Graduate Students

Prospective Graduate Students, 2024-2025

At the University of California, Irvine, the departments of Psychological Science (PS) and Criminology, Law and Society (CLS) are situated within the School of Social Ecology. Both the University, Dr. Cauffman, and her students are prided on bridging disciplinary gaps. Students interested in graduate mentorship under Dr. Cauffman are encouraged to apply. For more information on the UCI School of Social Ecology graduate application process, click here. For information about working with Dr. Cauffman or grad student life at UCI, please contact one of her current graduate students.

Dr. Cauffman plans to accept incoming students for 2024-2025.

Students who wish to gain research experience before applying to graduate school are encouraged to look into the UCI’s Post-Baccalaureate Program in Psychological Science.

Current Graduate Students

Colleen Sbeglia (née Brown) is a graduate student in the Department of Psychological Science. She received her BA in German from California State University, Long Beach and her MA in Social Ecology from UC Irvine. Her program of research explores adolescent and young adult experiences in justice facilities, and the role of sleep in the development of criminal behavior. Her dissertation uses a combination of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and actigraphy to examine the connections between sleep, aggression, substance use, and mental health in justice-involved young adults.

Email: colleeb@uci.edu

Recent Publication: Brown, C., Beardslee, J., Frick, P. J., Steinberg, L. D., & Cauffman, E. (2023). Perceived sleep quality predicts aggressive offending in adolescence and young adulthood. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, 64(2), 320-328

Emma Rodgers Romero

Nick Riano is a graduate student in the department of Psychological Science. His primary research interests focus on both the availability and quality of mental and physical healthcare among populations with serious mental illness, especially among those currently or formerly incarcerated. Email: nriano@uci.edu

Recent Publication: Riano NS, Borowsky HM, Arnold EA, Olfson M, Walkup JT, Vittinghoff E, Cournos F, Dawson L, Bazazi AR, Crystal S, Mangurian C. (2021). HIV testing and counseling at US substance use treatment facilities: A missed opportunity for early identification. Psychiatric Services, in press.

Imani Randolph is a doctoral student in the department of Psychological Sciences. Her concentration is in Developmental Psychology. She completed her B.A. in Psychology at North Carolina A&T State University and her M.A. in Forensic Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Her research investigates the relationships between social support and adolescent desistance from crime. More specifically, her work explores how direct and vicarious experiences of the justice system impact adolescents’ legal and health outcomes.

Recent publication: Koppel, S., Bergin, T., Ropac, R., Randolph, I., & Joseph, H. (2022). Examining the causal effect of pretrial detention on case outcomes: a judge fixed effect instrumental variable approach. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 1-18.

Curtis Smith IV is a doctoral student in the Psychological Sciences program with a concentration in Developmental Psychology. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Interdisciplinary Criminology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His current program of research examines how justice-invovled youth perceive, process, and perform within their contexts. He hopes to identify ways we can motivate youth and promote healthy development. Some of his current projects investigate thrilling perceptions of criminal behavior, the aspiration-expectation gap, and callous-unemotional traits.

Recent publication: Sbeglia, C., Smith IV, C. D., Frick, P. J., Steinberg, L., & Cauffman, E. (2024). Too sensitive or not sensitive enough? Sensitivity to context and justice‐involved youths’ response to violence exposure. Journal of Research on Adolescence.

Scarlet Cho is a doctoral student in the department of Psychological Sciences with a developmental concentration. She completed dual Bachelor’s degrees at the University of Southern California in Neuroscience and Psychology with a minor in Forensics & Criminality. Her program of research centers around questions exploring both the antecedents and outcomes of youth psychopathic traits, violent behavior, and broadly, involvement in the justice system.

Recent publication: Nogalska, A., Henderson, H., Cho, S., & Lyon, T. (2023). Novel forms of reluctance among suspected child sexual abuse victims in adolescence. Child Maltreatment.

Alyssa Briones received her M.A. in Legal in Forensic Psychology from UCI in 2022. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology and is interested in how experiences of trauma and maltreatment in early life shape various developmental domains in adolescence and young adulthood. Specifically, she plans to identify factors that confer risk for criminal justice involvement as well as factors that promote resilience and adaptation across the lifespan.

Graduate and Post-Doc Alumni

Adam Boessen, Ph.D earned his doctorate in criminology from the University of California, Irvine in 2014. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri – St. Louis. Adam is interested in neighborhoods, social networks, and geography. Email: boessena@umsl.edu
Caitlin Cavanagh, Ph.D. earned her doctorate in psychology from UC Irvine in 2016. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University. Her research interests include delinquency, public policy, and how families interact with the justice system. Email: cavana81@msu.edu
Sachiko Datta, Ph.D. earned her doctorate in psychological and social behavior from the University of California, Irvine in 2017. She is currently the Director of Studies (DOS) for Wilson College at at Princeton University. Email: sachiko.datta@princeton.edu
Julia Dmitrieva, Ph.D. is currently an Associate Professor of psychology at the University of Denver. Her research seeks to understand how cultural and the more proximal social contexts (e.g., family and peer) influence adolescent psychosocial adjustment and academic achievement. Email: julia.dmitrieva@psy.du.edu
Susan Farruggia, Ph.D. is currently an Assistant Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research interests include the adult influence on student success and development within a cultural perspective. Email: spf@uic.edu
Adam Fine, Ph.D. earned his doctorate in psychological and social behavior from the University of California, Irvine in 2018. He is currently an assistant professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. His current work centers on two areas: how juvenile probation processes affect youth offending, employment, education, and attitudes; and how youth develop their perceptions of the law, law enforcement, and the justice system. Email: adfine@asu.edu
Asha Goldweber, Ph.D., is a yoga and meditation teacher, writer, and researcher.
Shayne Jones, Ph.D., is a Professor at Texas State University in the School of Criminal Justice. After earning his Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky, he completed two years of work as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in the Law and Psychiatry Program. His primary area of research is in personality, with a focus on how traits are translated into antisocial outcomes, as well as how social psychological and contextual factors influence the relationship between traits and antisocial behavior. He researches legal decision-making by exploring the factors that influence jurors and judges in criminal and civil cases. He also conducts research on issues related to measurement of key constructs within the fields of criminology, criminal justice, and psychology. Email: sje57@txstate.edu
Suzanne Kaasa, Ph.D. is currently a Senior Social Science Analyst at US Government Accountability Office. Email: KaasaS@gao.gov
Emily Kan, Ph.D is currently a faculty lecturer at Pomona College as well as a postdoctoral fellow at University of California, Los Angeles. Email: emily.kan@pomona.edu
Erin Kelly, Ph.D earned her doctorate in psychology from the University of California, Irvine in 2012. She is currently a research associate at the University of Southern California and a visiting scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her program of research is focused on violence risk and resilience among those with mental health issues receiving treatment in the community and in secured settings. Email: kellyeri@usc.edu
Eva Kimonis, Ph.D. completed a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) postdoctoral fellowship at UCI from 2005-2007. She is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Her program of research focuses on the development, assessment, and treatment of callous-unemotional traits and aggressive behavior in youth, with special interest in the roles of childhood maltreatment and emotional processing deficits. Email: e.kimonis@unsw.edu.au
Alissa Knowles, Ph.D. is currently a lecturer at Arizona State University.
Lindsay Malloy, Ph.D. is currently an Assistant Professor in the Social Science and Humanities Department at Ontario Tech. Her research addresses questions concerning children’s and adolescents’ disclosure of negative or traumatic experiences, cognitive and socio-contextual influences on children’s memory and narratives, investigative interviewing and interrogation techniques, and implications of research findings for the legal system. Email: lindsay.malloy@uoit.ca
Kathryn Monahan, Ph.D. was a Postdoctoral Fellow at UCI from 2008-2009. She currently operates her own consulting business Parent with Science. Email: kate@parentwithscience.com.
Monica Peniche, M.A. received her masters in Social Ecology at the University of California, Irvine. Her research interests center around concepts such as motivation, growth mindset, and grit, and the intersectionality of these concepts with the juvenile justice system. Email: mapenich@uci.edu
Zachary Rowan, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in the School of criminology at Simon Fraser University. His research interests include peer influence, co-offending, group behavior, life-course and developmental criminology, and intervention evaluation. Email: zrowan@sfu.ca.
Elizabeth Shulman, Ph.D. earned her doctorate in psychology from the University of California, Irvine in 2012. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Brock University. She is a developmental psychologist who specializes in the study of adolescence. Her work examines psychosocial development during the transition from childhood to adulthood and how it relates to decision-making, risk-taking, and crime. She is also interested in the practical implications of discoveries related to adolescents’ capacities and limitations with respect to legal and social policy. Email: eshulman@brocku.ca
Cortney Simmons, Ph.D. earned her doctorate in Psychology and Social Behavior from the University of California, Irvine in 2020. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Psychology in the School of Interdisciplinary Forensics at Arizona State University. Her research integrates developmental psychology, criminology, psychobiology, and quantitative modeling to examine how individual and contextual factors contribute to risky and antisocial behavior. Email: cortney.simmons@asu.edu
Joseph Tatar, Ph.D earned his doctorate in psychology from the University of California, Irvine in 2014. He is currently the Senior Epidemiologist at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Email: tatarjoseph@gmail.com
April Gile Thomas, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at El Paso in the Department of Legal Psychology. Her research applies a developmental framework to the study of adolescent risk and delinquency. Email: athomas5@utep.edu