CURRENT RESEARCHERS
JENNIFER YOW
Lab Manager & 2nd Year
Jenn is earning her master's degree in the Developmental Psychology concentration after graduating in 2022 with her B.A. in Psychology through the blended B.A./M.A. SF Scholars Program at SFSU where she also worked in the PWB Lab as an Undergrad RA. Her research interests include: socioemotional development and relationships; behavioral and substance addiction; the mind-body connection; and the utilization of mindfulness practices to foster physical and mental health and well-being over the Lifespan.
GILBERTO GIL
2nd Year
Gil is a United States Marine Corps veteran and a graduate student in the Social, Personality, and Affect Science M.A. program. He continues his studies here at San Francisco State University after completing his B.A. in Psychology. His general research interest areas are adverse childhood experiences (ACEs); stereotypes; education-based motivation; large-scale psychological intervention; and the school-to-prison pipeline.
PIERRE DERBIER
2nd Year
Pierre is a second-year graduate student in the Social, Personality and Affective Sciences M.A. Program. He graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2021 with a B.S. in Psychology and Brain Sciences and a B.A in Sociology.
SEAN HENNIGAN
2nd Year
Sean is a second-year graduate student in the Social, Personality, and Affective Sciences M.A. Program. He graduated from Saint Mary’s College of California with a B.S. in Psychology in 2021 and has since worked as an RA at UCSF examining game-based learning as a means of increasing career self-efficacy and parent-child communication. His general research interests concern topics of LGBTQ+ and contemporary political psychology as well as the development of sexual and gender identities. More specifically, Sean hopes to conduct research in order to better understand and improve the well-being of LGBTQ+ communities.
ALUMNI
ANDREA
GOEPEL NEWKIRK
REBEKAH DOW
SHILPA PRABHAKAR
Former Senior Lab Coordinator
Drea is completing her degree within the Social, Personality, and Affective Science concentration within the Master's of Psychology program. She graduated from San Francisco State University with her B.A. in psychology in 2021. Her research interests include the effects of subjective childhood financial distress and resource availability on adult well-being.
Bekah is completing her degree in the Social, Personality, and Affective Sciences M.A. program. She is continuing her studies at San Francisco State University after receiving her B.A in Psychology in 2021 from the University of Arizona. Some of her current interests include Happiness and Habits.
Shilpa is an international student from India and is completing her master's degree in psychology (Mind, Brain and Behavior) at SFSU. Before joining graduate school, she worked in the banking sector where she provided awareness and guidance for small business owners about financial services. Her research interests are in job burnout, and creating stress-free workplaces through integration of mindfulness and spirituality. She is passionate about statistics and survey designs in Qualtrics and hopes to work in the field of analytics and research after graduation. During her free time, she enjoys meditation, yoga, cooking, walking on the beach, and exploring new places.
ROBERT
VAN NOORD
JESUS OSUNA
Honors Thesis
Rob is completing his master's degree in the Mind, Brain, and Behavior program at SFSU, pursuing a career in evaluating criminal psychology and behavior, and is also an alumnus of the same school, graduating in 2021 with a bachelor's in criminal justice. Utilizing this experience, he studies the relationship between law enforcement and how they psychologically endure the intensity of being a first responder. In his free time, he enjoys playing video games, finding new spots to hike with friends, and participating in the arts.
Jesus Osuna participated in the Lab as an honors thesis student and senior at San Francisco State University, graduating in 2023. Prior to joining the honors thesis program, he worked as a research assistant with the Personality and Well-Being Lab.
DAVID OBANDO
M.A.
David Obando, former lab manager, graduated with an M.A. in Social, Personality, and Affective Science in 2022 under the direction of Ryan Howell, Ph.D. David’s research was in affective forecast and methodological validity. During his time as a graduate student at San Francisco State University, he was a teaching associate for psychological statistics and he specialized in statistical and methodological procedures. Prior to his master's, he completed his undergraduate degree in Marketing at SFSU. Currently, David is attending University of California, Merced for his Ph.D in Quantitative Methods, Measurement, and Statistics (Psychology) under the supervision of Sarah Depaoli, PhD and Keke Lai, PhD, where his research interests are structural equation modeling and Bayesian statistics.
NABILA ANGUIANO
M.A.
Nabila Anguiano graduated with an M.A. from the Mind, Brain, and Behavior program after earning her B.A. in Psychology in 2018 from San Francisco State University.
LINDSEY
ALAS GONZALEZ
M.A.
Lindsey Alas Gonzalez earned an M.A. in the Mind, Brain and Behavior program. She graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology in 2017. Her current interests include mindfulness, impulsivity, and subjective well-being.
KUBA GWOZDZ
M.A.
DAWN LUCIER
M.A.
ANIKA JAVAID
M.A.
Kuba Gwozdz graduated with an M.A. from the Social, Personality, and Affective Sciences Program after having earned a B.A. in Psychology from San Francisco State University in 2017.
Dawn Lucier is a doctoral student at the University of San Francisco’s School of Education, focusing on learning and instruction, with a minor in educational technology. In 2021, She graduated with an M.A. in Social, Personality, and Affective Sciences and her thesis tackled affective forecasting and experiential purchases. Since graduation, she has worked as a lecturer in the Psychology Department at SFSU teaching psychological statistics and works as a Research Analyst I with a local tech startup, employing many of the skills she learned as a member of the Personality and Well-Being Lab.
Anika Javaid earned her M.A. in the Social, Personality, and Affective Sciences Program. She graduated from Chapman University in 2017 with a B.A. in Psychology. Her research interests include positive interventions, discrimination, empathy, and well-being.
ANDREW KITCHNER
M.A.
MIRAE BOUYSSOU
M.A.
ALYSSA HEGENBART
M.A.
Andrew Kitchner graduated in Spring of 2020, after completing his thesis research on Organizational Commitment. During his final year, he managed the PWB lab which was the largest psychology lab within SFSU's College of Science and Engineering. Since graduating, Andrew has started his own employee surveying solutions firm, https://new-wave-solutions.com/.
Mirae Bouyssou is a graduate of the Social, Personality, and Affective Science M.A. concentration. She graduated with a B.A. in American Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2007, graduating magna cum laude. She has taken numerous psychology classes at San Francisco State University and was a member of the Personality and Well-Being lab and the Cognitive and Social Equity Lab.
Alyssa Hegenbart is a graduate of the Social, Personality, and Affective Sciences Psychology program. She graduated from the University of California, Davis, in the Spring of 2017 with a bachelor's degree in psychology.​
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RYAN METTE
MATTHEW BERNAS
M.A.
Ryan Mette is a graduate of the Social Personality and Affective Sciences (SPA) M.A. program. His research interests include working on how purchasing affects happiness. Particularly, how one's hedonism adapts to a type of purchase.
Matthew Bernas first joined Dr. Ryan Howell’s Personality and Well-Being Lab at San Francisco State University in the Spring of 2017. Driven by an interest in both positive and clinical psychology, he managed the Purchasing Behavior and Happiness study while working on his own honors thesis, The Quest to Assign the Right Amount of Happiness Homework. In the future, he hopes to work as a therapist who teaches part-time.
ISHAA CHAKULKAR
M.A.
Ishaa is an international graduate of the Mind, Brain, Behavior M.A program. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from San Francisco State University in 2017. Ishaa’s research interests are in personality traits, emotion regualtion, and happiness. Specifically, she is investigating how extraverts are happier than introverts. She is also interested in understanding consumer behavior and expereintialism. Ishaa worked as an undergraduate RA in the PWB lab, and is passionate about teaching, statistics, and statistics related memes! Aside from research, she enjoys traveling, cooking and other experiential consumptions!
PAIGE GUGE
M.A.
Paige Guge graduated in 2019 from the PWB lab with her M.A. in Psychology with a concentration in Social, Personality, and Affective Sciences. She also served as the PWB lab manager for the 2018/2019 academic year. For her thesis she ran an 8-week field study at SFSU which tested how the labeling of the SF sugary beverage tax impacted purchasing of sugary beverages.
REMY COCKERILL
M.A.
Remy Cockerill earned her Bachelors degree in psychology from California State University of Long Beach. Throughout her undergraduate career, she worked with low-income children and their mothers studying wellness interventions such as; stress management, mindfulness, and exercise. She also volunteered with underprivileged female youth in the Anaheim school district teaching a peer-pressure and body positivity after-school elective. Finally, she, along with 5 others, started a non-profit organization called Mas Fuerte aimed at mitigating adverse effects of environmental and institutional racism/classism within Orange County- a nonprofit still active today. As a graduate student at SF State, she studied behavioral manifestations of happiness and well-being. Remy plans to continue researching wellness interventions at the graduate level - specifically in underserved populations and within family dynamics.
NGOC-HAN NGUYEN
M.A.
Ngoc-Han Nguyen graduated with her M.A. in Psychology with a concentration in Mind, Brain, and Behavior in 2017. Ngoc-Han's thesis focused on different mediators of the experiential advantage, including identity, relatedness, and hedonic adaptation.
Ngoc-Han currently works as an Educational Research Analyst for the Santa Ana Unified School District. There, she utilizes her analytic, survey design, and program evaluation skills on the Research and Evaluation team to ultimately improve the institution of education for ethnic minorities and low income families. The mission of the team is to empower educators by transforming the use of data to accelerate student success towards college and career readiness.
KARYNNA
OKABE-MIYAMOTO
M.A.
CAITLIN COLLINS
M.A.
DANRAE SABBALUCA
M.A.
Karynna Okabe-Miyamoto graduated in 2018 from the PWB Lab with her M.A. in Psychology with a concentration in Mind, Brain, and Behavior. She was also the lab coordinator for the 2017/2018 academic year. Her thesis tested the robustness of the experiential advantage by utilizing a multi-method assessment of the outcome of happiness.
Karynna is currently a Ph.D. student in Psychology working with Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky at the University of California, Riverside. She is also interning at Zenzi, a values marketing agency.
Caitlin Collins graduated in 2017 with a M.A. in Developmental Psychology. She is interested in happiness, and spending behavior. Her thesis examined how materialist spenders, as compared to their experiential counterparts, are perceived by others. The study found materialistic spenders were imbued with negative personality traits which influenced their perceived value as an employee
Danrae Sabbaluca, or Drae, is a casual pro-gamer who completed his B.A. in Psychology, in Research. Under Dr. Howell’s supervision, he successfully defended his Honor’s Thesis: Improving Positive Activity Interventions Using Video Game Elements.
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Currently, Drae is a market-research intern at Zenzi, a values-based marketing company.
JIA WEI ZHANG
Ph.D.
JiaWei Zhang is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at The University of Memphis. His research focuses on emotions – especially the psychosocial ramification of awe and gratitude, emotion regulation strategy (e.g., self-compassion) upon coping with difficult life events (e.g., breakup, regrets, imperfections), money, time perspective, and aging, nature and prosocial behaviors, social hierarchy (status, class, power), as well as consumption (e.g., experiential purchases) and happiness. You can find out more about him and his research here.
CHRIS SANDERS
M.A.
Chris graduated from PWB lab and SFSU with a Master's in Mind, Brain, & Behavior in the Spring of 2017. His thesis took a novel approach to interpreting the longitudinal well-being impact of online happiness-boosting interventions, finding that these effects are mostly driven by a large-scale recovery from depression symptoms in highly-depressed people rather than a mild upward shift in well-being across participants. His other work involves lay theories of meaning in life and other positive psychology topics, the commodification of happiness research, and the micro-economic link between money and happiness.
After leaving PWB lab, Chris began working on his doctorate in Psychological Sciences at the University of Missouri, Columbia under the advisement of Laura King.
POOYA RAZAVI
M.A.
Pooya Razavi is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Oregon, working with Dr. Sanjay Srivastava. While working on his M.A. at SFSU, he was part of an international collaboration researching the cross-cultural similarities and differences in the experience of awe (see the resulting paper here). In his current research, Pooya studies emotions, culture, and social media using a multi-method approach.
GRANT DONNELLY
M.A. | M.B.A.| Ph.D.
Grant Donnelly received an M.A. in Psychological Research: Mind, Brain, and Behavior under the supervision of Dr. Ryan Howell in 2013. He attended Harvard Business School from 2013-2018 and received a Ph.D. in Marketing. Grant is an incoming Assistant Professor in Marketing and Logistics at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business. Grant designs interventions to improve consumer welfare and his research has evaluated financial decision-making, physical health, and prosocial behavior.
MASHA KSENDZOVA
M.A.
Masha Ksendzova graduated with a B.A. in Psychology in 2015. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Marketing at Boston University, studying consumer judgment and decision-making.