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

Directors
Ralph-Axel Müller, Ph.D.
— Professor, Lab Director
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
Post-Doctoral Fellows
Janice Hau, Ph.D. — Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Research Interests: Atypical Structural Connectivity in ASD
Graduate Students
Bosi Chen — Doctoral Student
Research Interests: Early brain development, Sensory processing abnormality in ASD, Multimodal brain imaging
Bosi is a doctoral student in the SDSU/UC San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, co-mentored by Dr. Fishman and Dr. Marty Sereno, Director of the SDSU MRI Center. She graduated from New York University with B.A. in Psychology and Economics. She then worked as a Research Associate at the NYU Child Study Center to study the underlying neural mechanisms of autism and ADHD in children and adolescent. Her current research interest is in early child and brain development in autism, with a particular focus on sensory brain circuits and sensory processing abnormalities.
Afrooz Jahedi, M.A. — Doctoral Student
Research Project: Diagnostic Prediction in Autism using Conditional Random Forest with resting state fcMRI
Afrooz received her second Masters degree in biostatistics from San Diego State University. She got her first Masters in Mathematical statistics from Shiraz University in Iran. Her research interests include Machine Learning and Data Mining, and analyzing the behavior of high-dimensional learning algorithms. She is particularly interested in the computational aspect of learning and decision making.
Jiwandeep Kohli, M.A. — Doctoral Student
Research Interests: Cortical Macro- & Microstructure in ASD; Multimodal Neuroimaging Methods
Jiwan is a PhD student in the Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology at SDSU and UCSD, mentored by Dr. Carper. Jiwan completed his undergraduate studies in Psychology at UC Berkeley and received a master’s in Psychology with an emphasis in behavioral and cognitive neuroscience at SDSU. He is broadly interested in applications of multimodal neuroimaging techniques to study ASD and other neurodevelopmental pathology. His current focus lies in structural and diffusion MRI modalities, which he applies to investigate differences in the trajectory of both macroscopic and microscopic features of cortical development in ASD. Jiwan is a recipient of the Autism Speaks Predoctoral Fellowship.
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.
Lindsay Olson — Doctoral Student
Research Interests: Early social and brain development; Health disparities in underserved communities
Lindsay is a PhD student in the SDSU/UC San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, mentored by Dr. Fishman. She received her BA in Psychology from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington where she studied the effects of socio-economic status on adolescent identity development. After graduating, she studied pragmatic language use in children with and without ASD as a research assistant at Oregon Health & Science University. Lindsay is a recipient of the Autism Speaks Predoctoral Fellowship.
Maya Reiter — Doctoral Student
Research Interests: Multi-modal neuroimaging in ASD; Quality of life and psychological well-being
Maya is a PhD student in the SDSU/UC San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, mentored by Dr. Müller. Maya studies the neural substrates of Autism Spectrum Disorder using neuroimaging methods such as fMRI, DTI and MRS. Her research seeks to identify neural mechanisms that are linked to positive outcome and psychological well-being in this population during key stages of life. Maya is a recipient of the Autism Speaks Predoctoral Fellowship.
Tiffany Wang — Doctoral Student
Research Interests: Causal reasoning in children with ASD, Early learning mechanisms
Tiffany is a PhD student in the Psychology department at UC San Diego (UCSD). After graduating from UCSD with a B.A/B.S in psychology and biology, she worked with Dr. Aubyn Stahmer at the Child and Adolescent Services Research Center on ways to deliver evidence-based practices into community settings. Tiffany is jointly working with our lab, as well as with Dr. Leslie Carver’s Developmental Neuroscience Lab and Dr. Caren Walker’s Early Learning and Cognition Lab at UCSD. She is interested in examining causal reasoning in children with ASD.
Molly Wilkinson
— Doctoral Student
Research Interests: Lexical-semantic decision making in ASD, multimodal neuroimaging integration, fMRI, MEG
Molly is a student in the SDSU/UC San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, mentored by Dr. Müller. She received her B.S. in Behavioral Neuroscience from Northeastern University. As an undergraduate Molly focused on ASD research through a number of methods, working in a neuroimaging lab at Boston Children’s Hospital, a pharmacology lab at George Washington University, and an emotional processing and cognition lab at the Yale Child Study Center. Additionally, she was a behavior therapist for kids with ASD. At BDIL, Molly focuses on multimodal neuroimaging integration, using fMRI and MEG to study the neural activity of adolescents with ASD during a lexical-semantic decision task. Molly is a recipient of the SDSU Graduate Fellowship.
Adam Schadler— Master’s Student
Research Interests: White matter developmental trajectories, symptomatology, & mental health in individuals with autism across the lifespan
Adam is a student in the SDSU Masters program in Psychology. He received his B.S. in Psychology from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. While there, he worked in a lab that studied attention and multimodal sensory integration. Currently, Adam is interested in both the neurophysiological underpinnings of autism and how such findings can be used to better differentiate and diagnose individuals on the spectrum.
Noelle Abbott — Doctoral Student
Research Interests: Brain structure-function relationships, Impaired language processing, Multimodal neuroimaging
Noelle is a third-year joint doctoral student at SDSU/UCSD in the Language and Communicative Disorders program, under the mentorship of Dr. Tracy Love. She received her Master’s degree in 2018 from the University of California, Davis in psycho/neurolinguistics and from that experience became interested in studying impaired speech processing. Although she mainly works with older individuals with aphasia, she is currently doing a lab rotation with Dr. Inna Fishman to investigate the underlying source of aberrant functional brain activity in children with developmental language disorder.
Apeksha Sridhar — Master’s Student
Research Interests: Neural network connectivities in clinical populations, Neuroimaging methods
Apeksha graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a B.S in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience. She is currently a Masters student in Psychology at SDSU. She is interested in understanding the neural connectivity underlying social and communication domains in children with ASD.
Research Staff
Vinton Omaleki
— Community Outreach Coordinator
Vinton received his BS in International Agricultural Development from UC Davis and is a graduate of SDSU’s Masters of Public Health program in Health Promotion and Behavioral Science. Specializing in Community Engagement and the Social Determinants of Health in public and global health context, he is working to ensure BDIL’s research recruitment efforts equitably include participants from diverse backgrounds across San Diego County. Vinton is also helping us build trust and partnerships between BDIL and the many communities throughout San Diego County and beyond. He also serves as the Community Engagement Director of the SDSU Center for Autism and Developmental Disorders. He plans to pursue a PhD in Public Heath.
Research Assistants
Chantal Chaaban — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Chantal Chaaban is an undergraduate student at SDSU studying Psychology. She joined BDIL in October 2017 and has been assisting with the Aging in ASD study by scoring behavioral protocols, entering data, and attending MRI scans. She has a passion for working with children and plans to be a Pediatric Occupational Therapist in the near future. Outside of school and research, she interns for an Occupational Therapist and helps kids improve their cognitive, motor, and social skills.
Ashley Baker— Undergraduate Research Assistant
Ashley is an undergraduate student at SDSU studying psychology with a statistics minor. She joined the lab in January 2018 and is assisting with the Aging in ASD project through data entry and scoring. In the future she would like to pursue a doctoral degree in neuropsychology, specializing in autism and neurodegenerative disorders.
Ian Martindale — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Ian is a third-year undergraduate and is majoring in psychology at SDSU. He joined BDIL in January 2018. He is interested in social development and neuropsychology. After graduating, he plans on pursuing a PhD.
Ryan Tung — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Ryan Tung is a first year undergraduate student at SDSU majoring in psychology. He joined BDIL in February 2018. He is interested in neuropsychology. In the future, he plans to obtain a PhD in Neuropsychology and be a researcher.
Ashley Manley — Post Baccalaureate Research Assistant
Ashley is a graduate from California State University, San Marcos (CSUSM) and obtained a B.A. in Child and Adolescent Development. She joined the BDIL lab in November 2017 as a research assistant. She hopes to continue her education to obtain a PhD and is interested in developmental psychology and neuropsychology.
Nicole Janessari — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Nicole is a second year undergraduate student who is currently pursuing a B.A. in Psychology and Spanish at San Diego State University. She joined the BDIL in January 2020 and is currently a part of the Aging with ASD study by assisting with scoring and data entry. After receiving her Bachelor’s Degree, she plans on working towards a PhD in Neuropsychology.
Brittany Hart — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Brittany is a third year undergraduate psychology major working towards her B.A. at San Diego State. She joined the BDIL in February 2020 and is a part of the Adult study. Her goals are to earn her PhD in Clinical Psychology and become a pediatric neuropsychologist.
Irem Sogutlugil — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Irem is a second year Psychology major at San Diego State University. She joined BDIL in February of 2019 and is interested in clinical and developmental psychology, specifically focused on Autism Spectrum Disorder. She hopes to attend graduate school to earn her Ph.D. in clinical psychology and conduct psychological research in the future.
Emma Churchill — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Emma is an undergraduate student at SDSU majoring in psychology and minoring in gerontology. She joined BDIL in July 2019and has been assisting with the aging project. She is interested in understanding how neurological disorders effect the developing brain. She has previously been involved with Applied Behavioral Analysis therapy to assist those with ASD. Emma hopes to further her education and hopes to obtain her Ph.D. in either cognitive or clinical psychology.
Elisa Mendez — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Elisa is an undergraduate student studying psychology and child and family development at SDSU. She joined the BDIL in fall 2019 and assists with the Toddler MRI Project. Elisa is interested in understanding childhood developmental disorders from a psychological and behavioral perspective. She has a passion for working with children and has a strong desire to give back to her community. She is interested in pursuing a PhD in Developmental or Clinical Psychology in the future.
Shannon Mullen — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Shannon is an undergraduate student at San Diego State University working towards a B.A. in Psychology. She joined BDIL lab in September 2019 and is apart of the toddler study project. Shannon’s main interests are in developmental disorders and hopes this lab will give her a better understanding of autism development, specifically in children. She is currently a pre-med student and hopes to continue her education through medical school to become a psychiatrist.
Ally LeVine — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Ally is a second year undergraduate student working towards a B.A. In psychology at San Diego State University with a minor in Spanish and Interdisciplinary Studies. She joined BDIL in February 2020 and works on the Toddler Project. After graduation, she hopes to get a PhD and pursue a career in clinical psychology.
Annie Andriasyan — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Annie graduated from the University of California, Riverside with a B.A. in Psychology and a B.S. in Anthropology. She joined the BDIL lab in August 2019 and is currently a part of the Toddler Study. She plans to continue her education and pursue an M.S. in Psychology.
Quynn Ton — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Quynn Ton is a student at SDSU majoring in Psychology with a minor in Counseling and Social Change, and concurrently working as an ASD behavioral therapist. He hopes to learn more about the disorder and gain experience in brain imaging methods and wants to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology in the near future.
Kelly Hughes — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Kelly is a third year undergraduate working towards a B.A. in Psychology at SDSU. She joined BDIL in January 2021 as a research assistant on the Toddler Project. She is interested in child development and Neuropsychology. She also has a passion for working with kids. In the future, she has plans to pursue a Master’s degree.
Mira Wittenberg — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Mira Wittenberg is an undergraduate student at SDSU majoring in psychology. She joined the Adult Study Team at BDIL in February of 2021. Mira is interested in understanding gender differences in the diagnosis and symptomology of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders. In the future, she hopes to earn a P.h.D in clinical psychology and work with young adults as they navigate the transition from high school to college.
Zoe Damon — Undergraduate Research Assistant
Zoe Damon is an undergraduate Psychology student at SDSU with a minor in Child and Family Development. She joined BDIL in January 2021 and assists with the Toddler Project. Zoe currently works with children and adults who have ASD as a respite worker and is a proud member of Best Buddies at SDSU. In the future, she hopes to obtain a PhD in neuroscience and work with kids who have developmental disorders or traumatic brain injuries.
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 Are They 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. — Staff Psychologist, Developmental Evaluation Clinic (DEC), Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego (RCHSD)
Jonni Johnson, Ph.D. — Sr. Research Specialist, California Department of Public Health
Past Graduate Students (and Where Are They Now)
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, Center for Mindfulness, University of Massachusetts School of Medicine, Worcester, MA
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. — Assistant Professor, Dept. of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, Indiana
Chris L. Keown, M.A. — Doctoral Student in Cognitive Science, UCSD
Anna Christina Macari, M.A. — Neuroimaging Research Associate, UCSD
Samantha Marshall, M.A. — Instructor, MiraCosta College, San Diego, CA
Alecia Moser, M.S. — Graduate Student at Binghamton University
Aarti Nair, Ph.D. — Postdoctoral Fellow, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior
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. — Doctoral Student in Cognitive Neuroscience, Brown University
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. — Clinical Research Assistant, Scripps Health, San Diego, CA
Fatima Tuz-Zahra —
Cynthia Ibarra, M.A. — Clinical Research Coordinator at UCSD Stein Institute for Research on Aging
Christopher Fong, M.A. — Doctoral student, SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego, CA
Feifei Gao, PhD — Pediatric Neuropsychology Fellow, Children’s National Medical Center, Research Affiliate, Georgetown University, Washington DC
Lisa Mash, PhD — Neuropsychology Intern, Emory University School of Medicine/Children’s Healthcare, Atlanta GA
Michael Olson M.A. —
Chris Liu M.A. —
Shiming Zhang M.A. —
Past Research Staff (and Where Are They Now)
Shadia Assi, M.P.H. — Dept. of Family Medicine and Public Health, UC San Diego
Sarah Reynolds — Lead Field Mentor at Elements Traverse.
Mikaela (Mikki) Orner — Clinical Operations Associate, Allergan, Irvine, CA
Ian Shryock — Doctoral student in Psychology, University of Oregon.
Past Undergraduate Students (and Where Are They Now)
Akiko Mizuno, Ph.D. — Postdoctoral Fellow, Geriatric Psychiatry, Western Psychiatric Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
Alexa Davis, B.A. — Post-bacc Research Assistant, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, IL
Alexis Rivkin, B.A. —
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
Devin Brown, B.A. —
Elly Pueschel, B.A. — Doctoral Student in Developmental Psychology at University of Southern California (USC)
Fardowsa Hassan, B.A. —
Francisco Velasquez, Ph.D. — Integrated Brain Imaging Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Hannah Levine, B.A. — Occupational Therapy Practitioner Assistant, Chicago Speech Therapy, Chicago, IL
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
Omar Maximo, Ph.D. — Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Alabama, Birmingham
Ryan Cardinale, Ph.D. — Postdoctoral Fellow in Clinical Psychology, Kaiser Permanente, Sacramento, CA
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)