Our Team
Dr. Dian Yu is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Oklahoma State University. She got her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Science. Her research focuses on self-regulation development in early childhood to adolescence among low-income racial-ethnical minority families using intensive longitudinal methods. Her recent publications appear in Applied Developmental Science and the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology.
Graduate Students
Jaely Deleon is a third year Ph.D. student and lab coordinator for the SeEDS Lab in the Department of Psychology at Oklahoma State University. She earned her Master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Central Oklahoma. Her research examines how childhood adversity and parental experiences shape child development, with a particular focus on marginalized and underserved families. Her thesis applies network method analyses, including GIMME, to capture the day-to-day patterns of family life through a person-specific lens.
Jaely has contributed to several collaborative research efforts including the TeamTRACS study with Dr. Elizabeth McGuier, a mixed-methods trial examining team-focused implementation strategies in rural Children’s Advocacy Centers, and the NIMH-funded SKIP for PA Study, with Dr. David Kolko, where she serves as the bilingual (Spanish/English) Spanish Language Assessor, supporting Spanish-speaking participants through assessment and consent processes.
Immanuela-Nicole Enwesi is a third-year graduate student in the Experimental Psychology Ph.D. program at Oklahoma State University, where she is mentored by Dr. Lucia Ciciolla and Dr. Dian Yu. She earned her M.S. in Experimental Psychology from Oklahoma State University, where her thesis examined mutual associations between maternal and infant sleep in the early postpartum period.
She is a Tulsa Schweitzer Fellow, where her intervention work focuses on improving perinatal health and mental health to support maternal outcomes. She is also a fellow in the Healthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) START Program (Scientific Training in Addiction Research Techniques), where she conducts research using HBCD data, including work examining white matter development in brain regions associated with early language. Her research focuses on maternal-infant interactions, particularly how sleep patterns influence one another. She is also interested in early language acquisition and the use of MRI techniques to study brain development in infants.
Undergraduate Students
Danielle Washington is a senior studying Psychology at Oklahoma State University. She is research assistant in the SeEDS Lab and project coordinator for the Daily SPARK Study. Her research interests include developmental, positive, and clinical psychology. In the future, she would like to be a clinical psychologist and specialize in the treatment of anxiety and depressive disorders.
Lorin Scott is a first-year undergraduate student at Oklahoma State University. She is majoring in psychology and minoring in dance. Her eventual career goal is to be a school counselor or a private-practice therapist. Lorin joined this research lab because child development is a field she is interested in, and this opportunity will give her the research experience for my eventual graduate school path.
Emma Webb is a senior undergraduate student at Oklahoma State University pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in American Sign Language. After several years of experience in different styles of dance, she is interested in researching the impact that creative movement can have on anxiety and stress in children and adults. She is also interested in research related to criminal profiling and criminology. After receiving her degree, she plans to attend graduate school to study criminal psychology.
Lydia Finch is a third-year undergraduate student pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in Music Performance. She has a special interest in childhood trauma and play therapy. In the future, she plans to pursue a graduate degree specializing in using child-centered theories and play to facilitate healing and resilience following severe, early traumas. Further, she’d like to provide services within the public school system to assist and educate teachers on the impact of trauma on learning and development, promoting trauma-informed learning services.
Makayla Mcghee is passionate about psychology and practicing ABA therapy with children in her free time. She hopes to one day gain a master’s degree in counseling and practice as an independent counselor in rural areas like Stillwater!
Andrew Erwin is a Junior Psychology major here at Oklahoma State University. He is from Dallas, Texas. He enjoys playing basketball and going to the gym.
Caleb Glisson is an undergraduate student taking an experimental approach to neuropsychology, particularly how brain mechanisms shape behavior, decision making, and psychological well-being. He aims to advance understanding of social cognition and contribute to both academic and practical insights into the biological foundations of social processes and psychological functioning.
Alumni
Julia Cook
Seth Austin
Madison Travis
Bella Panganiban
Brylan Wandel
Claire Anderson
Adam Dayani