UCLA

officers

Vivian Byeon 
UGSP Co-President

Vivian (she/her) is a 5th year doctoral student in the Clinical area. Her research is focused on examining organizational and system-level factors that support the mental health workforce and impact the adoption and sustainment of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in community mental health settings. She is passionate about supporting and addressing the needs of underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students in the department.

Sarah Rocha 
UGSP Co-President

Sarah Rocha is a 5th year graduate student in the Developmental area. Her research focuses on psychosocial and biologic factors linking socioeconomic status with health across the lifespan. She is dedicated to supporting the needs of underrepresented students in research and psychology.

Riley Marshall
UGSP Vice President

Riley (they/them) is a 4th year doctoral student in the Social area. Their work focuses on awareness of intersecting oppressions and prosocial behavior. They care deeply about the role of community support and mentorship in academia, and are excited to help UGSP continue to provide space for resources and shared experiences among URM graduate students as Vice President.

Fran Querdasi
UGSP Treasurer

Fran (she/her) is a 4th year doctoral student in the Developmental area. Her research is centered on understanding how exposure to early life and intergenerational adversity are related to depression, anxiety, and chronic pain, focusing on biological (e.g., gut microbiome, immune system) and psychological (e.g., understanding of emotions) mechanisms. She is passionate about supporting underrepresented students in psychology, science, and academia more generally.

Xochitl Arlene Smola
UGSP Secretary

Arlene (she/her) is a first-generation 4th year Latina doctoral student in developmental psychology. Her research focuses on the developmental importance of youth voice and contributions, with a focus on cultural values and disparities. Following her time as the High School Outreach Committee Co-Chair, she is excited to now serve underrepresented students through broader UGSP initiatives as Secretary on the Execute Board.

Committee Chairs

Christina Huber
UGSP Brown Bag Committee Co-Chair

Christina is a third-year graduate student in the Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab. Leveraging social neuroscience tools like fMRI and fNIRS, Christina’s work explores the brain bases of naive realism—how our immediate, effortless beliefs about the world come to feel like reality–with the ultimate goal of building more effective open-mindedness interventions. As co-chair of the Brown Bag Committee, Christina is eager to support graduate students’ professional advancement and feelings of belonging at UCLA.

Gil Moreu
UGSP Brown Bag Committee Co-Chair

Gil Moreu is a 3rd year Ph.D. student in the Social Psychology area. He does research on the social impact of non-prototypicality and its downstream consequences for how people think about their identity and how willing they are to engage in group serving behavior. As co-chair of the Brown Bag Committee, he looks forward to working to demystify the “hidden curriculum”  and facilitating graduate students’ professional success.

Sukriti Gupta
UGSP High School Outreach Committee Co-Chair

Sukriti is a third-year graduate student in the Behavioral Neuroscience area. Her research is focused on understanding the neural underpinnings of value-based decision making. As the Co-Chair of the High School Outreach Committee, she hopes to connect with local high school youth to disambiguate the process of pursuing higher education and research opportunities in psychology.

Megha Nagaswami
UGSP High School Outreach Committee Co-Chair

Megha is a 3rd year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology area. Her research focus is on experiences of trauma among underrepresented populations, especially as related to intimate partner abuse or domestic violence. Megha is excited to work with the High School Outreach committee to expand access to, awareness, and excitement about psychological research.

Siôbhan Glynn
UGSP Social Committee Co-Chair

Siôbhan is a 4th year doctoral student in the Developmental area. She studies how children and adolescents identify complex emotions and the scaffolding that supports emotion processing. Siôbhan has passionately supported the academic and career development of high school and undergraduate students with diverse backgrounds through volunteering in UGSP initiatives, holding her own small workshops, and providing mentorship. She is also dedicated to extending support to her fellow underrepresented graduate students by establishing community and connection in the department through her role in the Social Committee.

Gustavo A. Mártir Luna
UGSP Social Committee Co-Chair

Gustavo is a 3rd year doctoral student in Social Psychology. His research lies at the intersection of psychology and political science and specifically investigates how the way we speak, think, and identify influence political decision-making. As a first-gen student from a low-income background, Gustavo is dedicated to fostering a welcoming and inclusive environment for underrepresented doctoral students by hosting and promoting social events.  

Alice Xu
UGSP Transfer Outreach Committee Co-Chair

Alice is a 2nd year graduate student in the Developmental area. Her research interests include individual differences during learning and cognitive development. She transferred from a community college to UCLA during her undergraduate and was involved in the UCLA Transfer Mentorship Program for two years. As the Co-Chair of the Transfer Outreach Committee, she hopes to provide more resources to underrepresented and transfer students.

Naomi Kline
UGSP Transfer Outreach Committee Co-Chair

Naomi is a 4th year doctoral student in Developmental Psychology. She studies how the racial diversity of schools relates to adolescents’ psychosocial development and friendships. She is particularly interested in the experiences of multiethnic youth and how they navigate their ethnic-racial identities during adolescence. In addition to research, Naomi is passionate about supporting first-generation college students and transfer students, mentoring youth in the LA foster care system, and making time to rest.

Icy(Yunyi) Zhang
UGSP Undergraduate Outreach Committee Co-Chair

Icy is a 4th year doctoral student in the developmental area. Her research focuses on understanding the processes of teaching and learning. She especially cares about the translation of research in cognitive and developmental psychology to real classrooms to directly impact students. She is also dedicated to creating more access to STEM education for students from disadvantageous backgrounds.

Jasmine Hernandez
UGSP Undergraduate Outreach Committee Co-Chair

Jasmine (she/her/ella) is a 2nd year PhD student in Developmental Psychology at UCLA. Her research focuses on how positive human behaviors, such as prosociality, develop during the period of adolescence and how the adolescent brain and environment (e.g., family, culture) support these positive behaviors and well-being. As Co-Chair of the Undergraduate Outreach Committee, she is dedicated to empowering underrepresented students with invaluable resources and guidance on applying to graduate school.

Founders

Courtney Heldreth
UGSP Founder

“UGSP is important to me because it makes me feel supported by others like me who might have unique experiences in graduate school. UGSP is an important community that encourages the potential and promise of those from underrepresented groups by giving back to others in a meaningful way.”

Jenessa Shapiro
Founding UGSP Faculty Sponsor – In Memoriam

“UGSP is important to me because it provides a supportive, welcoming community for students from underrepresented groups. What is impressive about UGSP is that it is student-initiated and student-run. As a result, UGSP genuinely understands, and can address, what is needed and wanted by underrepresented students in psychology. UGSP is clearly committed to making a difference in the pipeline– committing time, energy and resources to the graduate students in psychology, to the undergraduate community, and to the community at large. I hope to see you at the next UGSP event!”