Research Team
Our lab members include research faculty, post-doctoral scientists, master’s and doctoral students, post-baccalaureate researchers, and undergraduate students. Our members have expertise and background in neuroimaging, cognitive neuroscience, clinical neuropsychology, developmental psychology, computational science and bioinformatics, linguistics, and neuroanatomy.
Interested in joining our team? Current positions can be found here! We also offer research opportunities to highly motivated undergraduate and graduate students. For more information, email BDIL@sdsu.edu
Current Directors
Ruth Carper, Ph.D. — Research Associate Professor, Co-Director
Research Interests: Aging in ASD, Neurodevelopment in ASD
Dr. Carper has been studying the brain bases of autism, from childhood to aging, for more than 20 years. She has two primary areas of research examining the long-term phenomenology of autism spectrum disorders: (1) Using multiple imaging techniques (structural, diffusion, spectroscopy MRI) to study the neurobiology of autism, how it changes during development, and how these changes help to explain differences in cognition. (2) Examining how middle-aged and older adults with autism fare as they age with respect to cognition, neurobiology and overall function. For more than 8 years she has led an NIH-funded longitudinal study examining these changes in 40 to 65 year-olds with autism. In addition, Dr. Carper collaborates extensively with other faculty at BDIL to combine cognitive, structural and functional MRI measures to better understand the development of sensory systems in autism and associations between sleep problems and neurodevelopment in ASD.
Inna Fishman, Ph.D. — Research Associate Professor, Clinical Co-Director
Research Interests: Social Neuroscience and Social Brain Networks in ASD; Early Brain Development in ASD
Dr. Fishman’s broad research interests lie in understanding neural mechanisms underlying human social behavior. Her current research efforts focus on applying multimodal approaches (EEG, fcMRI, DTI) to examine the connectivity patterns in brain networks associated with social cognition in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Dr. Fishman’s research has been funded by the Autism Science Foundation (ASF) and NIMH (K01 and BRAINS R01 awards). Her current work is focusing on characterizing structure and function of cortical networks at the time of first behavioral signs of autism (at age 1.5-2 years), and tracking changes in brain network organization through the full symptom manifestation at age 4-5 years. For more information on Dr. Fishman’s current projects, see scan.sdsu.edu.
Founding Director (emeritus)
Ralph-Axel Müller, Ph.D.
— Professor Emeritus
Dr. Müller (aka Axel) has specialized in functional brain imaging of neurodevelopmental disorders and typical child development for over 20 years. Following postdoctoral work on functional plasticity in children with early brain damage, he has applied neuroimaging techniques in autism since the late 1990s. He founded the Brain Development Imaging Laboratory in 2001, which became Brain Development Imaging Laboratories in 2016. He is also one of the founding members of the SDSU Center for Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience (CCN).
Principal Investigators & Faculty
R. Joanne Jao Keehn, Ph.D. — Research Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Neural and Behavioral Development of Multisensory Processing in ASD
Dr. Jao Keehn’s research interests focus on the development of neural and behavioral mechanisms underlying visual, haptic, and multisensory processing in children with and without autism spectrum disorders. Her work involves the use of multimodal methods, including experimental task paradigms, task-based functional MRI, and functional connectivity MRI among others, to examine sensory development, salience detection, and internalizing behaviors in children with autism.
Annika Linke, Ph.D.— Research Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Neural Mechanisms of Development
Dr. Linke received her doctorate in Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of Cambridge in England and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Brain and Mind Institute, Western University in Canada. Her main interest is understanding how brain function changes over the course of development, and how it is altered in neurodevelopmental disorders. She has extensive experience with neuroimaging neonates, infants, children and adults.
Janice Hau, Ph.D. —Research Assistant Professor
Research interests: Neural Circuits and Autism
Post-Doctoral Fellows
This Could Be You!
Graduate Students
Michaela Cordova, — Doctoral Student
Research Interests: Dynamic Functional Connectivity; Multimodal Neuroimaging Methods, Executive Functioning
Michaela Cordova is a Clinical Psychology PhD student and NSF Graduate Research Fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Ruth Carper and Dr. Ralph Axel Müller. After earning her BA at Portland State, she worked as a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor before becoming a Research Associate with Dr. Damien Fair’s neuroimaging lab at Oregon Health & Science University. She is excited to continue her work with the BDIL, uncovering the functional mechanisms and anatomical differences of ASD phenotypes using machine learning techniques.
Alex Boxberger — Doctoral Student
Research Interests:
Alex is a joint doctoral student at SDSU/UCSD.
Bess Bloomer — Doctoral Student
Research Interests:
Bess is a joint doctoral student at SDSU/UCSD.
Sabrena Tuy — Master’s Student
Research Interests:
Sabrena is a master’s student at SDSU.
Giovanna Arantes de Oliveira Campos — Master’s Student
Research Interests:
Giovanna is a master’s student at SDSU.
Gabe Garcia — Master’s Student
Research Interests:
Gabe is a second-year master’s student in the Psychology department at SDSU and is mentored by Dr. Annika Linke. He is currently researching normative “brain age” as a possible biomarker in Autism utilizing AI modeling. He is also exploring equine therapy treatment modalities for Autism.
Savannah Scarlett — Master’s Student
Research Interests:
Savannah is a master’s student at SDSU.
Research Staff
Meagan Herrera — Project Coordinator
Meagan Herrera is a post-grad research assistant. She received her B.A. in Psychology with an emphasis in Neuroscience from SDSU in May 2023. She joined BDIL in August 2022 and is a research assistant supporting the Toddler Project. Meagan hopes to go on to graduate school to study Cognitive Neuroscience, and teach along the way. She is interested in neuroimaging and sensory processing in neurodivergent populations.
Gioia Toro — Project Coordinator
Gioia graduated from San Diego State University with her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with an Emphasis in Neuroscience in May 2022. She is the coordinator of the Aging and Gray Matter projects. She is currently applying to Ph.D. programs to become a clinical psychologist and plans to eventually open her own private practice.
Adriana Rios, M.A. — Project Coordinator
Adriana is a second-year master’s student in the Psychology department at SDSU and is co-mentored by Dr. Annika Linke and Dr. Inna Fishman. She received her B.A is Psychology from San Diego State University with a double minor in Counseling & Social Change and Interdisciplinary Studies. She is interested in better understanding the underlying mechanisms behind sleep problems and sensory sensitivities in autism in order to facilitate how to best intervene in early life to improve sleep.
Maya Elden — Project Coordinator
Maya received her B.A. in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences with a minor in Interdisciplinary Studies from San Diego State University in May 2024. She joined the BDIL team in July 2024 as a Project Coordinator, supporting the Aging and Gray Matter projects. Maya is passionate about expanding resources and furthering research for individuals of all ages with autism. She plans to pursue graduate studies to deepen her impact in this field.
Stephanie Pedrahita — Research Associate
Stephanie graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and minor in Cognitive Science. She completed her master’s degree in Psychology at San Diego State University. She is interested in researching the neural circuits underlying neurodegenerative diseases and understanding the impact that stress and aging have on cognitive processes.
Tess Do — Research Associate
Tess graduated from San Diego State University with a B.A. in Psychology (emphasis in Neuroscience), and a minor in Child & Family Development. She joined BDIL in June 2022 and is a research associate supporting the Multisensory Study. Tess hopes to go to graduate school to study and learn more about neurodevelopmental disorders.
Research Assistants
Michelle Budman — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Michelle is an undergraduate student at San Diego State University pursuing a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Child Development. She joined BDIL in March 2023 and is a research assistant for the sleep study. Michelle is working towards attending graduate school to study neuropsychology and perform further research on neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder.
Lars Ecklund — Post-bacc Research Assistant
Lars is a research assistant at BDIL.
Camilla Trolle — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Camilla is a research assistant at BDIL.
Raquel Rodriguez — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Raquel is a research assistant at BDIL.
Julia Greer — Post-bacc Research Assistant
Julia is a research assistant at BDIL.
Angel Rodriguez — Post-bacc Research Assistant
Angel is a research assistant at BDIL.
Julia Valois — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Julia is a research assistant at BDIL.
Julia Lima — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Julia is a research assistant at BDIL.
Kaitlyn Trinh — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Kaitlyn is a research assistant at BDIL.
Ella Bentley — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Ella is a research assistant at BDIL.
Christine Barseghian — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Christine is an undergraduate pre-med student at the University of San Diego pursuing a B.A. in Behavioral Neuroscience with minors in Chemistry and Biomedical Ethics. She joined the lab in January of 2023 and is a research assistant for the aging study. She hopes to gain more knowledge outside the classroom about the interaction between the human brain and behavior, as well as better understand autism spectrum disorder in general.
Mackenzie Jatta — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Mackenzie is a research assistant at BDIL.
Sofia Rosa — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Sofia is a research assistant at BDIL.
Aubrey Cabigao — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Aubrey is a research assistant at BDIL.
This Could Be You! — Undergraduate Research Assistant
We are always looking for more research assistants to get hands-on research experience.
Collaborators
Alumni
Past Post-Doctoral Researchers (and where they are now)
Katherine Turner, Ph.D. — Associate Director of Psychology Undergraduate Advising, SDSU
Erica Palmer, Ph.D. — Research Scientist, Pacific Science & Engineering Group, Inc.
Monika Kast, Ph.D. — School Psychologist, Zurich School District, Switzerland
Dinesh Shukla, Ph.D. — Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland
A.R. Jac Fredo, Ph.D. — Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi, India
Mikaela Kinnear, Ph.D. — Clinical Psychologist, West Coast CBT
Jonni Johnson, Ph.D. — Sr. Research Specialist, California Department of Public Health
Past Graduate Students (and where they are now)
Judy Mahmalji, M.A.
Naomi Meave Ojeda, M.A.
Noelle Abbott
Likitha Bommasani
Molly Wilkinson, Ph.D
Jiwandeep Kohli, M.A, M.S., Ph.D
Bosi Chen, Ph.D
Lindsay Olson, Ph.D — Clinical Psychology Intern, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Maya Reiter, Ph.D — Clinical Psychology Intern
Tiffany Wang
Afrooz Jahedi
Cynthia Ibarra, M.A. — Clinical Research Coordinator at UCSD Stein Institute for Research on Aging
Michael Olson M.A.
Chris Liu M.A.
Shiming Zhang M.A.
Adam Schadler M.A. — Research Associate, UCSD, San Diego, CA
Lisa Mash, PhD — Neuropsychology Fellow, Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children’s Hospital
Feifei Gao, PhD — Pediatric Neuropsychology Fellow, Children’s National Medical Center, Research Affiliate, Georgetown University, Washington DC
Christopher Fong, M.A. — Doctoral student, SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego, CA
Angela Abbott, M.A. — Psychometrist, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, AZ
Surina Basho, Ph.D — Director of Research in Learning Disabilities, Morrisey-Compton Educational Center, San Francisco, CA
Christine Brown, M.A. — Director of Research and Compliance, Pacific Science & Engineering Group, Inc.
Laurie Brenner, Ph.D. — Assistant Professor, Dept. of Neurology, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, VA
Erin Burns, M.A. — Lab Manager, The Child Language and Cognitive Processes Lab, SDSU
Colleen Chen, M.A. — Doctoral Student in Cognitive Science, UC Irvine
Mike Datko, Ph.D. — Postdoctoral Fellow, MGH/HST Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging
Janae Deyoe, M.A. — Study Coordinator, UC San Diego CARE Program
Michael Gaffrey, Ph.D. — Assistant Professor, Dept. of Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke University
Merage Ghane, B.S. — Doctoral Student in Clinical Psychology, Virginia Tech
Emily Grenesko, LMFT — Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Chicago Center for Evidence Based Treatment, Chicago, IL
Kai Hwang, Ph.D. — Assistant Professor, Dept. of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa
Kiley Hill, M.A. — Research Assistant, Gleeson Neurogenetics Lab, UC San Diego
Amanda Kahn, Ph.D. — Postdoctoral Fellow in PTSD, San Francisco VA Health Care System, San Francisco, CA
Brandon Keehn, Ph.D. — Associate Professor, Departments of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences and Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, Indiana
Chris L. Keown, M.A. — Doctoral Student in Cognitive Science, UCSD
Anna Christina Macari, M.A. — BSN to DNP Nurse Midwifery Student at Oregon Health & Science University
Samantha Marshall, M.A. — Psychology Faculty, Oxnard College
Alecia Moser, M.S. — Graduate Student at Binghamton University
Aarti Nair, Ph.D. — Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Loma Linda University, California
Sangeeta Nair, M.A. — Doctoral Student in Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birgit Öttl, Ph.D. — Professional School of Education, , Germany
Erin Parks, Ph.D. — Clinical Psychologist, Director of Outreach and Admissions, UC San Diego Eating Disorders Center
Theo Perrod Uwimana, M.S. (Visiting Graduate Student) — Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL)
Colin Porter, M.A.
Mike Rubio, M.A., BCBA — Case Manager, Psychiatric Centers at San Diego (PCSD)
Sandra Sanchez, M.A. — Study Coordinator, UC San Diego CARE Program
Mark Shen, Ph.D. — Assistant Professor, Dept. of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Patricia Shih, M.A. — Data Scientist at Seeking My Next Challenge!
Claire Stewart, M.A. — Research Associate, Affiliated Research Institute
Vicky Weiqi Zhao, M.A. — Doctoral Student in Cognitive Science, UC San Diego
Aina Eill, M.A. — Project Manager, Scripps Health
Past Research Staff (and where they are now)
Sara Bock
Madison Salmina
Stephanie Peña
Kalekirstos Alemu
Shadia Assi, M.P.H. — Dept. of Family Medicine and Public Health, UC San Diego
Sarah Reynolds —Graduate Student, Master of Social Work, University of Utah
Mikaela (Mikki) Orner — Clinical Operations Associate, Allergan, Irvine, CA
Ian Shryock — Doctoral student in Psychology, University of Oregon.
Vinton Omaleki — Center of Gender Equity and Health
Lindsey Ringlee — Milieu Counselor, The Healthy Teen Project, San Francisco, California
Past Undergraduate Students (and where they are now)
Akiko Mizuno, Ph.D. — Postdoctoral Fellow, Geriatric Psychiatry, Western Psychiatric Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
Eliza Cranston
Jacob Chen
Jade Foyston
Madi Marie
Tatum Flynn
Christian Ong
Alexis Dozier
Jessica Vu
Hope Porter
Kristina Briggs
Christine Barseghian
Anna Ferrante
Alexis Walker
Alexa Davis, B.A. — Post-bacc Research Assistant, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, IL
Alexis Rivkin, B.A.
Ally LeVine
Aurora Ramos, Ph.D. — Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Coastal Georgia, Brunswick, GA
Becky Bazzill, B.A. —
Brad Monk, M.A. — Doctoral Student in Cognitive Sciences, UC San Diego
Brent Jensen, B.A. — Post-Baccalaureate Research Assistant, Center for Understanding and Treating Anxiety
Camilla Catignas — a senior at SDSU working on Bachelor’s in Public Health Science
Chantal Chaaban — Graduate Student, Master in Occupational Therapy, University of St. Augustine
Cassidy Kinderman, B.A.
Devin Brown, B.A.
Elly Pueschel, B.A. — Doctoral Student in Developmental Psychology at University of Southern California (USC)
Emma Churchill — Graduate Student, MA Psychology, SDSU
Fardowsa Hassan, B.A.
Francisco Velasquez, Ph.D. — Integrated Brain Imaging Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Halie Shea Doan
Hannah Levine, B.A. — Occupational Therapy Practitioner Assistant, Chicago Speech Therapy, Chicago, IL
Ian Martindale, B.A. — MA Program in Psychology, San Diego State University. Also working at the NeuroCognition Laboratory
Irem Sogutlugil — Special Education Technician, San Diego Unified School District
Irene Demarco, B.A. — Traveling the world post-graduation
Jansyn Spradling, B.A. — Doctoral Student, Alliant University, San Diego
Jeff Treiber, M.D. — Neurosurgery residency, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
Jenna Foster, B.A.
Julia Cataldo, B.A. — Undergraduate in Psychology & SACNAS chapter president to promote diversity in STEM, SDSU, San Diego, CA
Julia Pastrana, B.A.
Katherine Paszek, B.A. — Master student in the Applied Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle WA, Case Manger at STEPPS ABA Company
Kelly Leyden, B.A. — Doctoral Student in Psychology, University of Birmingham, UK
Kimberley D’Aquisto, B.A.
Lancey Pratt, B.A. — Doctoral Student in Speech, University of Colorado, Boulder
Laura Alba, M.A. — Doctoral Student in School Psychology at UC Riverside
Mari Arcadio Arce, B.A.
Mercedes Palacio, B.A. — Applying to graduate programs in Clinical Psychology
Merna Nissan, B.A.
Michael Apostol — a senior at University of San Diego working on Bachelor’s in Psychology
Michael Toussaint, B.A. — Master’s Student in Neuropsychology, University of Maastricht
Michelle Gaspar, B.A.
Michelle Ortega, B.A. — Master’s Student in Special Education with specialization in Autism, SDSU
Michele Villalobos, Ph.D. — Assistant Professor and Clinical Director of TEACCH Autism Center, UNC School of Medicine
Monica Deyski, B.A.
Nicholas Ray, M.Ed.
Nicole Baggett, B.A. — Doctoral Student in Clinical Psychology at Pacific University
Nicky Harpster, B.A. — applying to graduate programs in Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Nicole Janessari
Omar Maximo, Ph.D. — Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Alabama, Birmingham
Quynn Ton
Ryan Cardinale, Ph.D. — Postdoctoral Fellow in Clinical Psychology, Kaiser Permanente, Sacramento, CA
Ryan Tung, B.A. — Doctoral Student, Neuroscience, University of Michigan
Saba Al-Jawad, B.A. — Research Technician, Johnson & Johnson
Sarah Levy, B.A. — Doctoral Student in Clinical Psychology, Suffolk University
Seraphina Solders, B.A. — Doctoral Student in Neuroscience at UCSD
Shae Dinino, M.A. — Doctoral Student in Neurobiology and Behavior, University of Washington
Shelly Jones, B.A.
Tamae Sugiura, B.A. — Graduate student in Speech and Language Pathology Masters Program, SDSU, San Diego, CA
Tamara Pinhassian, B.A. — Masters student in Early Childhood Mental Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA
Valerie Posada, B.A.
Wanda Snell, B.A. — Behavioral technician in San Diego, CA
Yuliana Cabrera, B.A. — Project Coordinator, UCS Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute (ATRI)
Zoe Damon, B.A. — Project Coordinator, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA