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. Paula was a member of the National Centre for Scientific Research in France for more than a decade and is now the Howard Leventhal Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. 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 past president of the Society for Affective Science (SAS) and is lead author of Psychology of Emotion (2017). In her free time she enjoys her many pets, including Rudi the miniature pig, all winter and summer sports, and travel. niedenthal@wisc.edu 

Paula’s CV

Paula’s blog Cliche Busters

 
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postdoctoral and graduate students

Y. Ivette Colón

Ivette is a fourth-year psychology PhD student at UW. Broadly speaking, they are 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

Michelle Marji

Michelle is a third-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 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

Sophie Wohtjen

Sophie is a second-year postdoctoral fellow with a PhD in Psychology from Dartmouth College. 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

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ryan hampton

Ryan is 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. rshampton@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.


Elijah Lin

Elijah (they/them) is a Junior from Madison, WI, majoring in Education Studies, Mathematics, and Psychology. Elijah is interested in understanding how social interactions influence emotion regulation, as well as underlying social factors for emotion processes. After graduation, they plan to pursue a PhD program in Clinical Psychology. Outside of the lab Elijah hangs out with friends and is a student advocate part of the Associated Students of Madison.

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.


ALEX HUANG

Alex is a senior from Taiwan who is majoring in Computer Science. He is broadly interested in machine learning and computer vision and is especially interested in video understanding. He currently works on the measurement of synchrony with Michelle Marji and emotion recognition with Sophie Wohltjen.


Zain Ashraf

Zain is a Sophomore from San Diego, California studying Psychology with a certificate in Political Science. After completing his undergraduate studies, Zain hopes to either continue in the field of psychology or study law. When not working in the lab, Zain enjoys working out, thrifting, learning the guitar, and trying not to slip on ice.

sophie schroeder

Sophie is a senior from Antigo, Wisconsin majoring in neurobiology and psychology. She is on a pre-medical track and hopes to attend medical school, eventually specializing in psychiatry after completing her undergraduate degree. Her interests include the autonomic nervous system and its role in emotional regulations under different social environments. Outside of school, Sophie enjoys traveling, thrift shopping, and exercising.

Mollie Tankenoff

Mollie is from the suburbs of Minneapolis. She will be graduating in the spring of 2024 with a double major in Psychology and Human Development and Family Studies. After graduating from UW-Madison, she plans to attend graduate school to receive a Master’s level degree in counseling. Outside of the lab, Mollie loves to hang with friends and spend time outdoors in the sun.

mazEn razzaq

Mazen is a senior from Brookfield, Wisconsin majoring in psychology and neurobiology. He is mainly interested in the relationship between belongingness and its neurological responses. After graduation, he plans to apply to medical school. In his free time, he enjoys cooking different dishes, video games, as well as doing pottery at the wheelhouse.


URMI MEHTA

Urmi is a junior from Mumbai, India, majoring in Computer Science and Psychology. She strives to decode the nature vs nurture quest and explore the influence of emotion and culture in decision making, and the patterns that emerge from human behavior. Outside of school, she is a book-hoarding enthusiast who finds comfort in traveling, rewatching old shows, and Paul’s Pel’meni.

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.


Ciana Gleissner

Ciana is a junior from Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. She will be graduating in winter of 2024 with a B.A. in psychology and a certificate in Asian American Studies. She is most interested affective disorders and intends to go to graduate school to practice in clinical settings. Out of academia, Ciana enjoys playing tennis, chess, and going to local music venues. 

bailey wilde

Bailey is a fifth-year undergrad from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin studying psychology and anthropology. He is interested in how we can use social psychology principles to spread information about mental healthcare and awareness among communities. He plans to pursue a graduate degree in a social science. He hopes to advocate for better access to mental healthcare for underserved populations and reduce stigma. Beyond school, Bailey enjoys going on hikes, listening to music, reading, completing puzzles, and knitting.

Shuheng Jiang

Shuheng is a master student in Psychology – Data Science in Human Behavior program, her hometown is Guilin, China. She is broadly interested in emotions, human cognitions, and machine learning. Specifically, she’s interested in learning how we can teach robots to synchronize expressive signals with human users and exploring applications of emerging technologies in psychological research. Shuheng plans on further attending graduate school to achieve a degree in social psychology. In her free time, she enjoys video games and playing Guzheng.

WeiJia liang

Weijia is a senior from Shanghai, China, majoring in Psychology and Human Development and Family Studies. She is interested in the role of positive emotions such as awe, compassion and empathy in the field of mental health and contemplative science. She's also interested in factors that distinguish normative emotion and clinical depression and anxiety.  She plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Psychology after graduation. In her free time, she enjoys drawing trees in nature, practicing ancient calligraphy, and meditating.

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.

yulin tong

Yulin is a junior from Guangzhou, China, majoring in Psychology and Data Science. Her passion is related to emotion topics in social interactions. She is planning to pursue a graduate degree in applied fields of psychology in the future. In her free time, she loves skiing but apparently she is not good at it for now. 

 

Sarah ayen

Sarah Ayen (she/her/hers) is from Byron, Minnesota. She is currently a junior at UW-Madison and is majoring in psychology! Her goal is to go down the clinical psychology pathway, so get a Psy.D. or Ph.D. to become a clinical psychotherapist. Outside of school, she has her own photography business (she takes senior/grad/ family portraits/and more), and she loves to thrift. Sarah enjoys traveling, trying new foods, movie nights with friends, cycling classes, hanging out with her little cousins, talking about skincare, and going on very long walks.

 

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, especially within dyads, how personality affects emotional experiences, 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.

 
 

lab alumni

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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

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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 

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ADRIENNE WOOD

Adrienne is now an assistant professor 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

FANGYUN (OLIVIA) ZHAO

Olivia started in the lab as an undergraduate research assistant and was also co-advised by Dr. Bilge Mutlu in the Department of Computer Science during her doctoral work. She is interested in nonverbal signals of emotion in social interactions, human-robot interaction and affective computing. Olivia loves to explore applications of emerging technologies in psychological research. During her leisure time, she enjoys painting, traveling and tasting food. Olivia now works in the tech industry. olivia.zhao@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