OUR TEAM

STEFANIE DREW, PHD

Professor, Department of Psychology
Co-Director, Psychological Science Graduate Program
Director, Pedagogy Fellowship Program

stefanie.drew@csun.edu

Curriculum Vitae

POST-GRADUATE STUDENTS

Researcher

Arianna Roby, M.A.

Ari, a post-graduate student of the Clinical Psychology program, is interested in investigating the effects of perceived gender expression and identity on folks from the LGBTQ+ community through VR. They are also interested in exploring the efficacy of evidence-based treatments and technology to treat PTSD and trauma experienced by individuals in the LGBTQ+ community.

Researcher

DeVere Vidamuerte, M.A.

After earning his Master’s degree in psychological science, DeVere continues to contribute to the lab in a number of projects involving virtual reality, education technology, meditation, and hiring practices, but his current focus is an interdisciplinary NSF-funded project exploring the feasibility of virtual reality for physical rehabilitation for stroke patients and amputees.

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Researcher

Breana Aceituno

Breana is a first year graduate student pursuing her master's degree in Public Health. Her research interests lie with Attention Deficit Hypersensitivity Disorder (ADHD) and ocular behaviors in college-aged students using a portable eye tracking device.

Researcher

Ivan Alatorre

Ivan is a first-year graduate student in the psychological science program and an NIH Bridges to the Ph.D. program with research interests in decision-making and health behaviors. He is interested in examining the role future-oriented ways of thinking play on behaviors such as physical activity engagement.

Researcher / Co-Lab Manager

Eleni Benchek

Eleni is a second-year graduate student in the Psychological Science program and an NIH Bridges to the Ph.D. trainee with research interests combining cognitive psychology and education. Her research focuses on science and math learning, underrepresented students in STEM, and technology used for instruction.

Researcher

Ann Hillary Buenafe

Ann Hillary Buenafe is a first-year graduate student in the Psychological Science program and a TIPs instructor here at CSUN. Her research interest is in the realm of cognitive psychology and psychophysics.

Researcher

Brian Burr

Brian is an incoming graduate student for the fall of 2024. His research interests revolve around the intersection of psychology and technology.

Researcher

Ethan Castanon

Ethan is an incoming graduate student for the fall of 2024. His research interests revolve around the intersection of psychology and technology.

Researcher

Carlos Couzin

Carlos Couzin is an incoming graduate student for Fall 2024. His research interests include examining user behavior, satisfaction, symptoms, and immersion across various Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality mediums.

Researcher

Dante del Rosario

Dante's current research interests are cognition and its integration with technology, specifically how people think and seeing if it can be further analyzed with the usage of VR. His sub-interests, and a future goal, is to research ADHD and how those with ADHD-like symptoms interact with technology.

Researcher

Ronald Gutierrez

Ron is an incoming graduate student for the fall of 2024. His research interests revolve around the intersection of psychology and technology.

Researcher / Co-Lab Manager

Paloma Santos

Paloma is a second-year graduate student in Psychological Science at CSUN. Dedicated to merging the power of technology with insights into cognitive science, her research focuses on the reliability of mobile EEG systems and features in AR.

Researcher

Joseluz Sosa

Joseluz Sosa is a second-year graduate student in the Psychological Science program. As a NIH Bridges to the PhD trainee, his thesis work attempts to understand the effects of virtual reality meditation on stress and anxiety in higher education by specifically investigating math testing anxiety in a post-pandemic setting.

POST-BACCLAUREATE STUDENTS

Research Assistant

Ruby Lyn Lucin

Ruby is a post-baccalaureate student. Through her work with the VISN Lab, she delves into the intersection of technology and cognition, attention, and learning. Currently, she is interested in the applications of virutal reality and eye tracking.

Researcher

Olivia Ramos Jacquez

Olivia Ramos Jacquez has her BA in psychology with a minor in Child and Adolescent Development. She was a 2020-2022 BUILD PODER scholar. Her current interests are cognition, and neuroscience, and she is the co-lead on a study primarily examining the efficacy of EEG systems

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Researcher

Katrina Bortfeld

Katrina Bortfeld is currently a third year student majoring in Kinesiology with an emphasis in Exercise Science. She is in the U-Rise program for the 2023-2025 academic school years. Katrina’s research interest is any and all subjects related to the mind-body connection.

Research Assistant

Nikko Chiotakis

Nikko Chiotakis is a third-year undergraduate psychology student interested in clinical psychology and neuroscience. In the lab, Nikko's current interests are Virtual Realty (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), and how it can be used for different types of treatment.

Researcher

Mariah Duran

Mariah Duran is currently a junior student majoring in Psychology. She is in the U-Rise program

for the 2023-2025 academic school years. Mariah’s Research Interest include cognitive

psychology, neuroscience, and abnormal disorders.

Researcher

Alberto Guerra Lopez

Alberto was a U-R.I.S.E scholar for the 2021-2023 school years and is also part of the V.I.S.N lab. His research interests include helping research the effects of mindfulness and impacts that it has on the brain as well as the transference of spatial learning from virtual environments to the real world.

Research Assistant

Onyx Harrison

Onyx is a sophomore majoring in Psychology. They are currently exploring their interests within the psychological field, however, within the lab their inquiries surround behavior and social relations, visual cues and fashion, diversity within psychology, and the relationships between fashion, gender expression, and perception of gender.

Researcher

Eddie O. Ramirez

Eddie is a senior year majoring in Psychology and an NIH BUILD PODER scholar for the 2022-2024 school year. His research interests revolve around the intersection of technology and psychology. Specifically, he is researching "Zoom Fatigue", virtual reality, and their relationship to cognition.

Research Assistant

Casper Stubberud

Casper is a freshman majoring in Psychology. He is currently looking at different interests in the field of psychology but is currently interested in sports psychology, social psychology, and psychology in media.

Researcher

Penylopi Zabzdyr

Penylopi Zabzdyr is a senior and U-RISE scholar majoring in Psychology and minoring in Child and Adolescent Development. Penylopi is leading a project investigating the connection between learning and oculomotor behavior in individuals with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) within virtual reality (VR).