STRESS Lab

Proud x 2, perfectly captured

Lots of emotions yesterday. Confident that whatever big things life has in store for these two, it will make the world a better place for all people.

Congratulations to Dr. Catherine Diem-Quynh Trinh for successfully defending her dissertation, entitled Happiness and Activity Engagement as Longitudinal Predictors of Adolescent Alcohol and Cannabis Outcomes. We're very proud of you!

Meet PhD Candidate Noam Newberger! Noam is a soon-to-be 4th year graduate student who will be applying for clinical internship this year. His research interests (including F31 award) include culturally-informed, idiographic, and translational methods to understand co-morbid PTSD and substance use.

Meet PhD student Jewels Ferguson! Jewels is a third year graduate student. Her research takes a strengths-based approach to understand coping and resilience within historically marginalized communities characterized by experiences of trauma.

Meet PhD Candidate Catherine Trinh! Catherine is a soon-to-be 5th year student who will be applying for clinical internship this year. Her research (including F31 award) leverages strengths-based approaches to studying substance use, including a focus on alternative reinforcers & positive emotions.

Meet PhD Candidate Alana Egan! Alana is a soon-to-be 5th year student who will be applying for clinical internship this year. Her research interests are on the intersections among trauma, substance use, and suicide in Pacific Islanders.

Meet PhD Candidate Diana Ho! Diana is a soon-to-be 5th year student who will be applying for clinical internship this year. Her research interests are on the etiology, maintenance, and intervention of alcohol use and related harm among marginalized populations, particularly Asian Americans.

Meet PhD Candidate Reina Kiefer! Reina will be headed to Philly in July to complete clinical internship at Penn. Her research (including an F31) seeks to uncover mechanisms that confer risk for unwanted sexual experiences & related harm across the lifespan, most notably college campus sexual assault

Meet PhD Candidate Emmanuel Thomas! Emmanuel is completing clinical internship at Western Psych and then transitioning to an Endowed Postdoc at Rutgers. His research (including an F31) identifies culturally-informed risk and protective factors for alcohol use in racially marginalized communities.

Meet PhD Candidate Alexa Raudales! Alexa is completing clinical internship (and then transitioning to postdoc) at Brown. Her research (including an F31) uses real-time methods and advanced analytic approaches to examine the intersections among trauma, NSSI/suicide, and substance use.

2/ Katy's ultimate goal is to increase health equity in substance use treatment by leveraging individual, family, and community strengths in the development and scaling culturally responsive services that address poverty-related stress and trauma. We're so excited to have Katy join our team!

Meet our new PhD student! Katy's research focuses on the intersection of sexual and gender-based violence and substance use among systemically excluded and marginalized populations. She is particularly interested in the influences of intergenerational trauma and resiliency in contexts of poverty.

Celebrating our undergrads at @universityofri.bsky.social Psychology Awards Night

Proud mentor moment! Reina Kiefer was awarded the @universityofri Graduate Student Research and Scholarship Excellence Award for her work on gender-based violence.

Talking careers in psychology with high schoolers as part of the Rhode Island Psychological Association Social Justice & Public Policy Committee Diversifying Psychology Working Group

More than ever, scientists must amplify evidence-based work. Captured some of our scientists-in-training sharing their research @universityofri.bsky.social College of Health Sciences Research Night.

Congratulations to the now Dr. Alexa Raudales! You truly blew the committee away—your dedication, passion, and brilliance shined through, and I couldn’t be prouder of you.

📣 Newly posted position to support several of our grants 📣

We will conduct an initial review of applications on 5/1. This is perfect for someone who is looking for research experience prior to applying to PhD programs in Clinical Psychology.

urldefense.com/v3/__https:/... The Job ID is 22298

I just learned that I was promoted to Professor -- with these little ones by my side the whole way (I started at URI when our oldest was 12 weeks old). Sharing as a reminder that parenting and academia can coexist.

Gratitude to the sponsor team @nicoleweiss.bsky.social @lindsayorchowski.bsky.social Kathy Parks. Thanks to Amy Stamates for use of her BAR Lab.

SIP is a two-year F31 awarded to @reina-kiefer.bsky.social by NIAAA. This project uses alcohol administration and emotion induction paradigms to investigate the effects of positive and negative emotion states on sexual assault risk perception during acute alcohol intoxication.

Heterogeneity across idiographic network associations among emotion dysregulation, alcohol use, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and intimate partner violence Nearly half of women in the United States experience intimate partner violence (IPV) in their lifetime, which is linked to deleterious sequelae related to health outcomes. To better understand these ...

Excited to share that our S-GIMME paper is out! This was a fun foray into idiographic networks that we wanted to share, but has left me with many methodological questions.

doi.org/10.1002/jts....

Grateful for our Co-Is @lesliebrickphd.bsky.social and Nichea Spillane

LIFT is a two-year R21 funded by NIAAA. This project leverages intensive longitudinal data to evaluate dynamic & idiographic processes among positive emotional processes, alcohol use, & PTSD symptoms as they unfold in daily life among trauma-exposed individuals in the community.

A special thank you to Tarana Burke, Emma Sulkowicz, Annie E. Clark, Andrea Pino, & Chanel Miller. You paved the way for survivor-activists like me to share their stories publicly.

My rape is the story of a privileged man’s shameful actions; I have nothing to hide. I will never be silenced again.

Beaming with pride because Dr. Emmanuel Thomas just crushed his dissertation defense!

Proud of STRESS Lab doctoral candidate @reina-kiefer.bsky.social for having the courage to share her story. Your experiences offer hope, healing, and strength to others who may be silently carrying similar pain. Your bravery is powerful.

Grateful for our Co-Is: @lesliebrickphd.bsky.social @susanramsey.bsky.social Kirsten Langdon, Stephanie Goldstein, Ju Park, Nichea Spillane, Lyn Stein

COPE is a 6-year R61/R33 funded by NIDA's HEAL Initiative. This study uses a ground-up approach & EMA + MRT designs to rigorously develop, evaluate, & optimize a mobile app with both on-demand and automated features to reduce opioid use harm among adults with PTSD exiting residential OUD treatment.