NEWS
May 2025:
Congratulations to our graduating seniors Alex Keen, Ava Ventimiglia, Brooke Borland, Ceili Olney, Emma Truchan, Kristina Khor, Lilian German-Noriega, Madeline Cherry, and Sabrina Sutherland.
We are excited to celebrate the accomplishments of our departing research assistants and wish them good luck on their next adventure!
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Alex Keen - Pursuing a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology at Penn State Harrisburg
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Ceili Olney - Pursuing a Ph.D. in Clinical Translational Sciences at the University of Arizona
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Emma Truchan - Accepted a Research Coordinator position at Auburn University
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Kayleigh Rhodes - Pursuing a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Arizona
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Liam McClafferty - Pursuing a Master of Arts in Counseling at Northern Arizona University
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Lilian German-Noriega - Pursuing a Master of Arts in Counseling at the University of Arizona
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Madeline Cherry - Joining the NET Lab staff as a Research Coordinator for the CLOSE study
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Sheridan Kraus - Pursuing a Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.
Emma Truchan (Honors thesis) and Vannia Puig Rivera (MA) presented at the Annual Psychology Masters and Honors Research Forum.
April 2025:
Katelyn Maughan was awarded a 2025-2026 Galileo Circle Scholarship. Congratulations on your award and early acceptance to the University of Arizona Medical School!
Kayleigh Rhodes received an Honorable Mention in the 2025 NSF-GRFP and was awarded a position in the University Fellow Programs at the University of Arizona. We can't wait to see what you do as you transition from Project Coordinator to graduate student!
Congratulations to Diego Guevara Beltrán, who will be joining the Department of Psychology as an Assistant Professor this Fall! Don't be a stranger!
Shanshan Ma presented at the Society for Affective Neuroscience 2025 conference in Chicago.
March 2025:
Yuhua Yu presented her research on integrating the content and dynamics of spontaneous thought through a Hidden Markov Model analysis at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society 2025 conference. Yuhua was also invited to present her work as part of the University of Arizona's Cognitive Science Colloquium Series.
December 2024:
Dr. Andrews-Hanna spoke to Arizona Alumni Magazine about our work in the NET Lab and the importance of unconstrained thoughts in the article "The Case for Spontaneity."
November 2024:
Dr. Andrews-Hanna and Vannia Puig Rivera were invited to attend the 2024 Future Thinking Workshop at the 65th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomics Society in NYC, where Vannia presented her research on goal-oriented cognition across the lifespan.
September 2024:
Vannia Puig Rivera presented her research on age-related differences in autobiographical thinking at the 2024 Arizona Alzheimer's Consortium Conference.
July 2024:
Eric Andrews successfully defended his dissertation, "Identifying and Characterizing Thought States with Naturalistic and High-Sample Longitudinal Data." Congratulations, Dr. Eric Andrews!
June 2024:
Andrea Coppola successfully defended her dissertation, "What Gets in the Way of Social Support? Functional Connectivity and Social Support Interference in Laboratory Settings." Congratulations, Dr. Andrea Coppola!
May 2024:
The NET lab celebrates our graduating undergraduates Nadine Chau, Lucas Koch-Kreher, Sara Moore, Maggie Anderson, Michael Vargas, and Cate Longo! Congratulations to you all!
April 2024:
Quentin Raffaelli presented "The associative breadth of high divergent thinking individuals is resilient to negative mood" at the SfNC2024: Creativity and Design Data Blitz.
Shanshan Ma presented at the Social and Affective Neuroscience Society 2024 Conference and the Cognitive Neuroscience Society 2024 Conference.
March 2024:
We are excited to announce a variety of awards given to current and former NET Lab members for the 2024 academic year. Congratulations to Heather Jensen (Outstanding Senior Award, Neuroscience Cognitive Science Major), Freya Abraham (Undergraduate Excellence in Research Award, Neuroscience Cognitive Science Major), Eric Andrews (Department of Psychology Graduate Teaching Award), and Shanshan Ma (Trainee Diversity Travel Award from the Social Affective Neuroscience Society)!
NET Lab members and members from the Human Memory Lab and The Lab for Social Connectedness and Health volunteered with the Society for Neuroscience at the Science City tent during the Tucson Festival of Books! We had a great time connecting with festivalgoers and demonstrating aspects of memory and social connection with activities for all ages.
December 2023:
We welcomed Kayleigh Cook as the project coordinator for the Couples Research Study! Kayleigh first joined the NET Lab during her undergraduate studies and, following graduation, continued as a Research Technician on the Couples Research Study. We are excited to have Kayleigh on the team full-time and look forward to her continuation as the project coordinator.
November 2023:
Dr. Andrews-Hanna was interviewed by the University of Arizona's Lo Que Pasa on the neuroscience behind giving and receiving gifts in anticipation of the upcoming holiday season. To learn more about why giving gifts feels good and how to maximize these benefits, click here!
PsyPost interviewed Quentin about his paper “Dreams share phenomenological similarities with task-unrelated thoughts and relate to variation in trait rumination and COVID-19 concern," which examined the predictive nature of task-unrelated thought, or mind-wandering, during awake hours and the content of dreams during sleep.
October 2023:
The NET Lab became the Mad (Neuro)Scientists Lab to celebrate Halloween with the University of Arizona Psychology Department. The NET lab received first place in the competition amongst labs, voted on by the department's friends and families. We were so excited to participate and had a blast doing it!
June 2023:
Congrats to Quentin for publishing his paper in Creativity Research Journal's inaugural special issue for the Society for Neuroscience of Creativity! The article is titled "Creative Minds at Rest: Creative Individuals are More Associative and Engaged with Their Idle Thoughts."
In collaboration with Wani Woo and Tor Wager's teams, Jessica's work on functional connectivity dynamics and rumination was recently published in Nature Communications!
We wish Katherine Richard (project coordinator for the CLOSE study) and Andrea Coppola (clinical grad student) farewell this month. Andrea is off to her clinical internship at UCSD Veterans Affairs!
Congratulations to Dr. Quentin Raffaelli for defending his dissertation, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Unprompted Thinking." As Dr. Andrews-Hanna's first Ph.D. student in the NET lab, Quentin published a number of papers on mind wandering, dreaming, and creativity during his time at the University of Arizona. We are all excited to see what comes next for you, Quentin! Au Revoir!
May 2023:
Quentin's paper "Dreams share phenomenological similarities with task‐unrelated thoughts and relate to variation in trait rumination and COVID‐19 concern" was accepted to the journal Scientific Reports. Read here!
Post-doctoral fellow, Teodora Stoica has been selected as an award recipient for the 2023 NIH Outstanding Scholars in Neuroscience Award Program (OSNAP). Congratulations, Teodora!
This month, the NET lab says goodbye to a number of wonderful senior undergraduate lab members. A special congratulations to Ethan, Kayleigh, Liza, and Surya, each of whom completed an Honors Thesis or Senior Capstone this semester. Best of luck to all our graduates in your future endeavors!
Ethan Hudgens
Isaac Zwinger-Nathanson
Kayleigh Cook
Lexie Lichty
Liza Kiefer
Methmi Jayasinghe
Surya Fitzgerald
April 2023:
Congratulations to Andrea Coppola and Nadine Chau for earning the Graduate and Undergraduate Galileo Circle Awards, and to Mariam Hovhannisyan for receiving the Dr. Elizabeth L. Glisky Endowed Fellowship for the 2023-2024 academic year.
This month our NET lab members traveled to three conferences to present posters of their work. Andrea, Eric, and Teodora presented at the Social Affective Neuroscience Society conference, and Mariam presented at the International Conference on Learning and Memory. Joanna presented a poster on her undergraduate research at Claremont McKenna University at the Western Psychological Association 2023 conference.
Photo: Mariam Hovhannisyan presenting at the International Conference on Learning and Memory.
March 2023:
Diego Guevara Beltran has been selected for the 2023-2024 President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. Diego will be joining the NET lab in August and will be jointly supervised by Dr. Sbarra in the Lab for Social Connectedness and Health. Andrea Coppola will be joining the University of California at San Diego for her internship in Clinical Psychology.
February 2023:
Congratulations to Teodora Stoica, who was selected as a 2023 Galileo Circle Postdoc Awardee. This award recognizes substantial contributions to research, outreach, and mentoring within the College of Science and the University of Arizona.
January 2023:
We welcomed two new project coordinators and a postdoctoral fellow to start the new year. Delaney Freveletti joins as the study coordinator for C.A.R.E. Global and as the NET lab manager. In the Couples Research Study, we welcomed Joanna Hwang as the project coordinator and Shanshan Ma as a postdoctoral fellow.
August 2022:
We are excited to announce the award of a new R01 grant from the National Institutes of Aging, titled "Tracking autobiographical thoughts: a smartphone-based approach to identifying cognitive correlates of Alzheimer's disease biomarkers and risk." This 5-year project is co-led by Dr. Jessica Andrews-Hanna and Dr. Matt Grilli, and involves a collaboration with many wonderful faculty at the University of Arizona, Banner Alzheimer's Institute and TGen.
May 2022:
In her short article titled Lessons About Learning, Teodora summarized some key insights from this year's two symposiums at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society's conference. You can read her work on the CNS blog.
April 2022:
Congratulations to Jonah and Quentin who received this year's prestigious Galileo Scholarship, and to Liza who was accepted to an undergraduate summer neuroimaging program at Boystown University!
April was a whirlwind month of poster presentations! Our Post-Docs Teodora & Erin presented their research alongside graduate students Andrea, Eric, and Quentin at this year's Cognitive Neuroscience Society's conference. Graduate student Mariam presented her poster at the Cognition and Aging Conference. Caity, Jonah & Hannah presented their projects virtually at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, and three of our honors students made a splash at UA's Honors Pinnacle: Hannah presented her honors thesis project while Heather & Sheridan presented their 1st year Honors Projects. Whew!
February 2022:
Teodora discusses the neuroscience of aging and how we can promote healthy cognitive aging on the podcast In Plain English: Science Made Simple, Episode 6. Take a listen here!
January 2022:
Caity and Hannah presented their posters at the 33rd annual Undergraduate Biology Research Program's Conference: "Emotion Regulation vs. Internal Focus as Predictors of Negative Mood State Recovery" (Caity) and “Age-Related Differences in Resting-State Cognition: An Adapted Think-Aloud Paradigm” (Hannah).
December 2021:
NPR interviewed Dr. Andrews-Hanna about the link between mind-wandering patterns and depression/other mental health concerns. Listen to the interview here!
November 2021:
Kate Chambers was awarded Outstanding Senior of 2021 by the UA Psychology Department. Congratulations Kate!
Photo: all of the 2021 UA College of Science Outstanding Seniors & their mentors. Kate: front row in the red dress. Dr. Andrews-Hanna: Back row, furthest to the right.
October 2021:
Quentin & Dr. Andrews-Hanna interview with NPR about the advantages of our "Think Aloud Paradigm" and how quantifying characteristics of thought as they develop over time can help us understand mental health. Listen to the interview here!
September 2021:
Quentin’s paper “The think aloud paradigm reveals differences in the content, dynamics and conceptual scope of resting state thought in trait brooding” was accepted to the journal Scientific Reports! Read more about the findings here.
Photo: Eric and Hannah presented their posters at the 2021 Annual Alzheimer’s Consortium: “Evaluating the Impact of Alzheimer’s Disease Risk Factors on Real-World Autobiographical Thought – A Mind Window Study” (Eric), and “Age-Related Differences in Resting-State Cognition: An Adapted Think-Aloud Paradigm” (Hannah).
August 2021:
Greetings to Mariam Hovhannisyan, a first-year PhD student who has joined the lab!
Photo: enjoying some lab-wide excitement to be back in-person after a tumultuous virtual year!
July 2021:
A big congratulations and heartfelt goodbye to Chris Griffith who is off to pursue graduate school at the University of Colorado, and a welcome to Caity Cegavske as the lab’s new Coordinator.
June 2021:
The NET Lab welcomes Teodora Stoica, a Post-Doc from the University of Louisville who has ventured west to analyze the neuroimaging data from our Alzheimer’s study.
May 2021:
Katherine Richard joined our team as the Project Coordinator for the CLOSE study. Welcome Katherine!
Erin’s chapter “Putting the “Me” in “Mentalizing”: Multiple Constructs Describing Self Versus Other During Mentalizing and Implications for Social Anxiety Disorder” is published as a chapter in the book The Neural Basis of Mentalizing. (See publications page)
April 2021:
Andrea and Eric were selected as winners of the University of Arizona Psychology Department’s 2021 M.A. poster session for their posters entitled “Individual Differences in Loneliness and Depression Modulate the Neural Response to Social Rejection” (Andrea) and “Modeling the Connection between Psychological Well-Being and How We Think in Everyday Life” (Eric).
March 2021:
Our CLOSE neuroimaging study was awarded a $2.9 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to explore how difficulties in romantic relationships can affect mental health and well-being.
2020:
Drs. Jessica Andrews-Hanna and Matthew Grilli were awarded a grant from the National Institutes of Aging (R56AG068098) entitled “Tracking autobiographical thoughts: a smartphone-based approach to the detection of cognitive and neural markers of Alzheimer’s disease risk.”
Dec 2019:
Photo: lots of laughs at our end-of-the-year White Elephant Party.
November 2019:
The NET Lab is excited to host Professor Donna Rose Addis during her visit to UA to deliver a colloquium for the Cognitive Science Program.
September 2019:
Visiting student from Barcelona, Neus Miqel Giner, arrives for the Fall semester!
August 2019:
AJ Olsen presents her summer Undergraduate Research Opportunities Consortium project at a conference.
July 2019:
The NET Lab wishes Ramsey Wilcox farewell to pursue graduate school at the University of Illinois, and welcomes new lab research coordinator, Chris Griffith.
May 2019:
Erin Mamaril and Kayla Santamaria Cazarez present their Undergraduate Honors Thesis projects on depression and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy!
Sylvia Zarnescu, Nadia Anais de Stefano, and Mauricio Serna present their posters at UA’s undergraduate research fairs
Graduate student, Andrea Coppola, awarded a Research and Project (ReaP) Grant from the University of Arizona!
April 2019:
Photo: Kayla, Nadia, Tania, Sylvia and Jessica gave 4 outreach workshops on the science of imagination for ~100 Tucson families as part of the College Academy for Parents program at UA.
December 2018:
Postdoc Erin Maresh awarded a Varela grant from the Mind & Life Foundation!
November 2018:
Ramsey presents his research on temporally-oriented thinking at the Psychonomics Society. Way to go, Ramsey!
August 2018:
The NET Lab welcomes Dr. Erin Maresh (a postdoc), 2 new graduate students (Andrea Coppola and Eric Andrews), and two new motivated undergraduate students (Rohith Boyilla and Sylvia Zarnescu).
Photo: Undergraduate student, Mauricio Serna, presents the summer research project he conducted in the NET Lab at the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Consortium conference. Way to go, Mauricio!
April 2018:
Kayla, Erin, Nadia and Jessica gave 4 outreach workshops on the science of imagination for ~100 Tucson families as part of the College Academy for Parents program at UA. They left inspired by the creative kids and their families!
Graduate student, Quentin Raffaelli, is awarded 5th place in the entire university at the University of Arizona’s Grad Slam! He gave a fantastic 3 minute publicly-accessible talk on his research on creativity. Way to go, Quentin!
February 2018:
Photo: The NET Lab gets together for a potluck. Some folks went on a beautiful sunset hike at Sabino Canyon before it began. Left to right: Quentin, Haley, Jess, Sydney, Jess AH
