Lab Members

Dr. Susan Gelman
Heinz Werner Distinguished University Professor
Professor of Psychology and Linguistics
University of Michigan

Curriculum Vitae

Bio


Tania Dhaliwal
Lab Coordinator
Tania received her B.S. in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University in 2020 and then worked as a research associate for a cognitive development lab at Carnegie Mellon University. She is interested in examining how language and culture affect children’s learning and behavior. As a child, she wanted to be a teacher and her favorite books were The Famous Five and The Secret Seven by Enid Blyton.
David Menendez
Postdoctoral Researcher
David received his AA from Miami Dade College, and his BA, MS, and PhD in Psychology from UW-Madison. He is interested in how children learn scientific concepts at home and in the classroom, and how changes to these learning environments promote learning and generalization. David is now a postdoctoral researcher examining how children think about viruses. As a child, he wanted to be a chef and his favorite book was The Little Prince.
Alaa Al-Kahalah
Graduate Student
Alaa received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan in 2022. She is now part of the Accelerated Master’s Degree in Psychology program at U of M. Her focus area is Developmental Psychology. She is interested in how parental language is understood by children and how it varies across cultures. As a child, she always wanted to own a restaurant and be the head chef. Her favorite book growing up was Superfudge by Judy Blume.
Chelsea McGhee
Graduate Student
Chelsea holds BAs in Psychology and Women’s Studies from Penn State University. They are currently a PhD candidate in UMich’s joint program for Psychology and Women’s & Gender Studies. Their research tends to center on social binaries (the gender binary, queer/straight binary, mind-body binaries). They are specifically invested in demonstrating why binaries are problematic and showcasing the beautiful ways that people subvert them. At the heart of this work is a deep investment in queer well-being and embodiment, specifically for trans and non-binary folk. As a child, Chelsea wanted to be both an artist and a forensic scientist. Their favorite book was Eve Bunting’s In the Haunted House.
Ella Simmons
Graduate Student
Ella received her B.A. in Psychology from UC Berkeley in 2019. She is now a graduate student in Developmental Psychology interested in examining how children learn about the world around them, and how they organize the information they uncover. When she was younger she wanted to be a student for the rest of her life. Her favorite book as a child was Good Night, Gorilla.
Emma Gross
Graduate Student
Emma received her B.A. in English and Medieval Studies from Wesleyan University and her MSW from Simmons University. She is now pursuing her doctorate in Developmental Psychology and Social Work. She is interested in learning about essentialism and gender identity development, and factors contributing to understanding and acceptance or rejection of gender nonconformity, particularly in families. Prior to her doctoral studies, Emma practiced social work with low-income, and LGBTQ clients in New York City and Rhode Island. As a child she wanted to be an artist, and one of her favorite books was King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub.
Solangel Troncoso
Graduate Student
Solangel Troncoso received her B.A. in Psychology and Women’s and Gender Studies from Rutgers University. She is a graduate student in the joint Psychology and Women’s Studies PhD program. She is interested in gender concepts and development, specifically in the context of Latino families. When Solangel was young, she wanted to be a lawyer, and she currently loves watching sitcoms such as The Good Place and Superstore.

Valerie Umscheid
Graduate Student
Valerie received her B.A. in Cognitive Science and Educational Studies from Carleton College. She is interested in how children use language to better understand their social and educational worlds. As a child, Valerie wanted to be a marine biologist and she loved the books The Kissing Hand (by Audrey Penn), Mole’s Hill (by Lois Ehlert), and The Bird, the Monkey, and the Snake in the Jungle (by Kate Banks and Tomek Bogacki).
Lester Mejia Gomez
Graduate Student
Lester received his B.S. in Psychology and Sociology from Wingate University in 2022. He is now pursuing his Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology. Lester is broadly interested in studying how children learn about social concepts and categories and how that knowledge affects their reasoning about others. As a child, he wanted to become an actor when he grew up, and his favorite book was Holes by Louis Sachar.

Research Assistants

Aashi Lala
Undergraduate Student
Aashi is a sophomore intending to major in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience. She hopes to attend medical school and pursue child psychiatry. In her free time, she likes watching Disney movies and Grey’s Anatomy, baking, and making dad jokes. As a child, she wanted to become an international pop star and her favorite books were the Judy Blume ‘Fudge‘ series, Corduroy, and The Land of Stories.

Aawarty Dhungana
Undergraduate Student
Aawarty is a sophomore, planning to major in Neuroscience with a minor in Computer Science. After graduating in 2025, she plans on attending medical school and pursue psychiatry or neurology. In her free time, she likes to draw, watch shows, and listen to music. Growing up, she wanted to be an author and her favorite book series were A Series of Unfortunate Events and Goosebumps.
Abigail Binder
Undergraduate Student
Abby is a junior planning to graduate in 2023 with a degree in Psychology after completing her honors thesis. Her future plans are to get a Ph.D. in psychology specializing in child development. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, having new experiences, being with her dog, and getting enough sleep. She has always enjoyed working with children and being a mentor in her community. In her childhood, she always enjoyed playing pretend as a teacher, and her favorite book to this day is Dr. Suess’s Sleep Book.
Ashna Mehra
Undergraduate Student
Ashna is a junior majoring in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience and Spanish. After graduation, she plans on attending medical school with an interest in psychiatry or OBGYN. In her free time, she enjoys playing tennis, rock climbing, cycling, interior design, and reading. Growing up, she wanted to be a teacher and her favorite book was Junie B. Jones.
Athena Bryer
Graduate Student
Athena received her B.A. in Psychology & Gender and Health with a minor in Community Action and Social Change from the U-M in 2022. She is now pursuing her Master’s in Social Work degree at U-M with a focus on interpersonal practice and integrated health with medically underserved populations. In her free time, she loves to read, play tennis, embroider, thrift, watch tv, and most importantly, spend quality time with her loved ones. Growing up, she hoped she could travel all over the world and her favorite book was Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein.
Cecilia Morales-Barraza
Undergraduate Student
Cecilia is a sophomore majoring in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience. After graduating in 2025, she plans to attend graduate school, possibly to pursue a degree in applied behavioral analysis. In her free time, she likes to spend time with friends and hang out in coffee shops. When she was younger, she wanted to be a spy and her favorite series was Percy Jackson & the Olympians
Cecilia Snyder
Undergraduate Student
Cecilia is a sophomore majoring in Psychology and minoring in Gender Race and Nation. After she graduates in 2025, she is planning to continue her education in a social work or counseling masters program. Cecilia has always enjoyed working with children during the summer as an art teacher at her local day camp. In her free time she likes to paint, read, bake, and knit. She enjoys watching movies and television, her favorite shows are, but are not limited to, Friends and Gilmore Girls. When she was little, she wanted to be an elementary school art teacher.
Claudia Hastings
Undergraduate Student
Claudia is a sophomore majoring in Psychology. After graduating in 2025, she plans to attend graduate school focusing on child psychology or public health. In her free time, Claudia enjoys reading, playing and listening to music, and watching sappy rom coms. Growing up, she wanted to be a music teacher and her favorite book series were Magic Tree House and Rainbow Magic.
Harleigh Marks
Undergraduate Student
Harleigh is a senior planning to graduate in May 2023 with a degree in Psychology. She has always enjoyed working with children and hopes to have a future career working with children and adolescents as a psychologist. After graduation, Harleigh plans to attend graduate school to earn her PhD in Psychology. In her free time she enjoys hot yoga, baking, and hanging out with her cat. As a child, Harleigh loved playing with dolls with her older sister and her favorite book was Pinkalicious, and the Fancy Nancy series.
Jade Crosby
Undergraduate Student
Jade is a sophomore, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Community Action and Social Change. Following graduation, she plans to pursue a Master’s in Clinical Social Work, with the ultimate goal of being a therapist for adolescents and adults. Outside of academia, Jade enjoys spending time with friends, reading books, watching movies, and making innumerous Spotify playlists. As a child, she wanted to be a famous singer and spent time recording her singing on her Nintendo DS. Her favorite book was Dear, Dumb Diary.
Josh Parashar 
Undergraduate Student
Josh is a sophomore intending to major in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience. He hopes to attend medical school and pursue trauma surgery or emergency medicine. In his free time, he loves to play sports and to cook. As a kid, he wanted to be a taxi driver and his favorite book was The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Kathryn Chang
Undergraduate Student
Kathryn is a senior planning to graduate in May 2022. Her major is in psychology with a pre-medical track. She plans to attend medical school and continue volunteering as a New Jersey EMT over holiday breaks. In her free time, Kathryn enjoys being a coxswain with the University of Michigan Men’s Rowing Team and being a member of the TaeKwonDo club. Growing up, she hoped to be a doctor.

Katie McCallion
Undergraduate Student
Katie is a junior graduating in 2024 with a degree in Psychology and Education for Empowerment. After graduation, she plans to pursue a Masters of Social Work or Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. In her free time, she likes to read, listen to music, and crochet bucket hats for her friends. Growing up, she wanted to be a Pixar Animator and her favorite childhood book was Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper.
Rachel
Kaylee Chan
Undergraduate Student
Kaylee is a sophomore planning on majoring in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience. After graduation, she plans on attending medical school and specializing in pediatrics with a large focus on public health. In her free time, she enjoys watching bad reality T.V., cooking, trying out new restaurants, and spending time with friends and family. Growing up, she wanted to be a popstar and her favorite book was the Magic Treehouse series.
Lauren Bacal
Undergraduate Student
Lauren is a junior planning to graduate in 2023 with a degree in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience. She plans to attend medical school and work with kids. In her free time she likes to travel, bake, and listen to music. Growing up, she wanted to be a doctor or a veterinarian, and her favourite books were all of the Rainbow Magic books and The Rainbow Fish.
Lilly King
Undergraduate Student
Lilly is a sophomore planning to double major in Linguistics and in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience. After graduating in 2025, she plans to attend graduate school. In her free time, Lilly loves reading, watching musicals, and spending time with friends and family. When she was little, Lilly wanted to be a cowgirl or a veterinarian and her favorite book series was The Boxcar Children.
Maria Scavnicky
Undergraduate Student
Maria is currently a sophomore planning to graduate in 2024 with a degree in Psychology. After undergrad, she hopes to attend graduate school and earn a PhD in Clinical Psychology. In her free time, she loves to travel, listen to music, spend time with her dog, and watch Game of Thrones. As a child, she always wanted to become an elementary school teacher, and her favorite book was Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola.
Matthew Osterholzer 
Undergraduate Student
Matthew is a junior planning to graduate in 2024, with a double major in Psychology and Music Composition. After graduation, he plans to pursue a graduate degree in psychology or composition to explore ways to integrate the two. Matthew enjoys working with children at Little Bands, where he is a music teacher. In his free time, he likes to play, write, and listen to all sorts of music, and to read. Growing up, he wanted to be a scientist, and his favorite book series was The Magic Treehouse.
Omaima Uddin 
Undergraduate Student
Omaima is a sophomore majoring in Neuroscience with hopes of going to medical school to become a child physician. When she isn’t busy with her giant family, she enjoys rewatching the same three comfort shows, exploring new shops on the street, stress baking, anything orange, and listening to music through every mundane task. She always had a passion for working with children, and almost got a teaching degree instead. As a child, her favorite things to do were make rainbow loom bracelets and duct tape crafts.

Omosiuwa Enakpene
Undergraduate Student
Omosiuwa is a sophomore graduating in 2025 and is majoring in Psychology on a pre-med track. After graduation, she plans on attending medical school and focusing on psychiatry or applying to a MD/PhD program. In her free time, she likes reading, working out, listening to music, and watching shows with friends. She enjoys spending time with children, whether it’s babysitting or volunteering in her community, and loves seeing their curiosity and how they interact with others. When she was little, Omosiuwa wanted to be a detective and a doctor, and her favorite book series were Magic Tree House and Nancy Drew.
Rose Clark
Undergraduate Student
Rose is a freshman who is currently undecided on her major. After graduating in 2026, she plans to pursue a career in the health sciences or psychology. In her free time, she loves embroidery, baking, swimming, and playing with her dog. When she was little, Rose wanted to be an artist, and her favorite book series was A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Sabina Li
Undergraduate Student
Sabina Li is a freshman planning to graduate in 2025 with a degree in Biopsychology, Cognition and Neuroscience. After graduation, she plans to attend medical school, specializing in pediatrics or obstetrics and gynecology. In her free time, she loves rock climbing, Broadway musicals, playing with her dogs, and listening to music from the 2010s Disney channel era. When she was little, she wanted to grow up to be a fairy or a doctor, and her favorite books were Matilda by Roald Dahl and Dim Sum for Everyone by Grace Lin.
Sophia Herb
Undergraduate Student
Sophia is a sophomore majoring in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience (BCN) and minoring in Spanish. After graduating in 2025, she plans to pursue graduate training in a physician assistant program, specializing in pediatrics. Sophia enjoys spending time with children, whether that’s through tutoring or teaching dance! In her free time, she enjoys dancing, baking, traveling, and reading. As a child, Sophia wanted to become an elementary school teacher, and her favorite book series was The Sisters Grimm.
Sydney Boland
Undergraduate Student
Sydney is a sophomore majoring in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience with a minor in Spanish. She is planning to graduate in 2023. Sydney has always enjoyed working with children and particularly enjoys watching them learn and discover new things. In her free time she likes to exercise and travel. She enjoys lots of shows but her favorite is How I Met Your Mother. When she was little she dreamt of being a teacher but she now hopes to be an occupational therapist. She also wishes to continue her passion for research.
Tiffany Yeo
Undergraduate Student
Tiffany is a sophomore planning to graduate in 2025 majoring in Psychology. After graduation, she plans on pursuing a Ph.D. in Psychology with a focus in pediatrics to continue her work with children in a professional environment. Tiffany loves to crochet, bake sweet and savory treats, and make ceramics. As a child, she loved to be involved in visual arts projects and her favorite books were any from the Don’t Let the Pigeon series.

Wolvy
Undergraduate Student
Wolvy is a senior at the University of Michigan studying Psychology. He is especially interested in learning how children think about the world around them. He hopes to attend graduate school in Psychology in the future. When Wolvy was a child, he wanted to be a lab mascot. His favorite book was Navigating the Social World by Dr. Susan Gelman.