children with learning disabilities.

     

     

    Daniel Mosyak

    Daniel is a sophomore pursuing a B.S in Psychology on a pre-medical track. He became very passionate about research and advocacy for individuals with disabilities after participating in a developmental psychology research study his senior year of high school.

     

    Riley Harris

    Riley is a junior pursuing a B.S. in Psychology and Family Science. Alexis was apart of the Global Public Health Scholars Program during her freshman and sophomore years. She is a member of Alpha Phi Omega, and is an intense early intervention technician for children with autism. In the future, Riley hopes to go to graduate school and further her experiences regarding counseling, therapy, or social work.

     
    Lab Alumni

  • Hema Clarence

    Aliceann Trostle

    Manasvinee Mayil Vahanan

    Ming Yuang

    Nicole Chapman

    Raphe Shankman

    Ryan Regars

    Ryan Stadler

    Stephanie Moy

    Deena Shariq

    Jacqueline Thomas

    Alexandra Hickey

    Adnan Rashid

    Bess Bloomer

    Diana Grant

    Miranda Sapoznik

    Sydney Maniscalco

    Yaqiong Xiao

    Laura Kirby

    Dylan Selbst

    Dominic Smith- DiLeo

    Matthew Kiely

    Debbie Choi

    Katie Bouvier-Weinberg

    Katie Beverley

    Sabine Huber

    Hunter Rogoff

    Zoey Maggid

    Tova Rosenthal

    Erin Brine-Dolye

    Ishan Shah

    Alex Mangerian

    Eleonora Sadikova

    Morgan Biggs

    Jazlyn Nketia

    Meredith Pecukonis

    Kate Rice Warnell

    Liat Hotz

    Joana Romero

    Stephanie Goncalves

    Alexis Pappadeas

    Stephanie Golding

    Lesley Sand

    Jennifer Trinchere

    Cashmire Norfleet

    Katherine Calabrese

    Helen Kong

    Jessica Golding

    Harrison Pierce

    Eric Czinn

    Tara Feld

    Brogan Murphy

    Eric Meyer

    Toby Hamovitz

    Lindsey Benjamin

    Simren Kanwal

    Ishaan Parikh

    Brieana Viscomi

    Daniel O'Young

    Nina Lichtenberg

    Ruth Ludlum

    Jeremy Baker

    Viviana Bauman

    Shannon Coveney

    Robert Cai