Sarah Gillespie, M.A.
Sarah Gillespie is a fourth-year doctoral student in Developmental Psychology on the Developmental Psychopathology and Clinical Science track. Before beginning her graduate studies, she worked as a research assistant at the Refugee Trauma and Resilience Center at Boston Children’s Hospital. In this role, she used community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods to understand the strengths and challenges of refugee communities who have been affected by conflict, migration, and resettlement stressors. Her current research focuses on ethnic and racial identity development among White and racially minoritized adolescents and factors that promote resilience in the context of globalizing and multicultural societies. She is also interested in digital and school-based interventions to promote mental and physical well-being. Follow these links to read more about her current work on Project UNITE and her published articles.
Tori Simenec
Tori Simenec is a third-year graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychopathology and Clinical Science. Before beginning her graduate studies, she worked as a research assistant in The Gunnar Laboratory for Developmental Psychobiology researching the impact of early adversity on the developing stress response system. Her research interests include cultural adaptation of prevention and intervention programs designed to increase positive outcomes and reduce the risk for psychopathologies in historically underserved populations. Specifically, she is interested in increasing the relevance and engagement of empirical programs for families that experience high levels of stress including forced migration, trauma, or discrimination through cultural adaptation and innovative dissemination strategies to reach communities.
Salma Ibrahim
Salma Ibrahim is a first-year doctoral student in the Developmental Psychopathology and Clinical Science track at the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development. She began her academic journey at UMN, where she earned her undergraduate degree in Developmental Psychology. Following graduation, Salma became a post-baccalaureate researcher at the CFL Lab, as a lead research assistant on the CARPE DIEM study and a contributor to JMGC and PPP.
Salma’s research explores the intersection of culture, identity, and acculturation, focusing on Somali American and other immigrant-origin youth in the U.S. She investigates how acculturation influences cognitive development, health, and overall adjustment during adolescence. Salma is particularly interested in how cultural adaptation can enhance health outcomes for these populations, with a goal of producing research that addresses the specific needs of immigrant communities. Through her work, she aims to bridge cultural understanding and research to promote resilience and well-being among diverse youth populations.
Trinity Barnes
Trinity Barnes is a first-year doctoral student in the Developmental Psychopathology and Clinical Science track in the Institute of Child Development. Before attending the University of Minnesota, she earned her Bachelors in Psychology and Spanish at Indiana University Bloomington. Throughout her time at Indiana University, she worked as a research assistant and completed an honors thesis in the Navigating Intergroup Context and Emotions (N.I.C.E.) Lab, led by Dr. Dorainne Green.
Trinity’s research sits at the intersection of developmental, social, and clinical psychology, investigating the downstream effects of racial-related stress, such as discrimination, for marginalized populations. She is particularly interested in the mental health outcomes associated with emotion regulation in discriminatory contexts, ethnic-racial socialization, and narratives in visual media. Her research aims to ameliorate racial disparities, challenge harmful stereotypes, and promote cultural humility.
Affiliated Graduate Students
Mirinda Morency
Mirinda Morency (LMSW) is a second-year doctoral student in Developmental Psychopathology and Clinical Science at the University of Minnesota, Institute of Child Development. She is primarily interested in the role of context (family, school, community) in shaping normative and non-normative adolescent development among ethnic-racial minority youth and in understanding the determinants and processes of risk and resilience across the lifespan. Originally from the south suburbs of Chicago, she has done community-based participatory research (CBPR) in Chicago through a cross-age peer mentoring program designed to reduce negative outcomes related to violence exposure/engagement and promote positive youth development. Before arriving in Minnesota, she received her MSW from Columbia University in New York City and spent the last few years providing trauma-informed, culturally-responsive clinical services in the city. She hopes to continue to unpack cultural nuances surrounding early childhood program/treatment effectiveness and translate her research into culturally-sensitive, developmentally appropriate preventive interventions for youth and families in order to achieve equitable healthcare.
Ayah Phuly
Ayah is a first-year graduate student on the Developmental Science track at ICD. Ayah also received her undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of Minnesota, where she was a part of several labs. She is interested in the relationships that young children cultivate in their early years of schooling, both at home and in school, and how they impact development and educational achievements/beliefs. Particularly, she is interested in the role infant attachment plays in teacher-student relationship quality and how the relationship quality can be improved, especially among historically underserved children. Ayah is generally interested in working on strengths-based approaches to her research during her time at ICD.
Jaylen Santos
Jaylen (Jay) Santos (he/him/his) is a first year PhD student on the developmental science track at ICD. Jay holds a bachelor of science from Southern Oregon University in psychology and criminology & criminal justice. Prior to ICD, Jay worked as a juvenile justice specialist in Jackson County, Oregon, providing services to youth in a juvenile detention center. Jay is interested in the trajectories of LGBTQ+ youth over childhood into adolescence, protective factors against delinquency, and interventions for antisocial behavior.
Auna Nelson
Auna is currently in the Counselor Education Masters program studying to become a school counselor. She graduated with her bachelors is psychology and philosophy from the University of St. Thomas in 2018. She is passionate about research and is beginning to look at PhD programs in developmental psychology.
Given her background in philosophy, her interests are existential in nature such as studying children’s search for meaning. She hopes to research and develop culturally responsive counseling programs to promote advocacy and ensure all students are equipped with the tools that they need to succeed both academically and socially.
Jasmine Banegas
Jasmine is a first-year doctoral student in Developmental Psychology, on the Developmental Psychopathology and Clinical Science track. She received her MSW degree from the University of Michigan’s School of Social Work in 2017. She served as a bilingual clinical social worker providing community-based mental health services to Latine/o/a children, youth, and families in the greater Detroit area. Since 2019, Jasmine has worked as an ADAPT intervention coordinator and facilitator with Dr. Abigail Gewirtz’s research and implementation team. During her time with ADAPT, she assisted in the development of the contextual adaptations of ADAPT for first responders and diverse immigrant/refugee populations. Her general research interests focus on child development, family resilience, and cross-cultural psychology in the context of globalization and migration, as well as cultural adaptation of culturally responsive prevention interventions. She is interested in understanding the psychological and ecological impacts of modern globalization and new forms of acculturation on the development and well-being of children, youth, and families that have experienced forced migration.
H.R. Hodges
H.R. Hodges is a second-year Ph.D. student in clinical and developmental psychology at the Institute for Child Development. Though originally from Florida, she spent her adult life in New Haven, Connecticut where she completed an undergraduate degree and a master’s degree at Yale, both of which focused on post-violence literature and collective resilience practices. Her dual academic pursuits — engaging with culturally diverse narratives in the classroom, while also conducting trauma and mental health intakes through her role as a clinical staff member in a neuroscience research lab — shaped her belief in the primacy of cultural roles and values in shaping effective interventions. She is particularly interested in interventions that bolster locally available resources that already contribute to collective and individual health. In the long term, she hopes to partner with communities of diverse cultural backgrounds to design more effective and culturally appropriate trauma treatments.