OUR TEAM

Meghan H. Puglia, PH.D.

Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor of Neurology

Meghan earned her B.S. in Psychology with a concentration in Neuroscience from Penn State University in 2009, her M.A. in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Virginia in 2015, and her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from UVA in 2019. Her research interests include (1) merging human neuroscience and behavioral epigenetics to understand individual differences in human behavior; (2) designing and executing infant longitudinal studies merging multilevel, multidimensional techniques to understand environment-gene-brain-behavior interactions throughout development; and (3) employing innovative methodological approaches to analyze “big data” generated with neuroimaging, longitudinal, and genetics data sets.

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Team: Our Team

Cabell Williams

Cognitive Psychology

Cabell studies the environmental influences of epigenetic modifications and how these changes may lead to individual differences in the neurological processing of social cues throughout infancy. She received her B.S. in Neuroscience with a minor in Psychology from George Mason University and her M.S. in Clinical Research from UVA. Prior to her time as a doctoral student, she spent time in a lab studying the effects of parenting mindfully on adolescents’ emotional development, academic success, and risk-taking behaviors and in a clinic where she studied how to create a state of “peak performance” using EEG based neurofeedback.

STAFF

Team: Our Team

Que Nguyen

Lab Manager

Winnie Chang

Project Coordinator

Madelyn Nance

Lab Technician

Team: Text

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Team: Team Members

Hanna Aklil

Behavioral Neuroscience 2028

Cori Bereznay

Behavioral Neuroscience 2026

Janie Brockenbrough

Cognitive Science & Applied Statistics 2027

Carrington Davis

Echols Interdisciplinary Major 2026

Carter Duncan

Psychology 2025

Lauryn Kumpe

Psychology & English 2026

Beverly Lundeen

Neuroscience & Cognitive Science 2025

Emily Mundy

Neuroscience 2025

Haylee Ressa

Neuroscience & English 2025

Macie Tran

Neuroscience & Cognitive Science 2026

Diana Zhang

Neuroscience & Public Health 2027

Sam Barnett

Biology 2025

Geanette Boggs

Nursing 2028

Campbell Coleman

Neuroscience & Physics 2025

Kaley Dawson

Neuroscience 2025

Elise Harris

Cognitive Science 2025

Lucy Lee

Biology & Psychology 2028

Jessica Medlin

Cognitive Science 2025

Leslie Murphy

Behavioral Neuroscience 2026

Jordyn Sizemore

Cognitive Science 2025

Shriya Varada

Neuroscience 2025

Charly Beasley

Cognitive Science 2026

Katie Boron

Human Biology 2026

Chloe Cooper

Neuroscience 2025

Emily Douglas

Neuroscience 2027

Zoë Kitchings

Biology 2025

Kate Littlejohn

Biology 2027

Emily Mortman

Psychology & Cognitive science 2025

Gray Powell

Neuroscience 2027

Sophia Stewart

Behavioral Neuroscience 2026

Liv White

Cognitive Science 2026

LAB ALUMNI

MADELYN NANCE

Cognitive Science 2025;

Lab Technician

2021 - 2022 Undergraduate Research Assistant

2022 Assistant Project Coordinator

2023 Jefferson Trust Grant

2022 - 2025 Lab Technician

CARTER DUNCAN

Psychology 2025

2025 Undergraduate Research Assistant

LORENZO BUSTAMANTE

Biochemistry 2026

2024 Undergraduate Research Assistant

BEVERLY LUNDEEN

Neuroscience and Cognitive Science 2025

2024 - 2025 Undergraduate Research Assistant

2024 - 2025 Distinguished Majors Program

JESSICA MEDLIN

Cognitive Science 2025

2023 - 2025 Undergraduate Research Assistant

SAM BARNETT

Biology 2025

2023 - 2025 Undergraduate Research Assistant

SHRIYA VARADA

Neuroscience 2025

2023 - 2025 Undergraduate Research Assistant

2024 Minverva Award

2024 - 2025 Distinguished Majors Program

JORDYN SIZEMORE

Cognitive Science 2025

2023 - 2025 Undergraduate Research Assistant

ZOË KITCHINGS

Biology 2025

2023 - 2025 Undergraduate Research Assistant

2023 Assistant Project Coordinator

ELISE HARRIS

Cognitive Science 2025

2023 - 2025 Undergraduate Research Assistant

2024 Assistant Project Coordinator

2024 - 2025 Distinguished Majors Program

HAYLEE RESSA

Neuroscience & English 2025

2022 - 2025 Undergraduate Research Assistant

2024 - 2025 Distinguished Majors Program

EMILY MUNDY

Neuroscience 2025

2022 - 2025 Undergraduate Research Assistant

2024 - 2025 Distinguished Majors Program

KALEY DAWSON

Neuroscience 2025

2022 - 2025 Undergraduate Research Assistant

2023 Assistant Project Coordinator

CHLOE COOPER

Neuroscience 2025

2022 - 2025 Undergraduate Research Assistant

2024 Assistant Project Coordinator

CAMPBELL COLEMAN

Neuroscience & Physics 2025

2022 - 2025 Undergraduate Research Assistant

2024 - 2025 Distinguished Majors Program

EMILY MORTMAN

Psychology & Cognitive Science 2025

2021 - 2025 Undergraduate Research Assistant

ALLISON BELKOWITZ

Lab Manager

2021 - 2024

MADELEINE AMES

Neuroscience 2024

2021- 2024 Undergraduate Research Assistant
2023 Minerva Award
2023 - 2024 Distinguished Majors Program

NASEEB CHHINA

Global Public Health & Psychology 2024

2023- 2024 Undergraduate Research Assistant

HELENA CULLEN

Psychology 2024

2022- 2024 Undergraduate Research Assistant

EMILY DAVIS

Cognitive Science & Spanish 2024

2022- 2024 Undergraduate Research Assistant

AVERY DOUGALD

Neuroscience 2024

2021 - 2024 Undergraduate Research Assistant
2022 Assistant Project Coordinator
2022 Harrison Undergraduate Research Grant
2023 - 2024 Distinguished Majors Program

SKYLAR GOODOVE

Neuroscience 2024

2022- 2024 Undergraduate Research Assistant
2022 Raven Fellowship

MATT IMMORDINO

Global Public Health & Spanish 2024

2022- 2024 Undergraduate Research Assistant

BRIDGET RODIG

Cognitive Science 2024

2023- 2024 Undergraduate Research Assistant
2023 - 2024 Distinguished Majors Program

ASHLEY TRINH

Neuroscience 2024

2022- 2024 Undergraduate Research Assistant
2023- 2024 Social Media Manager

OLIVIA PRENDERGAST

Psychology 2023

2022 - 2023 Undergraduate Research Assistant

NIKITHA SHAH

Cognitive Science 2025

2023 - 2023 Undergraduate Research Assistant

SONI BAE

Psychology 2023

2021 - 2023 Undergraduate Research Assistant

SUNJAL PATEL

Cognitive Science & South Asian Studies 2024

2022 - 2023 Undergraduate Research Assistant

VINEE VERMA

Cognitive Science 2024

2020 - 2022 Undergraduate Research Assistant

MELISSA ABEL

Cognitive Science & Spanish 2023

2022 - 2023 Undergraduate Research Assistant

KAYLYN FEELEY

Cognitive Science 2023

2022 - 2023 Undergraduate Research Assistant

MADELINE FORD

Cognitive Science 2023

2021 - 2023 Undergraduate Research Assistant
2022 - 2023 Distinguished Majors Program

CHLOE HOANG

Cognitive Science 2023

2022 - 2023 Undergraduate Research Assistant

ANNA MCSHERRY

Psychology 2023

2022 - 2023 Undergraduate Research Assistant

MADISON MONROE-MOHAJERIN

Neuroscience & Psychology 2023

2021 - 2023 Undergraduate Research Assistant
2023 Minerva Award
2022 - 2023 Distinguished Majors Program
2022 - 2023 College Council Semester Scholars Award
2022 - 2023 College of Arts and Sciences Research Grant
2023 Raven Fellowship
2024 Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Council Grant

BIANKA SMEULDERS

Cognitive Science 2023

2022 - 2023 Undergraduate Research Assistant

KAROLINA STRAZNIKIEWICZ

Psychology 2023

2021 - 2022 Undergraduate Research Assistant

LOREN BLACK

Kinesiology 2024

2022 Undergraduate Research Assistant

GIANNA RODGRIUEZ

Biology 2023

2022 Summer Research Intern

JACQUELINE SLOBIN

Global Public Health 2021

2021 - 2022 Project Coordinator
2020 - 2021 Undergraduate Research Assistant

AVERY DAHL

Cognitive Science 2022

2021 - 2022 Undergraduate Research Assistant
2021 - 2022 Distinguished Majors Program

SCARLET OMAIS

English & Biology 2022

2020 - 2021 Undergraduate Research Assistant

HANNAH SHARPE

Biology 2021

2019 - 2021 Undergraduate Research Assistant

PAYTON ST. LOUIS

Chemistry 2022

2019 - 2021 Undergraduate Research Assistant

Alumni