Our Team
Paula M. Niedenthal
Paula received her PhD from the University of Michigan and was on the faculty of the departments of psychology at Johns Hopkins University and Indiana University. Following a year’s sabbatical in Aix-en-Provence, Paula became a member of the National Centre for Scientific Research in France, where she worked for 13 years. She is now the Howard Leventhal Professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Psychology and an affiliate of the Institute for Diversity Science. Her areas of research include representational models of emotion, the social functions of emotion expression, socio-ecological shapers of emotion culture, and the physiological basis of social tolerance. Paula is a past president of the Society for Affective Science (SAS) and is the lead author of Psychology of Emotion (3rd edition). In her free time, she enjoys being with family, her many pets, including Rudi the miniature pig, winter and summer sports, cooking, and traveling. niedenthal@wisc.edu
postdoctoral and graduate students
Y. Ivette Colón
Ivette is a fifth-year PhD student interested in the neural and computational mechanisms that support the perception of familiar people, objects, and concepts in both humans and computers. Before becoming affiliated with the Niedenthal Emotions lab and joining Dr. Emily Ward’s Visual Cognition lab, they worked in Dr. Alice O’Toole’s Face Perception lab at The University of Texas at Dallas, studying the representations that emerge from deep convolutional neural networks trained for face recognition. ycolon@wisc.edu
randy lee
Randy is a postdoctoral fellow with a PhD in Social and Personality Psychology from Cornell University and a BA in Psychology from UC Berkeley. His research explores how people navigate complex social dynamics in everyday life, with a focus on how emotions are socially regulated, how people interpret and respond to ambiguous social situations, and how (mis)perceptions shape affective experience. He has a cat named Cucumber. Feel free to reach out if you’re interested in getting involved in research! tl729@cornell.edu website: randy.lee
Michelle Marji
Michelle is a fifth-year PhD student with a focus in computational social science. She studies the intersections between identity, emotion, and social interaction. She investigates these topics by modeling human movement through space, analyzing the effects of synchronous movement and belonging, and conducting naturalistic studies. She uses similar methods to investigate human-robot interaction. Michelle's research is grounded in collaboration with social scientists, computer scientists, entrepreneurs, engineers, geographers, artists, and community members. Outside of the lab, Michelle is a dance artist. michelle.marji@wisc.edu
Srishti Goel
Srishti is a postdoctoral fellow with a Ph.D. in Psychology from Yale University. Her research seeks to build a comprehensive understanding of how people infer emotions in daily life and the consequences of those inferences. She uses computational modeling, surveys, and behavioral experiments to study how people integrate different cues and consider situational complexity when making emotion judgments. She also investigates emotional engagement with AI—examining what makes people trust emotion AI and how they respond to emotional judgments made by machines. sgoel46@wisc.edu.
undergrad research assistants
AURELIA Dae Rutkowski
Aurelia is a sophomore from Jefferson, Wisconsin majoring in biochemistry, psychology, and neuroscience. She is interested in social functions of emotions, especially within nonverbal communication. After graduation, she plans to attend medical school and will specialize in psychiatry. Outside of the lab, she enjoys swimming, camping, and cooking new foods.
Corey Braverman
Corey Braverman is a junior majoring in Global Health on the Pre-Med track, with a certificate in Science Communication. He is interested in how psychological research can inform clinical practice---particularly in recognizing and responding to patients' emotional states when they aren't directly expressed. Outside the lab, he enjoys playing tennis, engaging in community service, and connecting with others through visual storytelling.
Heidi Grijnsztein
Heidi (she/her) is from Sacramento, California. She is in the class of 2026 and is planning to graduate with a degree in Psychology and a certificate in Disability Rights and Services. While post-graduation is a few years away, she hopes to pursue an advanced degree to become a therapist. Outside of psychology, she enjoys music, thrift shopping, and video production.
Jack Esser
Jack is a second-year undergraduate student with majors in psychology and neurobiology. He is very interested in human behavior and emotion, although he is open to any type of learning that may be intriguing or beneficial. After graduating he plans on going to medical school to study psychiatry. In his free time he enjoys spending time with friends, listening to music, and getting exercise.
Reese Mengwasser
Reese is from Hartland, Wisconsin majoring in neurobiology and psychology. She is interested in studying how people use emotional synchrony during communication and how that influences understanding and connection. After graduation, Reese hopes to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology. Outside of the lab, she is a recruitment chair for Badger SPILL, an anonymous peer support club, and enjoys running, baking, and spending time with friends.
Natalie Kleiderer
Natalie is from Charlotte, North Carolina, majoring in Psychology and Kinesiology. After graduation, Natalie aspires to go to graduate school to study sport psychology, with a focus on performance anxiety. Her goal is to work with professional athletes, particularly in the NFL. In her free time, Natalie loves to snowboard, go to cycle classes, and spend time with her friends.
Zachary Lowenthal
Zach is from Morristown, New Jersey, majoring in psychology on the pre-health track. He plans to pursue medical school after graduating with the goal of integrating psychological perspectives into patient care as an aspiring psychiatrist. Outside of work, Zach loves staying active, playing guitar, and playing basketball with his friends.
William WANG
William is a sophomore from Toronto, Canada majoring in psychology. He is interested in studying emotion and is willing to learn anything that is beneficial. After his undergraduate education, William plans to attend graduate school to pursue a license in psychology. During his free time, he enjoys spending time with friends and also enjoys fencing.
Cooper Wisener
Cooper is from Hartland, Wisconsin, majoring in Data Science. He is interested in studying human connection, sports analytics, and the impact of social interaction on a team's performance. While graduation is still a couple years away, Cooper wants to work in the sports industry, providing teams with the cutting edge of sports analytics. In his free time, he enjoys listening to music, playing basketball, and swimming.
Callie Jahnke
Callie is a senior neurobiology and psychology major from Hugo, Minnesota. After graduation, she plans to continue gaining lab experience before she pursues a Ph.D. in neuroscience. She is interested in working with people who have neurodegenerative diseases and how we can minimize the negative effects on social connection. In her free time, she enjoys listening to music, dancing, playing volleyball, and reading.
Kyler morgan
Kyler is a senior Psychology student from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. He is fascinated with the social and evolutionary purpose of emotions and behaviors. Post-graduation, he aspires to further his study of psychology with a graduate degree. Kyler is a serial hobbyist, but cooking, listening to live music, and painting are among his favorite ways to spend his free time.
melia wendt
Melia (she/her) is a psychology major from Appleton, Wisconsin. She is interested in clinical psychology, as well as human behavior and personality. She plans to pursue a career in mental health, either as a therapist or a researcher. Melia loves gardening and learning about the natural world, and plans to continue developing her writing skills.
Luke scanlan
Luke (he/him) is a sophomore from Greenwich, CT, planning to major in psychology and global health. Luke is interested in pursuing a career in medicine and hoping to attend medical school upon graduating from UW. He is very interested in human behavior and emotions. Outside of school, he enjoys spending time outside, hanging out with friends, and is an avid golfer.
Prior Turnmeyer
Prior is from Madison, Wisconsin, pursuing a triple major in Psychology, Spanish, and Communications. Prior is very interested in social connection, specifically what roadblocks hinder connection, and how to overcome them. After graduating, he plans to go to grad school to enter the field of clinical psychology. Outside of the lab, he likes to spend time outside, play sports, and spend time with friends.
Luca Photopoulos
Luca is from New York City and is set to graduate with a major in Psychology and minor in Business Management. He is primarily interested in the role social interaction plays in human development and decision-making. After his senior year, he plans to continue his education in social psychology. Outside of work, Luca loves to play tennis and cook.
Suhaas Vaddadi
Suhaas (he/him) from the California Bay Area majoring in Computer Science. He is working on how we can use computer and data science tools to further understand human emotion and social interaction dynamics. Outside of the lab, Suhaas enjoys the outdoors, cooking, and training jiu jitsu.
Lab manager
Karina miller
Karina is the Niedenthal Emotions Lab’s lab manager. They graduated with a BA in Psychology from UW-Madison in Spring 2023. After leaving UW-Madison, she has the goal of pursuing a PhD in social psychology. Her main research interests include studying positive emotions, close relationships, and how synchrony influences affective states. In undergrad, Karina was a trumpet player in the Badger Marching Band. In their free time, they enjoy rock climbing, especially at Devil’s Lake State Park. You can reach her at kjmiller27@wisc.edu
lab alumni
ANDREW LANGBEHN
Andrew is now a graduate student at the University of Tennessee – Knoxville working under the direction of Jeff Larsen. Andrew graduated from UW-Madison in spring 2020 with a BA in psychology and a certificate in criminal justice. His interests include the role of individual and group emotions in intergroup aggression, mixed emotions, and emotional appeals to violence. Alangbe1@utk.edu
JARED MARTIN
Jared completed his Ph.D. in 2019. He investigates the functions of expressions (facial, gestural, vocal) that are typically perceived as signaling emotion, the physiology of emotion, and the neural basis of emotional factors in person perception. Indicators of emotion in his research include cortisol, facial EMG, measures of ANS activity, EEG/ERP. Jared is now a senior manager in Digital Medicine at Karyopharm Therapeutics. jmartin0964@gmail.com
ADRIENNE WOOD
Adrienne is now an assistant professor and director of the Emotion and Behavior Lab at the University of Virginia. Adrienne completed her Phd in 2018 and was a postdoctoral researcher in the Dartmouth Social Systems Lab, working with Thalia Wheatley on behavioral predictors of healthy social connection. Her interests include the role of sensorimotor simulation in emotion perception, the social functions of laughter, and the influence of distal cultural factors on emotion expression. adrienne.wood@virginia.edu
STEPHANIE CARPENTER
Stephanie is now an assistant professor of Population Health at the Arizona State University College of Health Solutions. She received a joint PhD in social psychology and business administration from the University of Michigan and was a postdoctoral fellow on the training grant in emotion research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research examines the role of emotion and cognition in engagement behavior. Much of her current work is concerned with investigating ways to promote health equity through the use of experimental methods to optimize adaptive health behavior change interventions. stephanie.m.carpenter@asu.edu
Sebastian Korb
Sebastian is now a lecturer (assistant professor) at the University of Essex, UK. After completing a postdoc in the Niedenthal Emotions Lab, he completed a postdoc in neuroscience at SISSA, Italy, and in psychology at the University of Vienna, Austria. Sebastian investigates the psychological processes and neural substrates underlying the perception and production of facial expression. He also uses neuromuscular electric stimulation to study the integration of visual and proprioceptive stimuli. sebastian.korb@essex.ac.uk
Magdalena Rychlowska
Magdalena is now an assistant professor at Queen's University Belfast. She received her PhD in 2014 and worked as postdoctoral researcher at Cardiff University and Queen's University Belfast. Her research focuses on production, perception, and social functions of facial expressions, in particular smiles and laughter. M.Rychlowska@qub.ac.uk
CHRIS THORSTENSON
Chris is now assistant professor of color science at Rochester Institute of Technology. He received his PhD in social psychology from the University of Rochester and was a postdoctoral researcher at UW-Madison working with Karen Schloss and Paula Niedenthal. He studies how faces change color (e.g., blushing), how the visual system detects these changes, and how people interpret facial coloration as social information. He is also interested in the utility of color for conveying information about artificial social agents, data visualizations, and medical applications. Visit his website to learn more. catpocs@rit.edu
ryan hampton
Ryan was a postdoctoral researcher working with Paula on the Emotion Training Grant. He received his PhD in social psychology from Arizona State University, specializing in cultural neuroscience. Ryan is interested in how people from different cultural backgrounds regulate their emotions and images of the self in terms of cognitive ability. His expertise is in electroencephalography (EEG), and he uses this technique to measure emotion responses without the influence of subjective biases.
Sophie Wohltjen
Sophie completed her post-doctoral work in 2025 and is now assistant professor of Psychology and director of the Social Connection Lab at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Her research aims to understand how nonverbal behaviors such as eye contact and facial expression can connect two people during social interaction. Her areas of expertise include eye-tracking and naturalistic experimental design, and she implements a variety of computational tools in order to effectively understand and model the dynamics of social interaction as they naturally unfold in time. wohltjen@wisc.edu
ETHAN HARROD
Ethan completed his Ph.D. in 2023 and is now an assistant professor of psychology at Mount Mary University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His teaching interests include inclusive and adaptive course design, with a focus on helping students to gain strong proficiencies in scientific writing, presentation, and data literacy. He teaches social, affective, cultural, health, experimental, and introductory psychology. Contact him at: harrode@mtmary.edu