Loyola University Chicago, Department of Psychology
Dr. Conley does not plan to accept a new graduate student for Fall 2027. Please note: Dr. Conley receives hundreds of applications each cycle and does not have the capacity to look at CVs or to connect with students outside of Loyola's official application and interview system. We hope that this website answers many of your questions, and we wish all applicants good luck in this application cycle!
Overview: My research blends observational patterns, meta-analytic/systematic reviews, and intervention development and evaluation, with the goal of improving well-being, especially through critical life experiences and developmental transition periods.
Observational research: Much of my earlier research examines trajectories of psychological well- and ill-being in adolescence and emerging adulthood. These pathways are illuminated in the context of developmental transition periods, such as school transitions. Grounded in a developmental psychopathology perspective, my research examines the dynamic interplay between individuals and their developmental contexts over time, and the interacting contributions from multiple systems – biological, psychological, cognitive and social/interpersonal. Toward this end, my research has examined the contributions of individual factors (gender, physical development, cognitive styles) and interpersonal factors (peer and family relationships, interpersonal styles), as well as the interactional and transactional processes by which these factors relate to each other and to psychosocial distress. I am also interested in gender issues, such as exploring the characteristics, contexts, and mechanisms that place adolescent girls and young women at elevated risk for internalizing problems, and our ongoing work seeks to contribute insight and innovation to addressing LGBTQIA+ well-being. It is my hope that this program of research will inform family-, school-, and community-based interventions aimed at building resiliency in adolescents and emerging adults, in the face of normative and atypical developmental challenges.
Meta-analytic and systematic reviews: Our lab has conducted several meta-analytic and systematic reviews that have shaped our later work on intervention development.
Intervention research: More recently, my research team has been developing, implementing, and evaluating the effectiveness of interventions for youth of various ages, including emerging-adult college students.
These interventions include:
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treatment, prevention, and stepped/staged care models;
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using digital and face-to-face (individual and group) delivery formats;
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both stand-alone and embedded - i.e., into courses, academic advising or other routine services;
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led by trained peers, paraprofessionals (e.g., university staff), and mental health workers.
In this work we also seek to understand moderators of intervention impact, and ways to optimize interventions to meet the needs of individuals and groups based on their personal, social, and cultural experiences. We have several research studies evaluating the effectiveness of interventions for college students (see descriptions on this website).
Mentoring: In my experience, the most successful researchers strike a good balance between "zooming in" (being diligent and meticulously attentive to detail), and "zooming out" (envisioning big-picture ideas, being self-directed and inventive). Accordingly, my approach to mentoring graduate students in research combines top-down and bottom-up approaches: While I provide structure, support, and guidance for students, I also urge them to take co-ownership of the work we do in our lab, and to develop their own independent project ideas and research skills. I also encourage my students to take their research endeavors beyond the lab, by publishing in peer-reviewed journals and presenting at national conferences.
Link to Google Scholar.
Current Graduate Students
Graduate students who wish to conduct their master's thesis or dissertation in the IMPACT lab may use data from one of our completed/ongoing projects, or may develop a new project and collect their own data.
First Year
Shanze Hayee
(she/her/hers)
Shanze is a first-year in the clinical psychology doctoral program. She graduated from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities in May of 2024 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a minor in Spanish. After graduation, she worked as a clinical research coordinator at the UMN, facilitating creative arts intervention research studies for youth in Minneapolis. She is interested in researching community-based strengths, particularly interpersonal protective factors, as they relate to individual and community well-being. She hopes to develop and adapt evidence-based interventions that harness these community-based strengths to provide effective, tailored support to underserved communities. She is especially interested in collaborating with Muslim-American communities.
First Year
Brayden A. Misiolek
(they/he)
Brayden is a first-year doctoral student in the clinical psychology program. They earned their B.A. in Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy from James Madison College at Michigan State University, and completed postbaccalaureate coursework in psychology at Northwestern University's School of Professional Studies.
Before beginning doctoral training, Brayden co-founded Transcend the Binary, a community organization advancing the integrative health and well-being of the trans and gender diverse community. Over the past decade, they served as its Executive Director and led a range of community-based research projects spanning qualitative, cross-sectional, and pre/post-test intervention evaluation designs.
Brayden is interested in identifying mechanisms linking minority stress to personality functioning and well-being, and in developing and evaluating accessible, skills-based interventions for emerging adults from stigmatized communities, with a particular focus on trans and gender diverse populations. Grounded in interpersonal, cognitive-behavioral, and DBT-informed frameworks, they are contributing to a meta-analytic investigation of mobile technology-delivered interventions targeting mood and anxiety in adolescents and young adults, and to ongoing work adapting evidence-based treatments for LGBTQIA+ and other special populations.
Brayden's Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=list_works&hl=en&hl=en&user=b8qy4Y4AAAAJ&sortby=pubdate
Brayden's ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6355-0854
Second Year
Michelle Liu
(she/her/hers)
Michelle is a second-year doctoral student in clinical psychology. She earned her B.S. in Biology with a Neuroscience minor from UC Riverside in 2019 and an MPH in Public Mental Health/Health Behavior from UC San Diego in 2021. After working at Mental Health America of San Diego, she pivoted to focus on digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) and their implementation among youth and emerging adults. At One Mind Psyberguide, she served as a Digital Mental Health Specialist, evaluating the evidence base and effectiveness of DMHIs across diverse populations. Her research interests center on increasing the scalability and adoption of DMHIs among college students through human-centered design and implementation science, with a particular focus on making interventions more culturally relevant for minoritized communities.
Third Year
Eleanor (Ellie) Malone
(she/her/hers)
Ellie is a third-year in the clinical psychology doctoral program. She graduated from Georgetown University in 2022 with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Public Health. Following graduation, she worked for two years as a Postbaccalaureate Fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health in the Emotion and Development Branch, where she collaborated on adolescent depression treatment studies. She is particularly interested in emotion regulation and severe symptomatology in adolescents and emerging adults experiencing mood and anxiety disorders. She hopes to research evidence-based treatments tailored for developmental transition periods and harness digital platforms to improve research methods and interventions.
Fourth Year
Kirby Knapp
(she/her/hers)
Kirby is a fourth-year student in the clinical psychology doctoral program. She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a BA in Psychological and Brain Sciences and a minor in Marketing. Following graduation, she worked for two years as a Clinical Research Assistant at the Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health, where she investigated the relationships between social media use, peer victimization, and social isolation in hospitalized adolescents. She is interested in exploring how interpersonal relationships and adolescent development affect well-being and psychopathology in emerging adults. She hopes to design and evaluate interventions aimed at improving psychological health in young adults.
Current Research Assistants
Andi Spratt
(she/her/hers)
I am Junior at Loyola University Chicago, double-majoring in Neuroscience - Cognitive/Behavioral and Psychology on the Pre-Med track. I joined the IMPACT lab as a research assistant during my freshman year to explore my passion for mental health, particularly in children and adolescents, which aligns with my long-term goal of pursuing a career in child psychiatry. It is my second year in the lab and I am excited to continue growing my research skills and passions within the lab as well as stepping into the role of lab coordinator!
Viktoria Orlay
(she/her/hers)
I joined the IMPACT Lab as a Research Assistant during my freshman year at Loyola University Chicago in January 2026. I am currently double-majoring in Psychology and Cognitive Behavioral Neuroscience, and I plan to pursue clinical psychology in the future. I joined the IMPACT Lab because I’m really interested in mental health and research, especially when it comes to college students. I’ve been interested in mental health, specifically psychological disorders and perfectionism, since high school, where I had the chance to explore these topics with professionals more deeply. During my time in the IMPACT Lab, I hope to learn more about mental disorders and different research methods so that one day I can conduct my own study on perfectionism. I’m very excited to be a part of this lab and to learn more about the research process and mental health overall!
Meredith Beer
(she/her/hers)
I am currently a junior at Loyola University Chicago, double majoring in Psychology and Theology with minors in Social Work and Catholic Studies. I plan to pursue a doctoral degree in counseling psychology. Driven by a commitment to destigmatizating mental health and supporting personal well-being. I currently do this as a volunteer through Crisis Text Line, and am excited to implement it in research as well. I joined the IMPACT Lab to help contribute to research in mental health, especially in finding more effective prevention and intervention processes. It is my first year in the lab and I am excited to develop my research skills with the long-term goal of conducting independent research.
Bianca Silva
(she/her/hers)
Bianca Silva graduated from Penn State University in 2026 with dual B.A. degrees in Psychology and English and a minor in Human Development and Family Studies. Before joining the IMPACT Lab, she worked as a research assistant in the Parent-Child Dynamics Lab at Penn State for three years, where she studied the effects of parenting and stress on emotional regulation, particularly within at-risk environments, through data collection and data processing. Bianca also worked with the Jana Marie Foundation to help develop programs supporting mental health initiatives across diverse populations. Her research interests center on developmental and clinical psychology, particularly the ways caregiving and environmental factors shape children’s emotional and interpersonal development. She hopes to contribute to the advancement of therapeutic interventions for at-risk youth and plans to pursue a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, with the goal of working closely with children and families to support youth mental health.
Anne Catherine (Annie) Johnson
(she/her/hers)
Annie graduated from Kalamazoo College in 2026, with a B.A. in Psychology and English. During her undergrad, she worked as a research assistant in the Children’s Memory and Learning Lab at Loyola, where she collaborated on work regarding children’s learning and engagement through different STEM activities. She also spent a year working in the Identity Lab at Kalamazoo College, where she participated in research on Multiple Minority Stress and emerging adult identity development in college students. She is particularly interested in research on interpersonal relationships, specifically the ways that different domains of mental wellbeing influence relationship quality. As such, she hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in either clinical or applied social psychology, with a goal of working with adolescent and emerging adult populations.
Mia Wuppermann
(she/her/hers)
I am a Junior at Loyola University Chicago double majoring in Psychology and Spanish. This is my first year as a research assistant in the IMPACT lab and I’m excited to learn from this talented team! I’m planning to pursue graduate study in Clinical Psychology after graduating from Loyola, specifically working with children and adolescents. I joined the IMPACT lab because of its focus on examining methods of building resilience throughout developmental transitions, a topic of particular interest to me. Participating in this research will be useful experience and knowledge as I pursue a clinical career.
IMPACT Lab Alumni
Former Graduate Students
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Sarah Arbit (Broner) - PhD in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University Chicago (2026), BA in Psychology and Cognitive Science from the University of Michigan (2020)
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Maya Hareli - PhD in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University Chicago (2025), BA in Psychology from University of Massachusetts Amherst (2017)
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Amanda Ruggieri- BS Psychology from Brown University (2016)
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Carol Hundert Gonzales - PhD in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University (2022), BS in Psychology from Yale University (2014)
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Brynn Huguenel - PhD in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University (2021), BA in Psychology from Boston College (2012)
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Jenna Shapiro- PhD in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University (2019), BA in Psychology and minor in Dance from Barnard College of Columbia University in 2011
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Alex Kirsch - PhD in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University (2017), BA in Psychology from Kenyon College (2011)
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Catherine Lee - PhD in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University (2016), BA in Psychology from Cornell University (2008)
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Lea Travers - PhD in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University (2015), BS in Cognitive Neuroscience from Brown University (2008)
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Daniel Dickson - PhD in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University (2015), BA in Psychology from UCLA (2006)
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Ashley Rolnik - PhD in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University (2014), BA in Psychology from Northwestern University (2008)
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Alison Stoner - PhD in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University (2014), BA in Psychology from the University of Notre Dame (2008)
Former RAs
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Vidhi Manna - BS in Psychology and a minor in Biology (expected 2027)
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Bradley Orzada - BS in Psychology and Social Work (2026)
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Cristina Virlan - BS in Psychology and a BA in Multimedia Journalism (2026)
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Skye Dollahite - BS in Psychology and a minor in Psychology of Criminal Justice (2026)
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Eisha Shah - BS in Psychology (2022)
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Abby Roytburd - BS in Psychology (2026)
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Axel Juarez - BS in Psychology (expected 2026)
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Caitlin Diaz - BS in Psychology and minor in Biology (expected 2026)
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Zuzu Trottier - BS in Psychology and Statistics (2025)
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Harmony Singh - BS in Psychology and minors in English and Dance (2025)
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Olivia Carfolo - BS in Psychology and minor in Bioethics (2024)
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Josh Knutsen - BS in Psychology and minor in Journalism (2024)
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Sara Sadok - BS in Biology and minor in Theater (2024)
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Ali Boutelle - BS in Biochemistry (2024)
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Kerry Finnegan - BS in Psychology and minor in Urban Studies at the College of Holy Cross (2024)
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Khushi Thakkar - BS in Clinical Psychology and minor in Informatics and Business at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2024)
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Matt Shack - BS in Psychology (2023)
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Marie Chamberlain - BA in Psychology and Criminal Justice/Criminology and minor in Women's and Gender Studies (2022)
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Ally Tetzlaff - BA in Psychology and minor in Business Administration (2022)
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Danielle Arntson - BA in Psychology (2022)
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Callie Navarrete - BA in Psychology (2021)
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Abigail Blum - BA in Psychology and Creative Writing (2020) from Northwestern University
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Samad Alvi- BS in Psychology and minor in Biology (2021)
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Lauren Nowakowski- BS in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience and Psychology and minor in Bioethics (2021)
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Shanna Anssari- BS in Psychology (2021)
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Maria Bandriwsky- BS in Psychology and minor in Biology (2021)
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Saba Shalwani- BS in Psychology and minor in Bioethics (2021)
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Adorina Bethishou- BS in Psychology (2021)
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Avery Pankratz- BS in Psychology and Criminal Justice and Criminology (2020)
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Victoria Sardalla- BS in Psychology (2020)
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Chelsea Moore- BS in Psychology and minor in Biology (2020)
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Mia Allen- BA in Psychology (2019)
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Noor Abdelfattah- BS in Psychology and Political Science and minor in Spanish (2019)
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Sylwia Osos- BS in Psychology and minor in Spanish and Sociology from Loyola University (2019)
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Khrystyna Stetsiv- BS in Psychology and minor in Journalism from Loyola University (2019)
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Aleksandra Winiarz- BS in Psychology and Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience from Loyola University (2018), RA in pharmacology lab in Center for Translational Research and Education at Loyola University Chicago in Maywood
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Caroline Wysgalla- Studying at Loyola University; Psychology and Psychology of Crime and Justice
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Noah Whiteman - Studying at Lawrence University; pre-medical focus studying biology and environmental science
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Anum Afzal - BS in Psychology from Loyola University (2017)
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Maggie Meagher - BS in Psychology and BA in Sociology from Loyola University (2017), Candidate for Doctor of Medicine at UCSD
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Alexander Karl - BA in Psychology from Loyola University (2016)
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Gavin Crowell - BA in Psychology from Knox College (2016)
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Giulia Zanini - BS in Psychology from Loyola University (2016)
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Melissa Haggerty - BS in Psychology from Loyola University (2017)
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John Clifford - BS in Psychology from Loyola University (2016)
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Liz Pope - BS in Psychology from Loyola University (2011), Candidate for Juris Doctor at University of South Carolina (2017)
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Samicchya Adhikari - BS in Psychology from Loyola University (2013), Master's Degree in Biological and Biomedical Sciences from Kansas City University (2015)
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Zamara Qureshi - BS in Biology from Loyola University (2016), Candidate for Master of Science Physician's Assistant Studies at Midwestern University (2018)
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Devin Jordan - BS in Psychology from Loyola University (2014), Candidate for an MBA/MSHR from Loyola University (2018)
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Monica Kulach - BS in Psychology from Loyola University (2014)
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Katlyn Dillane - BS in Psychology from Loyola University (2014)
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Bita Rad - BS in Psychology, BA in Spanish from Loyola University (2014)
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Colleen Cook - BS in Psychology from Loyola University (2015)
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Lisa Ike - BS in Criminal Justics from the University of Houston (2010), MA in Counseling, Forensic Specialization from Adler University (2015)
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Whitney Lai - BS in Psychology from Loyola University (2015)
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Tracey Riley - BS in Psychology from Loyola University (2014)
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Michael Ryva - BS in Psychology from Loyola University (2013)
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Juan Barriga - BS in Psychology from Loyola University (2015), Candidate for an MA in Clinical Psychology (2017)