Principal Investigator
Dr. Qing Zhou
Qing Zhou is a faculty in the Clinical Science Area of Psychology Department at UC-Berkeley, and the Director of the Culture and Family Study Lab. She received her M.A. in developmental psychology and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Arizona State University. Dr. Zhou is broadly interested in studying context (family, school, culture) and temperament influences on children’s socioemotional and academic development.
Email: qingzhou@berkeley.edu
Project Coordinators
Xinyi Chen
Xinyi Chen is a project coordinator at Zhou Family and Culture Lab. She received her B.A. in Psychology and Economics from UC Berkeley in 2020. She completed her honors thesis on the relations among neighborhood disadvantage, cumulative risk, and self-regulation in Chinese immigrant children under Dr. Qing Zhou’s mentorship. She is particularly interested in what and how contextual and cultural factors play a role in affecting children’s self-regulation outcomes, and the potential implications they have for interventions. In her free time, she enjoys listening to music, martial arts, and road trips.
Email: xichen320@berkeley.edu
Carol Rivera
Carol Rivera is a project coordinator at the Zhou Family and Culture Lab. She received her B.A. in Psychology from UC Berkeley. She completed her honors thesis under the mentorship of Dr. Zhou. It studied the relations between Mexican American parenting styles, parental stress, parental emotion regulation, and preschoolers psychological adjustment. She is particularly interested in the relationship between Latinx parenting, culture and emotion regulation and how they may relate to psychological adjustment and resilience in children, as well as the impact family engagement may have on academic achievement and socio-emotional development. She is con-currently Family Engagement, Outreach, and Equity Specialist for the Hayward Unified School District where she enjoys working on curriculum development and project management. In her free time, Carol enjoys museums, hanging out with her dog, Korra, stand up comedy, and gatherings with friends and family.
Email:
c.rivera@berkeley.edu
Graduate Students
Sara Chung
Sara Chung is a clinical intern of the half-time UCSF Clinical Psychology Training Program, under the mentorship of Drs. Qing Zhou and Linda Pfiffner. She received her B.A. from UC Berkeley and her M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research explores how individual (e.g., appraisals, coping, language competence), family (e.g., parenting, parent-child conflict), and socio-cultural variables influence the socio-emotional development of children and adolescents. Sara aims to contribute to increased access to and effectiveness of clinical interventions designed to facilitate open communication and cohesion among immigrant families as well as cultural humility in treatment settings. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, board games, and wine tasting.
Email: sarachung@berkeley.edu
Aya Williams
Aya Williams is a fifth-year doctoral student. She received her B.A. in Psychology and Linguistics at Stanford University. Her research explores how bilingual language use (especially code-switching) may influence children and parents’ self-regulation. Aya is excited about the idea of using language as a tool to manage emotions. She also enjoys spending time outdoors snowboarding and SUPing. If you are a researcher or clinician interested in bilingualism & emotion, or language as a tool to manage emotions, especially in psychotherapy.
Email: aiwilliams@berkeley.edu
Kaley Curtis
Kaley Curtis is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Clinical Science program. She received her BA from Brown University in Education and Public Policy and her EdM in Human Development and Psychology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Kaley is especially interested in culture and ways that parent and teacher relationships influence children’s socio-emotional development. In her free time you’ll find her outdoors, hiking, running, or biking.
Email: kaley_curtis@berkeley.edu
Ezra Mauer
Ezra Mauer is a third-year doctoral student in the Clinical Science program. He received his bachelor’s degree in Middle East Studies from Brown University. Prior to enrolling at UC Berkeley as a PhD student, he completed the Psychology Post-Baccalaureate program. Ezra is broadly interested in the relationships between language, executive function, and academic outcomes across child development as well as ethnic identity development. In his spare time, he enjoys playing cello, listening to podcasts, and spending quality time with his cat, John Oliver.
Email: ezra.mauer@berkeley.edu
Stephanie Haft
Stephanie Haft is a third-year doctoral student in the Clinical Science program. She received her B.A. in Neuroscience from Claremont McKenna College. Stephanie is interested in the role of self-regulation in preventing mental health disorders, and how sociocultural background plays a role in this. She is especially curious about psychological and biological tools to assess these factors. Stephanie also enjoys doing Crossfit, listening to podcasts, and petting every dog she sees.
Email: stephanie.haft@berkeley.edu
Megan Chan
Megan Chan is a first-year doctoral student in the Clinical Science program. She received her B.A. in Psychology from UC Berkeley. She is interested in how cultural factors can affect immigrant children’s mental health, and how parental emotion socialization plays a role in this. In her free time, she enjoys painting, reading and hiking.
Email: meganc0106@berkeley.edu
Erika Roach
Erika Roach (she/her) is a first-year doctoral student in the Clinical Science program. She received both her B.A. in Psychology and Human Biology and her M.A. in Psychology from Stanford University. Erika’s research interests lie at the intersection of racial and cultural identity, early life stress, emotion regulation, and developmental psychopathology. Outside of research, she enjoys dancing, hitting the driving range, museum-hopping, practicing Buddhism, and baking oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for family and friends.
Email: erika.ro@berkeley.edu
Lionel Meng
Lionel Meng is a Post-Baccalaureate student in Psychology. He received his BA in Economics from Northwestern University and MA in TESOL from SIT Graduate Institute. Lionel is interested in the intersection of language, culture, and thought in socio-emotional development and wellness. In his free time Lionel enjoys road cycling and basketball.
Email: lmeng@berkeley.edu
Christopher Gys
Christopher Gys is a first-year Post-Baccalaureate student. He received a B.A. in Hispanic Studies from Bowdoin College. For the next two years, he worked as an Assistant Language Teacher in the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program in Hakusan, Ishikawa. Chris is interested in the influence of culture and language on socioemotional development and hopes research findings in this area can improve the efficacy of mental health services for bilingual and bicultural communities in the U.S. In his free time, Chris likes playing soccer, haunting local cafes, and listening to the On Being podcast.
Email: cgys@berkeley.edu
Assessor Lead
Christopher De Anda
Elizabeth Kwong
Francis Yang
Tsz Chun Chung
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Andrea Johnson
Annalise Fox
Antonio Cruz De La Cruz
Alexandra Ruiz
Andrew Wong
Boris Yung
Brenda Mejia
Bryan Reynoso
Calvin Zhou
Catherine Sun
Christina Wang
Cindy Kreeck
Doreen Teng
Elizabeth Kwong
Fabian Salas
Gudelia Vicencio
Helena Nguyen
Jamie Liu
Jaquelyn Camarillo
Kaia Johnson
Karla Guerrero
Karla Sahagun
Kelsey Fung
Leah Selcer
Lilliana Conradi
Linyi Yu
Lily Huang
Marcela Macias
Maria Rodriguez
Mark Chen
Melissa Wu
Michelle Taw
Natalie Silverstein
Pamela Arrechea
Phoenix Ding
Sabrina Chua
Sofia Andrade
Steven Pozos
Timothy Lee
Vanessa Lopez
Vanessa Vasquez-Ochoa
Winnie Zheng
Yailin Alvarez Bahena
Yelitza Cervantes
