Stress, Emotion & Physical Health Lab
Current Graduate Students
Jazlyn Luu
I received my B.A. in Psychological Science from UC Irvine in 2022. I then served as the STEP lab manager, as well as worked as a behavior interventionist for children with Autism. Through these two experiences, I grew passionate about mental health and well-being and developed an appreciation for how research and clinical practice interact and inform one another. I hope to continue exploring the interconnections between emotions, stress, and well-being in my graduate work with Dr. Sarah Pressman and Dr. Dewayne Williams.
Baldwin Ma
My research interests broadly focus on college students' well-being and learning outcomes. My primary research focus is on educational pedagogy, specifically designing effective curricula and teaching methods that boost students' academic achievement, sense of belonging, and general well-being. In particular, I focus on first-generation/low-income students, examining how this specific group of students navigate their education and how effective teaching practices can better assist in their experience in higher education. I am also interested in how college students set, pursue, and adjust their goals; specifically, I want to focus on how these goals change over the 4 years that students are in college.
About:
I received my B.S. in Psychology with a Minor in Education from Duke University in 2024. My undergraduate honors thesis paper investigated the concept of goal synergy, or the idea that perceiving the pursuit of one goal will enhance the pursuit of another goal, and how this concept impacted college students' time management, academic outcomes, and subjective well-being. My current research goals at UCI are to focus on how to design a better classroom environment through innovative course design and effective teaching methods to not only promote the academic and personal outcomes of students but also make learning fun and interesting.
intersectionality, cardiovascular health, stress reactivity and recovery, Black women's health, heart rate variability, respiratory function, health disparities, cardiophysiology
About:
I received my B.A. in Psychology with a concentration in Cognitive Science from Oberlin College in 2017 and my M.A. in Psychological Science from UC Irvine in 2024. Before beginning my doctoral studies, I worked as a lab manager at UC San Diego studying pain and mindfulness interventions, and as a senior research associate at UCLA examining substance use and craving. I am currently a doctoral candidate working with Drs. Julian Thayer, DeWayne Williams, and Sarah Pressman, and serve as a clinical extern at UCI Neurology conducting neuropsychological assessments. My dissertation examines intersectionality and its relationship to health outcomes, with a focus on Black women's psychological and physiological health, stress reactivity and recovery, and cardiophysiological processes. Outside of research, I volunteer at a local women's shelter and food bank and enjoy hiking with my dog. My goal is to maintain a dual career as a clinician working with minority families affected by Alzheimer's and dementia-related diseases while continuing research on health equity in academia.
Grace Fishback
My research primarily focuses on understanding how psychological factors, such as emotion regulation, influence health through multiple physiological systems (e.g. cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, and circadian). I am especially interested in examining how these mechanisms impact racial/ethnic health disparities and investigating potential protective factors.
I received my B.S. as a dual-major in Behavioral Neuroscience and Psychology from The Ohio State University in 2019, where I completed an undergraduate thesis examining the interaction between physiological markers of cognitive control (i.e. heart rate variability) and beliefs about worry on generalized anxiety disorder severity. I then spent two years at the University of Colorado Alzheimer's and Cognition Center investigating the connection between neurophysiology during sleep and cognitive decline. My current and future research aim is to leverage a biopsychosocial approach to elucidate how racial/ethnic health disparities emerge and what positive factors may be beneficial in preventing adverse health outcomes in minoritized populations.
About:
Logan Martin
My current research focuses on three broad areas: 1) Meta-emotional beliefs such as emotion preferences, the usefulness of emotions, how controllable they are, the development of these processes, individual differences, and how they affect cognitions, behaviors, and well-being. 2) Measurement, research methods, and statistics. 3) Various collaborations involving emotions and physical health.
I received my M.A. in Psychology from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I received my B.A. in Psychology from Indiana University Northwest in Gary, Indiana.
About:
Elaine Tannouz
Research Interests:
My research interest lies in two broad areas. The first one is coping with traumatic life events, survivor’s guilt and post traumatic growth. I’m interested in the physical aftermath of trauma and how different emotion regulation processes manifest different health outcomes. Recently I’ve been interested in using life narrative stories to probe into subjective perspectives of lived experiences. The second area stems from my background in Architecture and Urban planning, I’m interested in looking at the effects of city planning and different architectural elements in the built environment on humans’ psychology and consequently their general wellbeing and health.
About:
My path was not the most orthodox one. I have a BS in Architecture from University of Aleppo, Syria. I volunteered to deliver psychosocial support to Syrian children and women refugees for three years during war and this got me interested in pursuing a degree in psychology. I completed the post-baccalaureate program in psychological science at UCI where I worked as a research assistant in REACH and MESH labs. Currently I work with both Dr. Sarah Pressman and Dr. Roxan Cohen Silver in her stress and coping lab.
