PEOPLE
Lab Director
Jessica Andrews-Hanna, PhD
Jessica is Director of the NET Laboratory and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Cognitive Science Program at the University of Arizona. Since childhood, she has been passionate about exploring the hidden nature of the world around and within us – the science behind what is often obscured from view. She became intrigued by one of those mysteries - the nature of human thought – while in college at Duke University, and further pursued this topic throughout her graduate training in Neuroscience (M.A., Washington University in St. Louis) and Psychology (Ph.D., Harvard University). Today, Jessica is a cognitive neuroscientist who combines behavioral experiments with functional brain imaging and network analysis to bring human thought, emotion, and other internally-guided processes (i.e. memory, prospection, & social cognition) into view. She is passionate about exploring these questions across the lifespan and in a variety of mental health disorders, with an ultimate goal of developing interventions to help individuals harness the beneficial aspects of internally-guided cognition. When she’s not working, you can probably find Jessica on a mountain, trail, lake, or in a tent enjoying the beauty of nature and giving her mind the opportunity to flow freely without constraints on cognition!
Post-Docs & Graduate Students
Shanshan Ma, PhD
Shanshan is a postdoc for the Connected Lives: Overcoming the Self through Empathy (CLOSE) Study, working under the joint guidance of Dr. Jessica Andrews-Hanna in the Neuroscience of Emotion and Thought Lab and Dr. David Sbarra in the Lab for Social Connectedness and Health. She completed her M.A. in psychology at the State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning at Beijing Normal University, where she studied the brain mechanisms involved in craving and cognitive control deficits in Internet gaming disorder. During her Ph.D. studies at the Faculty of Psychology at Beijing Normal University, she shifted her focus to investigating the neural mechanisms underlying the impact of marital interactions and responses to the social world on marital well-being. Currently, she is using behavioral and neuroimaging data to explore the facilitators and barriers to social connection and mental health in the context of romantic relationships. She hopes that her research will contribute to improving romantic relationships and preventing mental health problems. In her free time, Shanshan enjoys listening to music, watching basketball games, and savoring delicious foods.
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Diego Guevara Beltran, PhD
Diego received his bachelor’s degrees in psychology and evolutionary anthropology at the University of New Mexico. He then completed his M.A. in social psychology at Arizona State University (ASU), where he employed experimental methods to show how sharing food can inadvertently reduce perceptions of interdependence and hinder cooperation by activating a scarcity mindset and disease avoidance concerns. He continued at ASU to complete his PhD in social psychology, where he employed longitudinal methods to show how experiences of need, and helping in others when in need, might cultivate an empathetic disposition over time and allow people to recruit help from others during future times of need. He is currently a postdoc working with Dr. Jessica Andrews-Hannah and Dr. Dave Sbarra on the Connected Lives: Overcoming the Self through Empathy (CLOSE) study. Overall, Diego’s research aims to understand the psychological underpinnings of cooperation: why do people cooperate (i.e., what are the costs and benefits of cooperation)? What are the psychological mechanisms that facilitate (or hinder) cooperation? And what are the consequences of cooperation (or failing to cooperate) for social relationships and wellbeing?
Yuhua Yu, PhD
Yuhua obtained her PhD from Northwestern University. Her doctoral research focused on the neural basis of creative problem-solving. Her research integrates modern computational models with neuroimaging methods and novel behavioral paradigms to study neural dynamics subserving high-level cognition. Before entering the cognitive neuroscience field, Yuhua led a quantitative research team and managed trading portfolios in the finance industry. Her education started in mathematics, at Fudan University in Shanghai, China, followed by a doctoral degree in mathematics from Purdue University, specializing in probability.
Yuhua is currently a postdoc working with Dr. Andrews-Hanns and focusing on spontaneous thoughts. Her research questions include: what is the brain basis that allows people to generate and transition between spontaneous ideas? And how are these processes affected by age and memory impairment?
Sarah Hennessy, PhD
Sarah is a postdoctoral scientist working on the Cognitive Aging: A Real-World Experiment (CARE) project with Dr. Andrews-Hanna and Dr. Matthew Grilli. She received her B.A.in psychology from Occidental College, where she became interested in the underpinnings of human emotion, thought, and behavior. She completed her PhD in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Southern California, where she employed fMRI and behavioral methods to understand how younger and older adults connect music to emotions, autobiographical memories, and sense of self. In the NET lab, she is excited to continue exploring how autobiographical memory changes with age, and how we maintain or reconstruct self and identity through various stages of life and cognitive health. In her free time, Sarah enjoys playing and listening to music, spending time with her pets, and sewing.
Mariam Hovhannisyan, MA
Mariam is a clinical psychology student co-advised by Drs. Andrews-Hanna and Matt Grilli. Mariam is generally interested in how memory changes in older age. Before joining U of A as a graduate student, Mariam worked at Duke University as an RA in the Electric Dino Lab on projects involving memory, aging, neuroimaging, and brain stimulation. She received her B.S. in Cognitive Science from the University of California, Los Angeles. In her free time, Mariam is probably dancing or cooking, or doing both at the same time!
Vannia A. Puig Rivera, MA
Vannia is a Ph.D student in the Cognitive and Neural Systems program and the 2023 University Fellow awardee for the Department of Psychology. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, she moved to the United States upon completing her B.A. in 2014 to strengthen her research skills and pursue graduate school. After working as a research assistant in the University of Chicago and completing a Master's Degree in Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, she has decided to focus her work on internally-guided cognition. Specifically, she’s interested in how internally generated thoughts guide human behavior, emotion, cognition, and vice-versa. Now, after three years in Ohio doing research with the Air Force Research Lab - Applied Neuroscience Division, she has returned to Academia and looks forward to furthering her research expertise at the NET Lab. As for her hobbies, she enjoys hiking, weight-lifting, spending time at the pool, and dancing.
Annie Shuchang Lu
Annie is a Ph.D. student in the Cognitive and Neural Systems program within the Department of Psychology. Before joining the University of Arizona, she earned her B.S. in Neural Science from New York University Shanghai. She is broadly interested in mechanisms and phenomenology of spontaneous mental processes, including mind-wandering, daydreaming, dreaming, and other forms of internally generated thoughts. She is also interested in how these processes are related to personality traits, emotions, environmental factors, and mental health. In her free time, Annie enjoys dancing, listening to music, watching Asian dramas, and staying out in nature.
Melissa Reich-Fuehrer
Melissa is a Ph.D. student in the Cognition and Neural Systems program within the Department of Psychology. A lifelong Tucsonan, she completed her B.S. at the University of Arizona in Neuroscience & Cognitive Science, with a double major in Psychological Sciences and a minor in Classical Civilizations. After earning her bachelor's degree, Melissa worked as a study coordinator in the Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience Lab, where she earned her certification as a Clinical Research Coordinator through the Association of Clinical Research Professionals. Her research interests broadly center on mental representation, spontaneous thought, and internal world-building, with a particular focus on how individual differences shape the way people engage with the world around them. She is also interested in the intersection of these topics with adverse childhood experiences, mental health, and brain development across the lifespan. In her free time, Melissa enjoys cooking, crafting, reading, and binge-watching Survivor.
Staff & Undergraduate Research Assistants
Delaney Freveletti
Delaney graduated from the University of Arizona with a B.S. in Psychological Sciences in 2022. After gaining experience in psychological research under Dr. Andrews-Hanna during her undergraduate studies, Delaney joined the NET Lab and Human Memory Lab as a study coordinator for the C.A.R.E. study in August 2022 and started as the lab manager after graduating in December 2022. Delaney's research interests include the effects of mindfulness on cognition and behavior. Delaney is completing a Master of Arts in Library and Information Science through the University of Arizona. In her free time, she can be found reading a good book, crafting, and exploring Tucson!
Kayleigh Cook
Kayleigh graduated from the University of Arizona with a B.S. in Psychological Science in 2023. As an undergraduate, Kayleigh did work in many different labs, including the SuRRF Lab under Dr. John Ruiz, the Self & Attitudes Lab under Dr. Jeff Stone, and, in the College of Public Health, she worked for the Community Research, Evaluation & Development (CRED) program under Dr. Michelle Walsh. Kayleigh landed in the NET Lab her senior year, where she completed a capstone project on adult attachment and its neural and physiological underpinnings – a topic she hopes to pursue for her PhD in the not-so-distant future. Her passion for and curiosity about adult attachment matched her up with the Couples Research Study, on which she is now a research technician. If you run into Kayleigh, you will likely hear her talking about her two cats, who are the joy of her existence. She also loves running, doing anything outside in the mountains, listening to NPR, and staying in for a nice TV/knitting day.
Recent Lab Alumni
Postdoc
Erin Maresh, Ph.D. - Former Postdoc
Darya Zabelina, Ph.D. - Former Postdoc - Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas
Graduate students
Quentin Raffaelli, Ph.D. - Former Ph.D. student in the CNS program
Andrea Coppolla, Ph.D. - Former Ph.D. student in the clinical program
Eric Andrews, Ph.D. - Former Ph.D. in the CNS program
Staff
Katherine Richard, - Former CLOSE project coordinator
Caity Cegavske, BA - Former Study Coordinator
Chris Griffith, BS - Former Study Coordinator
Ramsey Wilcox, BS - Former Study Coordinator
Research Assistants
Sabrina Sutherland, BS
Lilian German-Noriega, BS - Former undergraduate capstone student
Liam McClafferty, BA
Alex Keen, BS
Ceili Olney, BS
Emma Truchan, BS - Former undergraduate Honor's thesis student
Nadine Chau, BS - Former undergraduate Honor's thesis student
Maggie Anderson, BS
Cate Longo, BS
Lucas Koch-Kreher, BS - Former undergraduate Honor's thesis student
Ethan Hudgens, BA - Former undergraduate Honor's thesis student
Surya Fitzgerald, BS - Former undergraduate Honor's thesis student
Liza Keifer, BS - Former undergraduate Honor's thesis student
Isaac Zwinger-Nathanson, BA
Methmi Jayasinghe, BA
Freya Abraham, BS
Heba Saeed, BS
Johannes Alvarez, BS - Former undergraduate Honor's thesis student
Jonah Vega-Reid, BS
Kate Chambers, BS - Former undergraduate Honor's thesis student
Venessa Figueroa, BS
Daniel Hernandez, BA/BS - Former post-Bac student
Hannah Burns, BS - Former undergraduate Honor's thesis student
Research Assistants
Adelle Nkeze
Alex Hill
Brooke Borland
Jack Brossart
Maria Rosales Alfaro
Rachel Daelemans
Sara Moore