Wendy Zhang – Graduate Student
Wendy is a Ph.D. student in the SDSU/UC San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology. She received her Bachelor of Social Sciences in psychology and fine arts from the University of Hong Kong in 2017 and M.S. in Clinical Psychology from SDSU in 2019. Wendy’s research focuses on understanding the disturbances of cognitive and emotional processes in psychotic and anxiety disorders using primarily EEG/ERP methods. Following in Dr. Kappenman’s footsteps, Wendy also has a strong interest in promoting good practice in the use of EEG/ERP in clinical neuroscience research. In the long term, Wendy aspires to bring research and education in clinical psychology to less developed parts of the world.
Amy Bichlmeier – Graduate Student
Amy is a second-year master’s student at SDSU, concentrating in behavioral and cognitive neuroscience. She graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 2018 with her B.S. in Psychology. She spent two years working in clinical trials, coordinating studies for psychiatric and neurological pharmaceuticals. Amy intends to pursue a clinical psychology doctorate degree. Her interests include mood and psychotic disorders in young adults, and cognitive neuroscience.
Megan Spence – Graduate Student
Megan is a second-year student in the Psychology M.A. program at SDSU. She previously graduated from SDSU in 2020, with a B.A. in Psychology, a minor in Counseling and Social Change, and a minor in Interdisciplinary Studies through the Weber Honors College. Her research interests include investigating the neurological correlates of cognitive processes such as attention and memory, and how those processes are affected by different mental health disorders and exogenous substances.
Marisa Krauter – Undergraduate Research Assistant
Marisa is a 4th year psychology major with a minor in counseling and social change. She joined the lab in 2019. Her future plans include pursuing a doctoral degree in psychology in order to research anxiety within underserved populations.
Former Graduate Students
Emily Meissel – Graduate Student
Emily is interested in using behavioral and cognitive neuroscience techniques to understand the etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders. She graduated from the University of Virginia in 2015 with a B.A. in Psychology and Cognitive Science. Upon graduation, Emily interned in Dr. Daniel Gilbert’s lab at Harvard University and has been working as a Lab Manager in Dr. Stewart Shankman’s lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago since September 2015. Emily is excited to join Dr. Kappenman’s lab in Fall 2017 as a first year student in the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology.
Aniha Vijay Kumar – Graduate Student
Aniha is a first-year master’s student at SDSU. She received her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Arizona in 2019 where she was an undergraduate research assistant for Dr. Vicky Lai’s Cognitive Neuroscience Lab of Language from 2017 to 2019. Aniha is interested in using EEG/ERP measures to further understand the underlying elements of trait and state-induced anxiety, and would like to extend this research to depression in the future.
Chelsea Carter – Graduate Student
Chelsea a graduate of the Master’s Program in Psychology. Chelsea attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she majored in both Psychology and Communication. She was a member of the College of Letters and Science’s Honors Program and was a research assistant in Dr. Hegarty’s Spatial Thinking Lab. After graduating in 2015, Chelsea worked as a case manager for individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities, as well as mental health diagnoses.
Former Staff/Trainees
McKena Geiger – Lab Manager
McKena joined Dr. Kappenman’s lab in the summer of 2019 as lab manager. Her research experience began in 2015 at North Dakota State University. Throughout her time at NDSU, McKena worked in Dr. Robert Dvorak’s H.A.R.M, Dr. Clay Routledge’s Existential Science, and Dr. Jeffery Johnson’s Cognitive Neuroscience labs as an undergraduate research assistant. She got her B.S. in Psychology at NDSU in 2019. McKena has a strong interest in computational neuroscience and has plans to attend graduate school in the future.
Jaclyn Farrens – Senior Data Analyst
In 2011 Jaclyn joined Steve Luck’s lab as an Undergraduate Research Assistant working with Dr. Kappenman. In 2013 she graduated from UC Davis, where she received her B.A. in English and B.S. in Psychology. Upon graduation, she became the Lab Manager for Dr. Luck’s lab and continued her research with Dr. Kappenman full time as a Junior Specialist. She worked with Dr. Kappenman as a full time Research Assistant and Lab Manager between 2016-2019.
Amanda Ng – Junior Specialist
Amanda joined the lab as a Junior Specialist in the Fall of 2015. She has her B.A. in psychology from San Diego State University and her M.A. from San Francisco State University’s Mind, Brain, and Behavior program. In the Summer of 2016 she left Dr. Kappenman’s lab for a position at Stanford University.
Daniel Kapulkin – Assistant Technical Specialist
Daniel joined the lab as an Undergraduate Research Assistant in 2013. In 2014 he was promoted to Assistant Technical Specialist. In 2015 he graduated from UC Davis, where he received his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering. Upon graduation, he took a position with National Instruments and moved to Austin, TX with his cat, Aurora.
Raphael Geddert – Undergraduate Research Assistant
Raphael Geddert is an ASPIRE scholar in his senior year at UC Davis. In 2014 he joined Dr. Kappenman’s team and will continue working with her remotely from Dr. Luck’s lab in Davis. He is currently working on his senior thesis project and plans on attending medical school after graduation.
Former Undergraduate Assistants
| Rachel Chen | Fall 2019 – Fall 2020 | Kentaro Kawasaki | Spring 2018 – Spring 2021 |
| Lily Holmes | Fall 2019 – Fall 2020 | Gabriel Marra | Fall 2019 – Fall 2020 |
| Jazzlyn Aviles | Fall 2018 – Fall 2019 | Kelly Zoffada | Fall 2019 – Spring 2020 |
| Georgia Meyer | Summer 2019 – Fall 2019 | Leah Krause | Fall 2018 – Fall 2019 |
| Priscilla Albarran | Fall 2016 – Spring 2018 | Sydney Todd | Fall 2018 – Spring 2019 |
| Adam Govani | Fall 2012 – Winter 2016 | Jed Colcol | Fall 2016 – Spring 2018 |
| Mark Cubillan | Fall 2015 – Spring 2016 | Erika Arnold | Fall 2014 – Spring 2016 |
| Alejandro Lopez | Spring 2014 – Winter 2015 | Raphael Geddert | Fall 2014 – Spring 2016 |
| Brian Trinh | Fall 2013 – Spring 2015 | Daniel Kapulkin | Fall 2013 – Summer 2015 |
| Krystal Wulf | Fall 2014 – Spring 2015 | Garrett O’Day | Spring 2014 – Spring 2015 |
| Jennifer Windus | Winter 2013- Summer 2014 | Dylan Cheng | Fall 2013 – Summer 2014 |
| Connie Choi | Fall 2013 – Spring 2014 | Alexandra Luong | Fall 2013 – Spring 2014 |
| Noel Elrod | Fall 2013 – Spring 2014 | Mercy Huang | Fall 2013 – Spring 2014 |
| Tyler Freitas | Winter 2014 – Spring 2014 | Sasha Mikhailova | Fall 2013 – Spring 2014 |
| Anthony Rosefeld | Fall 2013 – Summer 2013 | Celeste Hackenberg | Fall 2012 – Summer 2013 |
| Sheila Fakurnejad | Fall 2012 – Spring 2013 | Scott Phillips | Winter 2013 – Spring 2013 |
| Livon Hermezi | Fall 2012 – Spring 2013 | Zane Xie | Fall 2012 – Spring 2013 |
| Ashley Symons | Fall 2011 – Summer 2011 |
If you are interested in joining Dr. Kappenman’s lab or want to find out more about our research, please email [email protected] for more information.