August 2023
One of our graduate students Jordan Mullins received the Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Research Service Award from the National Institute of Health. This is one of the most competitive predoctoral grants a graduate student can get, and we are very proud of her!
July 2023
One of our amazing undergraduate Research Assistants Dora Nguyen was selected as one of only 13 Chancellor’s Research Fellows for the 2023-2024 school year, a prestigious honor!
April & May 2023
The KIND Lab hosted a three-part workshop series centered around the arts and mental health for the children and families contributing to our research.
Our first session was led by sound healer Monika Skalak Pawlik (@_sound_sanctuary_). During this sound bath, we had the chance to explore and play different musical instruments in addition to enjoying a peaceful, meditative destress session with different lights, instruments, and breathing techniques. To watch the video from our first workshop, click here. Our second session was led by art therapist Amber Cromwell (@amberarttherapy). We practiced recognizing and responding to complex emotions, and had fun translating our thoughts to art through different mediums. Our third session was led by our very own Ballet Folklorico de UCR club on campus (@bf_ucr). In this dancing workshop, we learned about the history of Ballet Folklorico and learned a dance routine.
Thank you to all our participants who were able to attend our workshops and to our workshop facilitators for their passion, dedication, and time! See you for next year’s workshops!
October 2022
Dr. Kalina Michalska and Dr. Nick Byrd (Stevens Institute of Technology) received a Templeton Foundation “Fund Consciousness Science” subaward to study conscious deliberation under stress.
Dr. Kalina Michalska was elected Fellow of the UC Irvine Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. Find out more about the CNLM Fellows here.
April & May 2022
The KIND Lab hosted a three-part workshop series centered around the arts and mental health for the children and families contributing to our research.
Our first session was led by art therapist, Amber Cromwell. We spoke about emotions, combatting negative thoughts, and worked on several art activities designed to express our feelings. Our second session was led by dance artist Milissa Payne. Through movement and breathing exercises, we learned that dance can be a tool for everyone, regardless of experience. Our third session was led by self-published author Yesenia Rodriguez. Yesenia read her book, Lani Rae's Marvelous Hair, and led the children through making their very own stories! The children created their stories by hand and our lab was happy to transform their pages into actual physical books made up of their own words and illustrations!
April 2022
Dana Glenn received the Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual Fellowship (F31) for her study tilted “The impact of social evaluation on perception of facial affect in adults with social anxiety”. Congratulations Dana!
November 2021
Graduate student Jordan Mullins presented at the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology meeting in Chicago, IL.
Dr. Kalina Michalska presented at the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Virtual Convention.
October 2021
Dr. Kalina Michalska was featured in Health Magazine, speaking about back-to-work anxiety and ways to manage it, including opening up to friends. Read the article [here].
September 2021
The KIND Lab welcomed new graduate student Matthew Kersting, who officially started his first year of his PhD in Developmental Psychology at UCR. Welcome Matthew!
Dr. Kalina Michalska received a collaborative grant with Dr. Alex Chan at the Department of Counselling and Psychology in Hong Kong Shue Yan University to study the impact of Self-Compassion (treating oneself with kindness and compassion) on Academic Stress Across Chinese Primary, Secondary, and University Students in Hong Kong.
August 2021
Elayne Zhou’s study on cultural factors influencing Asian and Latino students mental health help-seeking behaviors was featured in the UC Riverside News article “Study urges reconsidering therapy for Asian, Latino students”. The study advocates for culturally tailored mental health treatment services that address shame and stigma faced by underserviced students. Authors include graduate student Yena Kyeong, Dr. Cecilia Cheung, and Dr. Kalina Michalska. Read the article [here].
Dr. Kalina Michalska was featured in WIRED Magazine. Read the article [here].
July 2021
Research Assistant Purnima Qamar received a 2021-2022 Chancellor's Fellowship for her project titled, “Do Parental Negative Emotions Moderate the Link between Child Empathy and Anxiety in Latina Girls?” Congratulations, Purnima! Find out more about this prestigious fellowship [here].
June 2021
Dr. Kalina Michalska was featured in the Washington Post.
Read the article here.
Research Assistant Julia Hopkins published her first lead-authored paper in the UCR Undergraduate Research Journal, with Chelsea Lang and Dana Glenn as co-authors. You can read about her study titled, “Neuroticism Predicts Increased Sensitivity in Identifying Negative Facial Affect in Young Adults”, on pages 47-55 here. Congratulations, Julia!
May 2021
Dr. Kalina Michalska was featured in the UC Riverside News article Experts address anxiety about returning to work during pandemic
Read it here.
Research Assistant Juliana Chen was awarded with the American Psychological Society (APS) “Building Bridges” Poster Award at the APS Convention for her poster titled, “Does Fear Responding during Threat Conditioning Prospectively Predict Anxiety Symptoms In Latina Children?” Congratulations, Juliana!
Research Assistant Purnima Qamar was awarded for best presentation in CHASS in the category of Emerging Research for her study on over-empathy, parenting, and girls’ depression at the Undergraduate Research Symposium at UC Riverside. Congratulations, Purnima!
February 2021
Graduate student Jordan Mullins was featured in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) newsletter.
January 2021
Dr. Kalina Michalska was featured in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) newsletter.
September 2020
Graduate student Jordan Mullins receives a research grant from the NIH funded Health Disparities Center to examine the effects of discrimination and parenting on girls’ anxiety. Congratulations, Jordan!
Graduate students Dana Glenn and Jordan Mullins present at the Flux: The Society for Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Conference 2020.
Dana Glenn’s Flux Poster 2020
Jordan Mullins’ Flux Poster 2020
May 2020
Research Assistants Fernanda Sandoval, Julia Hopkins, and Kelsey Michaels are featured presenters and winners of undergraduate research awards at the annual undergraduate research conference (R’Psyc) at UCR. See their award-winning presentations below! Congratulations, everyone!
Fernanda
Julia
Kelsey
Chelsea
March 2020
Dana Glenn’s new paper on threat representation and childhood anxiety is accepted for publication in Neuropsychologia.
February 2020
Research Assistant Chelsea Lang is awarded the UC Riverside Undergraduate Research Mini-Grant for her project entitled, “The Effect of State Anxiety on the Recognition of Emotionally Ambiguous Facial Expressions”! Congratulations, Chelsea!
December 2019
Dr. Michalska and Dr. Rengin Firat (UCR Sociology) receive an NIH-funded grant from the Center for Health Disparities Research to examine the protective effects of intergenerational transmission of cultural values on girls’ disruptive behavior.
October 2019
Lab manager Elayne Zhou wins Best Poster Award at the Asian American Psychological Association Convention in San Diego! Congratulations, Elayne!
September 2019
KIND Lab Welcomes New Graduate Student Jordan Mullins.
Dana presenting at Flux Congress 2019.
June 2019
Dr. Michalska is selected as a 2019-2020 UCR Hellman Fellow.
April 2019
Lilianna Lopez, Fernanda Sandoval, and Jay Trieu present at the Western Psychological Association Conference in Pasadena, CA.
Dana Glenn successfully defends her Master’s thesis, titled “Neural differentiation of learned threat associations is influenced by early childhood temperament”. Congratulations, Dana!
Sarah Carlisle successfully defends her Master’s thesis, titled “The role of social group processes in the development of fear learning”. Congratulations, Sarah!
November 2018
Dana Glenn presents her work, titled “Perceptual discrimination in temperamentally shy children during fear extinction recall” at the Computational Psychiatry Conference in San Diego. To find out more about Computational Psychiatry click [here].
October 2018
Dr. Michalska gives a talk at NYU Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, titled “From fear and aggression to empathy and kindness: Insights from developmental neuroscience.”
August 2018
Liliana Lopez wins best poster award at the MARC U-STAR symposium for her poster titled “Exploring the relationship between father parenting and perception of daughter’s personality traits.” Congratulations Lily! Find out more about the MARC U-STAR program [here].
July 2018
KIND Lab welcomes new lab manager. Welcome to Elayne Zhou who joins the lab as a lab manager! Elayne is a recent graduate from Oberlin College with a BA in Psychology. Previously, she was a research assistant at Yale University’s Infant Cognition Center and Pomona College’s Child Attachment Relationships and Emotions Lab.
Dr. Michalska gives a keynote, titled “From prosocial to antisocial behavior: A Social Neuroscience Perspective” at the Open University of Hong Kong, China. Pictured here with Dr. Alex Chan (right) and Dr. Adrian Raine (left).
June 2018
Dr. Michalska's research is featured on the Scientific American podcast [here].
Dr. Michalska awarded a faculty research grant. More information about the Faculty Grants Program can be found [here].
Liliana Lopez awarded a MARC U STAR summer training grant, supported by the NIH. Find out more about the program [here].
May 2018
Dr. Michalska's work on pain expectancy, anxiety, and development featured in US News and World Report & Science Daily. Read more about it [here].
Dr. Michalska's paper published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine with co-authors at the NIMH and NCCI. "Anticipatory effects on perceived pain: Associations with development and anxiety" [link to it here].
Dr. Michalska and Dr. Megan Peters in the Department of Engineering receive a Research and Development Collaborative Seed Grant, titled "Neural representation overlap may underlie abnormal fear learning in anxious youth."
March 2018
Aleksa Kaurin receives the Rosenthal Poster Award at the Convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP). Congratulations Aleksa!
November 2017
Dr. Michalska co-chairs a symposium with Dr. Harma Meffert from Boystown, NE, titled "Anxiety and Responding to Threat: Neurobiological and Contextual Contributions to Development" at the Society for Social Neuroscience (S4SN) meeting in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Michalska's paper was published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry with co-authors at the NIMH and VCU. "Anxiety symptoms and children's eye gaze during fear learning" [link to it here].
August 2017
Dr. Michalska's work on eye contact in anxious children is featured in UCR Today and the Press-Enterprise newspaper. Read more about it [here].
July 2017
Dana Glenn's paper about resilience after early brain injury was accepted for publication in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, with co-authors Dominic Gibson and Drs. Demir-Lira, Congdon, and Levine. Way to go Dana! [pdf]
Dr. Michalska awarded Omnibus faculty fellowship grant. More information about the Faculty Grants Program can be found [here].
Dr. Michalska awarded faculty travel & research award. More information about the Faculty Grants Program can be found [here].
May 2017
Dr. Michalska spoke at the Southern California Learning and Memory Symposium about the neurobiology of fear learning in pediatric anxiety. Find out more about it [here].
April 2017
Dr. Michalska was a featured speaker at the TEDxUCR Conference. On April 16, Dr. Michalska spoke at the TEDx UCR conference on "Using developmental neuroscience to help us empathize with people who don't have empathy." The theme of this year's conference, titled "Amplify" was the magnification of human actions. Find out more about it here [link].
Dr. Michalska awarded a UC Consortium on Social Science and Law grant. Dr. Michalska received a Collaborative Working Group Research Grant from the Robert Presley Center for Crime and Justice Studies for her project titled "Misunderstood: Juvenile delinquency in Hispanic girls," with collaborators Dr. Steve Lee and Dr. Jyoti Nanda from UCLA. Find out more about the Presley Center [here].
Dr. Michalska gave a talk at the Society for Research in Child Development conference in Austin, TX. On April 6, Dr. Michalska gave a talk titled "Early childhood shyness predicts neural responses to fear extinction recall in preadolescent youth" at the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) conference in Austin. More information about the conference can be found [here].