Laura received her A.B. in Psychology from Harvard College in 2020. She first joined ANDL as an undergraduate research assistant in 2018. Laura is especially interested in the impact of mental health and bilingualism on adolescent emotional development. Before settling on psychology and neuroscience, Laura trained to become a professional ballet dancer. She now likes dancing for fun and taking too many pictures of her dog.

Garth received his BA in Psychology and Neuroscience from Skidmore College. He went on to get his PhD in Psychology from Harvard University working with Prof. Randy Buckner, and is staying local as a Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Leah Somerville. Garth’s research interests are in dynamics between sleep behaviors and experiences of stress, and how their interrelationships may shed light on factors that put us at risk for, or make us resilient to, developing psychiatric disorders, particularly during major life transitions such as adolescence or beginning college. Garth also teaches in the Psychology Department as a College Fellow. Outside of lab, Garth enjoys movie nights with his cats, exploring the city for new places to eat, and board games with friends.

Melanie graduated from Yale University in 2019 with a B.S. in Psychology. As an undergraduate she worked on the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study with Dr. BJ Casey, and continues to explore her interest in the fields of developmental and abnormal psychology with her work on the Human Connectome Project in Development in the Somerville Lab. She is particularly interested in using neuroimaging methods to investigate the developmental trajectories of mental illnesses. Outside of the lab, Melanie loves camping, dancing, and continuing her search for the best cheesecake in the world.

Erik received his BS in Biology and Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin and spent the next several years working on neuroimaging studies of aging in the Johnson Neuroimaging Lab and the WADRAC neuroimaging group. At Harvard, Erik is in charge of a number of large-scale data analysis projects and serves as a lab generalist, ensuring that people have the resources they need to ask the questions they ask. When not at work, he is also a gardener (during the growing season) and homebrewer (all the year round). As a kid, Erik was obsessed with dinosaurs.

Natasha received her BS in Mathematical and Computational Biology from Harvey Mudd College in 2014. She went on to get a PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience from Duke University, where she studied how imagining alternative versions of events could help people regulate their emotional responses to memories. At Harvard, Natasha hopes to continue her research developing and understanding novel emotion regulation techniques. Outside of lab, Natasha teaches in the Psychology department as a College Fellow and enjoys board games, weight training, and cute animal videos.