OUR TEAM
BRUNA MARTINS-KLEIN, PH.D.
Principle Investigator
Dr. Martins is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at the University of Massachusetts- Amherst. She completed Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh, a Ph.D. in Clincal Psychology at the University of Southern California, and a Geropsychology clinical internship and post-doctoral fellowship at the VA Boston Healthcare System. She is a core member of UMass Amherst's Clinical Psychology Program and Neuroscience & Behavior Graduate Program.
PARKER LONGWELL
Graduate Student
Parker is a clinical psychology graduate student who is interested in the neural mechanisms behind psychological disorders, especially in terms of emotion regulation. His prior work has been with veterans at the Etkin Lab at Stanford University, using neuro-modulation techniques to examine neural networks that can be affected by trauma. Currently his focus is on how our brain adapts over the lifespan to successfully regulate emotions, and how we can detect these changes at rest.
ROBERTO FALVO
Undergraduate RA
Roberto is a psychology major at UMASS Amherst, due to graduate in Spring 2020 with hopes of attending medical school and becoming a primary care physician, possibly in the field of infectious diseases. He is interested in medicine and neuroscience, especially the effect of psychological pathologies on human physiology. Outside of his studies, he has a passion for helping others, whether that be through volunteering at Baystate Medical Center, or Homework House Holyoke. Other than being a research assistant he is also an active member in several clubs on campus, acting as President of The American Heart Association Club, and a member of the Psi Chi Honor Society. He enjoys spending free time watching reality television, playing tennis, and being with family and friends.
ROZAH ARRAN
Undergraduate RA
Rozah is a junior pre PA, psychology neuroscience major with a minor in biology. This is her first year with the NRV lab. Her interests include the effects of PTSD in people who served in the Vietnam and Iraq war and progression of neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's and Parkinson's. Rozah is an EMT and works on an ambulance in north shore Massachusetts. On campus, she is a spring 2019 field supervisor for Umass EMS. She is due to graduate spring 2020 and hopes to attend PA school and focus in neurology, emergency medicine, or obstetrics.
PAIGE FARRAN
Undergraduate RA
Paige is a psychology and public health double major at UMass Amherst, set to graduate in the spring of 2021. She is interested in mental health and helping others as she hopes to one day become a Psychiatrist. She is curious about psychological processes that enable thinking, memory, and emotion. She would like to learn more about cognitive functioning and pharmaceutical treatments to better those struggling with mental illness. She loves to travel as she just spent the semester abroad in Ireland at the National University of Ireland Galway and she helps lead UMass’s YourStory International chapter as she advocates for global health in Haiti, traveling there to assist in medical clinics. She is very excited to contine her studies in psychology.
DOLMA TSERING
Undergraduate RA
Dolma is a junior majoring in Psychology on the Neuroscience track at UMASS Amherst. She is interested in research related to cognitive and neurological disorders. She loves to work with her research team as well as participants in hopes to gather valuable data that can help improve the lives of individuals. As an intern through the Placebo Studies & Therapeutic Encounter (PiPS) for the New England School of Acupuncture research department at MCPHS University, Dolma assists in data extraction, analyzing literature reviews and systematic reviews of studies to help publish articles. Outside of her interest in research, she is also the event-coordinator for the on campus chapter of an international grassroots organization, Students for a Free Tibet. She is also a member of the Students to End Alzheimer's Disease and the Association of Women in Science. In her free time she volunteers for Boston Cares and hopes to become a volunteer leader. Her hobbies includes baking, hiking, and reading.
IRINA ORLOVSKY
Graduate Student
Irina is a first-year graduate student in the NRV lab and Clinical division. Prior to joining the lab in the fall of 2018, she received her BS in Psychology and Neuroscience from UMass Amherst and her MA in Psychology from Brandeis University. Irina served as a pre-doctoral research fellow with the US military and more recently shared a dual role as a coordinator for the Harvard Aging Brain Study and psychometrist for the Center for Alzheimer Research and Treatment. She currently uses cognitive and neuroimaging methods to investigate how self-relevant memories confer resilience to cognitively demanding emotion regulation strategies in older adulthood, and is interested in the differential role of autobiographical memory, sleep, and emotion regulation on subsequent memory recall in healthy and pathological aging.
CLARA DEFONTES
Graduate Student
Clara is an incoming first year who will be joining Dr. Martin’s lab in the fall of 2019. Prior to coming to UMass Amherst, she worked at Yale University’s Department of Psychiatry and the West Haven VA studying fear-learning processes and PTSD in veteran and civilian populations. Clara received a BA in Psychology, and Brain and Cognitive Sciences, from the University of Rochester. Her interests lie in the facilitation of mindfulness on emotion regulation, and the following alterations in memory and thought processes that build resiliency. She hopes to use multiple cognitive and neuroimaging methods to better understand these relationships, especially any processing differences between older and younger populations.
ELIZABETHÂ ALWAN
Lab Manager
Lizzie is interested in memory formation and emotion processing in adults, more specifically, PTSD and the brain areas associated with the formation of traumatic memories. She one days hopes to research pharmacological treatments targeting specific brain areas for the treatment of PTSD. Similarly, she is curious about veteran counseling techniques and the spread of PTSD awareness and treatment in refugee areas, like the Middle East. She completed the first two years of her undergraduate degree at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland as a psychology major before transferring to UMass Amherst. She is set to graduate in the spring of 2020, after which she hopes to continue her studies in the area of clinical psychology.